Hard as I try, I can’t see a turnaround solution for Scarlet Knights athletics — specifically the revenue-producing sports. A big reason is that athletic deficits, not revenues, are the headline in Piscataway. Even realigning conference-wise with the lucrative Big Ten hasn’t offered an answer.
Winning is hard at Rutgers. In men’s basketball, the Scarlet Knights recently snapped a seven-game losing streak, but it has been another disappointing season (10-15, 3-11 conference).
Harper (2) and Bailey (4), photo courtesy Rutgers Athletics
There was so much hope when Steve Pikiell took over the program several years ago. Pikiell was starting to recruit big-time talent such as Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. But Rutgers underachieved last year in Harper’s and Bailey’s lone season with the school, and it will be three straight years that Pikiell has not had his team in the tournament.
The women’s basketball program is at a crossroads. Ever since Hall of Fame coach Vivian Stringer retired, Rutgers hasn’t been in the national spotlight. Indeed, RU is last in the Big Ten this season, 14 games out of first place at 1-14 and 9-17 overall.
The football program is under .500 historically, and you have to go back to the Big East days to find a season with more than seven wins. The program has had nine losing seasons since 2015, including 1-, 2-, and 3-win seasons, and the Scarlet Knights didn’t win a Big Ten game three times during that span.
Fire the underperforming coaches? I’m not sure it matters. The programs are going nowhere unless the school can raise more athletic donations. But getting private funding for Rutgers athletics is a tough task because it’s unlikely to yield a reasonable return on investment in terms of winning.
New institutional leadership (president and AD) was brought in from LSU. But when it comes to athletics, New Jersey is neither Louisiana nor the SEC. For starters, RU’s athletics face a significant deficit, $78 million worth, just for one year. The total deficit since joining the Big Ten 12 years ago is a whopping $517 million. Firing and hiring new coaches just adds to that deficit.
Rutgers may be a lost cause athletically. That’s saying something, because we’re talking about the Big Ten here — a conference that’s at the top of the food chain and allocates gobs of money to its member institutions. For Rutgers, that meant $147 million in 2024-25.
Realistically, Rutgers athletic highlights may be best viewed in the rear-view mirror, remembering times when the football team upset then-No. 3 Louisville in a national primetime game (2006), the men’s basketball team went to the Final Four (1976), and the women’s basketball team lost to Tennessee in the national championship game (2007).
That may be as good as it ever gets.
