(12-01-2015 04:45 AM)Transic_nyc Wrote:  http://www.app.com/story/sports/college/.../76526606/

Quote:The colossal failure of Julie Hermann’s tenure as Rutgers’ athletic director can be summarized in one anecdote, part of which is public knowledge and part of which is not.

As everyone knows, in May of 2014, Hermann — who today was fired along with head football coach Kyle Flood — left a voicemail for Eric LeGrand saying Rutgers was reneging on its offer to make him the keynote speaker at the upcoming commencement. Former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean was getting the nod instead.

“(University) President (Robert) Barchi decided to go in a different direction because of political reasons,” the paralyzed Scarlet Knights football player reported Hermann as saying.

The next part has been chewed over many times within Rutgers’ administrative circles: Upon reading about the voicemail, Barchi’s head exploded. His office’s instructions to Hermann had been simple: Explain to LeGrand that he still would be a speaker, just not the speaker.

That the wrong message was communicated and, worse yet, done via voicemail only — plus the aftermath that a vexed LeGrand could not get Hermann to return his call — served as the tipping point for Barchi. It was the moment when he finally realized Hermann could not do the job. He might have been the last person in New Jersey to arrive at that conclusion.

Julie Hermann out as Rutgers AD, replaced by Pat Hobbs
http://www.app.com/story/sports/college/.../76519206/

Does Rutgers fire the basketball coach now that they lost their last game of the season to Nebraska in the B-10 Tournament. Or does the university give him one more year to straighten out the cluster muck he inherited form the old regime.

He was fired.

There could have been a case for one more year vs firing him now, but at the end of his 3rd year, you really need to extend or fire him. Team regressed each year under Jordan's watch. Tough to see a loyal son go down, someone who would take the job for Rutgers' meager terms.

Hopefully now there's support for making a home run hire. That wasn't the case when Jordan took the job.

He was the one coach they were shelling out for although it wasn't a home run hire. Now, with stronger leadership and commitment in place hopefully we can get the practice facilities to break ground and a solid hire.

I'm surprised Eddie Jordan didn't do better at Rutgers. He was a well-liked HC with the Washington Wizards, leading the team to the playoffs for several consecutive seasons. Unfortunately, he couldn't lead the Wizards beyond the Lebron-led Cavaliers in the first playoff round.

Eddie's problem went deeper than on court coaching or a bunch of season ending injuries. By all indicators he is a great guy. He even helped kick off the RU BIG Build by donating $50k. This is yet another example of being a good coach at one level not translating over. Eddie was not a good recruiter. He wasn't spending all his free time beating the bushes at every HS game and AAU tournament trying to get kids to consider Rutgers. Kids in NJ don't grow up dreaming of representing their home state in college by going to one that doesn't have the state name on its jerseys. Even with the BIG logo on everything, Rutgers has to be sold to top recruits the way a second tier school does it. Eddie wasn't prepared to put that type of effort in.

(03-12-2016 07:00 PM)mikeinsec127 Wrote:  Eddie's problem went deeper than on court coaching or a bunch of season ending injuries. By all indicators he is a great guy. He even helped kick off the RU BIG Build by donating $50k. This is yet another example of being a good coach at one level not translating over. Eddie was not a good recruiter. He wasn't spending all his free time beating the bushes at every HS game and AAU tournament trying to get kids to consider Rutgers. Kids in NJ don't grow up dreaming of representing their home state in college by going to one that doesn't have the state name on its jerseys. Even with the BIG logo on everything, Rutgers has to be sold to top recruits the way a second tier school does it. Eddie wasn't prepared to put that type of effort in.

Exactly. From an X's and O's standpoint, Eddie is as solid as it gets. The problem is if you can't recruit the talent you can try and coach up guys who belong at low-majors or D2 programs all you want. However, they aren't going to win many games against the major conference opponents that make up your 18 game league schedule and another half dozen of your OOC schedule. Eddie inherited a complete mess and he stabilized things from a PR standpoint. There wasn't any trouble on-court or off and he naturally being a Rutgers-guy really cares about the school and the program and was going to do his best despite being cut out for professional-level coaching.

If the rumors that they're working Dan Hurley over are true, that would be a home run hire or as close to one as you can get. He'd turn things around here.