The spotlight finds Rutgers, for better or worse

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, July 24, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

Rutgers Scarlet Knights
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Be careful what you wish for.

Back when the Rutgers football team was a national joke and Greg Schiano started out 12-34 as head coach, Scarlet Knights fans would have given anything to have a successful, high-profile program.

Now, "anything" has a number -- $2 million, which is Schiano's annual salary, plus $250,000 (an extra incentive that some critics say was slipped under the table). Last week, an investigative piece by the Newark Star-Ledger pried the lid off the $250,000, which had been hidden in the labyrinth of university accounting.

University president Richard McCormick promptly apologized for a "lack of transparency," adding that "We wanted to maintain the momentum of the program. We wanted to keep Greg Schiano as our coach."

After all, such programs as Michigan, Miami and Penn State have come sniffing around Schiano, who used to be an assistant at the latter two schools.

But it gets better. The most recent revelation is that another not-so-transparent clause in Schiano's deal will allow him to bail out at the end of the 2009 season if the current Rutgers stadium renovation -- considerably over budget at this point -- isn't completed.

To be sure, Schiano has performed miracles in Piscataway. One of the two oldest football programs in the country, Rutgers went 113 years with only one bowl trip (as the Chicago Cubs fans often say, anybody can have a bad century). The last three years, the Scarlet Knights have gone bowling three years in a row, albeit to run-of-the-mill December games.

Schiano has assembled a young, aggressive staff that seems to relate well to today's high school athletes. The 2009 recruiting class will be the school's best ever. The 14,000 new seats under construction are expected to be filled every home Saturday and Thursday.

The issue, then, isn't whether Schiano is worth keeping as head coach on the basis of his performance. Rather, as framed by both sides in the growing controversy, it is whether building a winning football program is worth alienating segments of the student body and faculty. Or getting involved in an upward spending spiral to benefit one sport when the university is cutting funds for academic programs.

When Rutgers teams were bad, at least they belonged to the students. The fact that Governor Jon Corzine is getting involved in the stadium expansion indicates how much that has changed -- the movers and shakers want to be seen at Rutgers games now.

So far, Schiano has followed a similar career path to Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer. He lost in the beginning, the school had patience with him, and now his teams are gaining national respect. He's a Jersey guy, a regular Springsteen, who might conceivably spend the rest of his career at Rutgers.

On the other hand, what drives coaches away are limitations. When Notre Dame refused to play a home game at Rutgers because of the size of the stadium, it was an indication that the school hasn't quite reached the mountaintop yet.

It might be appropriate, I think, to quote from the Peter Gabriel song "Big Time." You can hum along, if you like.

"I'm on my way, I'm making it; I've got to make it show. So much larger than life; I'm going to watch it grow."

Enjoy the big time, Rutgers.
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