Rutgers' quest for football glory
College football will never be the centerpiece of life in this part of the country as it is, say, in Texas, where the whole state shuts down on Saturday afternoon for "The Game."
But Rutgers University's football program has been trying to establish itself as a powerhouse of the East Coast, capable of competing with and beating the perennial elite college teams from across the country.
Under three-year head coach Greg Schiano, the Scarlet Knights had been improving, but fell to a disappointing 8-5 last year after being ranked 12th in the nation in 2006. Many expect the team will struggle this season.
That setback hasn't stopped the Rutgers administration and boosters from dreaming big, however. They're treating their program like it's on a par with Ohio State or Oklahoma and treating their coach like royalty.
Their $102-million project to expand and enhance the stadium in Piscataway is way over budget, according to reports. And now it's been disclosed that they secretly raised Coach Schiano's salary to about $2 million a year, making him one of the highest paid college coaches. Rutgers spent almost 32 percent of its budget on football in 2006. And, since Rutgers is part of the State University of New Jersey, much of that is the taxpayers' money.
They also quietly put a clause in his 10-year contract that allows him out of it if the refurbished stadium isn't ready for the 2009 season.
Meanwhile, the school eliminated several other lesser sports as well as a number of academic courses. And the university just announced tuition would go up 6.5 percent this year. That says something about its priorities.
Not surprisingly, Rutgers' blank-check spending on football has caused quite a ruckus across the river in the Garden State. Hard-core fans say it's a small price to pay for gridiron glory and we, too, hope the Scarlet Knights make a name for themselves. But in this part of the country, at least, not a lot of people measure an academic institution's worth by its football program.
