On the Banks - All Posts

Eddie, Julie, and the RAC

2013-05-21T00:47:58Z

In a conversation with Jerry Carino, Eddie Jordan--the new coach of Rutgers basketball--said he told Julie Hermann--the new AD at Rutgers--he didn't want anything other than to win.

That's all he wanted.

He didn't want major upgrades to the RAC, he didn't want a brand-spankin' new practice facility. All he wanted was to win.

But, as noble a gesture as that is to your new boss, it's probably not enough. Because basketball--just like football--is an arms race when it comes to recruiting. Kids want the newest, the nicest, the best. And right now Rutgers doesn't have that. Granted, the new scoreboard is supposed to be added in this summer, but beyond that--what's left? The donors have pulled their donations, angry about the Tim Pernetti situation. The team hasn't won in forever.

And, besides some fits and starts, the program has never recruited at a high level. And when they do, the recruits ultimately transfer out.

Julie Hermann has to realize this. She has to do what she can to cajole some of the biggest supporters into doing what they're supposed to do. Support. She has to convince them Rutgers is not just Tim Pernetti, but an institution. One that has a bright future ahead of it in the B1G, if handled correctly.

And in order to handle it correctly, she must realize that football is not the end all be all. It may be the number 1 program in most--if not all--athletic departments, but men's basketball is a close second. And when the number 2 program is a sinkhole, someone has to try and dig it out.

Eddie's going to do his job. Next year, he needs to be competitive in a weakened division. If he can finish over .500, recruiting becomes easier.

If, this summer, Jordan can bring in some respectable re-inforcements from the 2014 class, convincing some DC kids that *this time* it'll be different, he might even be able to make a dent in his first Big Ten year.

But, beyond that?

He needs the RAC. Because recruits want to see results fast. And if Jordan can't get to the NCAAs in 2 years (which is unlikely), AAU coaches, HS coaches, high school players, and those weird handler guys are going to give up. And if you're not winning that quickly, what else do you have to sell?

So, Eddie and Julie have to get this RAC renovation off the ground. They are behind in the basketball arms race. She has to tap some of her Yum! Center contacts (because, let's face it, even if she didn't work on football and hoops in Lousiville, she knows some people) and get them to come in and find a way to get this RAC stuff done.

As for Rutgers fans? It's time to support the program. If the teams are winning, no one will care who the AD is. But college sports--way more than pro-sports--need their fans. They need their fans to give.

They need to flock back.

They need to believe.

Start preaching, Eddie. Start evangelizing, Julie.

Not our athletic director

2013-05-15T13:47:41Z

Can you imagine the media firestorm to come? Rutgers just, willingly mind you, hired an athletic director who was subject to a lawsuit for discriminating against pregnant women. An athletic director who, while nominally the #2 official at Louisville, did not supervise the football or men's basketball programs, which are the only revenue sports at most universities. An athletic director who comes from a department with limited academic prestige and has flirted with NCAA compliance issues.

It is difficult to imagine a worse, more divisive candidate that Rutgers could have selected than Julie Hermann. The only possible consolation in all of this is that the next year could be so fractured and painful that we could be begging Tim Pernetti to return by the time 2014 rolls around. This was a criminal abdication of responsibility by Pres. Barchi and the Board of Governors, who let an agenda-driven search committee that largely refused to consider alternative candidates.

Save us, Tim. You're our only hope.

How Sean Frazier deals with a crisis

2013-05-14T03:52:14Z

The past two decades have been a steady rise, professionally, for Wisconsin Deputy Athletic Director Sean Frazier. The New York native walked onto the University of Alabama football team in the late 80s. He served several years as an assistant football coach at Boston University and the University of Maine, earning his master's degree at the latter institution before moving into athletics administration. The former football player proceeded to carve out a decade-long niche serving as an athletics director at a series of athletic departments focusing on hockey.

Ironically enough, Frazier's very first challenge in athletic administration came in a conflict between the football and hockey teams while he was still at Maine. A player on the hockey team allegedly threatened African American football player Dwayne Wilmot. Wilmot immediately reported the threat to Frazier, then Maine's assistant director to athletics for equal opportunity, who then notified campus authorities.

Hockey players charged> UM trio allegedly made racial threats - Bangor Daily News (ME) - Saturday, December 20, 1997

As a liaison among student athletes, the administration and the Office of Equal Opportunity, Frazier serves as an advocate for students, particularly minority students. He said when Wilmot played the answering machine tape to him, he was shocked. And, as an African-American himself, he was all the more concerned.

"I went to Alabama and knew of the Ku Klux Klan there. This is a volatile situation," Frazier said. "Let's put it this way: I will never forget [the tape]. It was the most disgusting statement I've heard in the past 20 years, filled with hatred. The level of concern as a person of color to racial slurs, it puts you in a fearful state -- first fear, then anger."

As a minority on a predominantly white campus, Frazier worked to ease tensions and promote racial tolerance.

Black University of Maine students battle culture shock, social isolation - Bangor Daily News (ME) - Monday, February 9, 1998

Sean Frazier , who came to Maine in 1995 as an assistant football coach and serves as assistant to the athletic director for equal opportunity, has been credited with helping to create a better environment for minority athletes.

Part academic adviser, part sounding board, he organizes conferences, teaches a class, facilitates discussions and, as one student says, "gets things done."

"The biggest thing is having someone who they can confide in, who they can talk to about issues," Frazier says. "You can't be bringing ethnic minorities up to campus without the proper support. If you do that, we run the risk of potential liability. And that means, basically, we run the risk of ruining a young person's life."

Two years ago, Frazier helped form the Student Heritage Alliance Center. A dressed-up commons room in the basement of a dormitory, it serves as a place for all races to come together, as a place for minority students to congregate.

By 2002, Frazier was the athletic director at Clarkson University, where he curiously enough had to deal with a situation where their successful hockey allegedly retaliated against a player, who had supposedly been playing too roughly in a coaches vs. players scrimmage (SOURCES: PLAYER OBJECTED TO "RETALIATION' BY COACH Watertown Daily Times - Thursday, November 7, 2002.) Frazier immediately placed the coach on administrative leave, and proceeded to fire the coach after the investigation concluded.

After another hockey AD gig, Frazier moved to Wisconsin to head up their hockey program, and proceeded to continue his steady climb up the ladder. He was overseeing basketball until last year, and then took over Badger football in 2012 following a curious incident that appears to be the only public black eye on Frazier's record. At Wisconsin, Barry Alvarez is largely a figurehead, leaving day to day operations to his various deputies. Former Alvarez assistant John Chadima was in charge of the football program until a very ugly scandal came to light.

There is absolutely no suggestion that Alvarez or Frazier had any involvement in Chadima's actions, but they allegedly knew that he was inviting students under 21 to a party where alcohol was going to be served (CLUES TO DIG DEEPER - UW still has plenty of explaining to do in the wake of the investigation of John Chadima. Wisconsin State Journal - Thursday, January 26, 2012), and there had been previous reports of similar misdeeds from Chadima. Frazier and Alvarez were both cleared of all wrongdoing, and Alvarez subsequently promoted Frazier as his new top deputy last season, where he ran the day to day operations of the Badger football program. Rutgers should certainly ask all the appropriate questions about what happened there, but Frazier's previous performance in handling crises and controversy bodes well for overcoming a cycle of negative media coverage in recent months.

Rutgers should delay AD announcement for due diligence

2013-05-13T03:18:02Z

Regardless of what ever mishaps may have happened with not registering properly, Eddie Jordan is a true Scarlet Knight and will get the benefit of the doubt in Piscataway for that reason. The same goes for Tim Pernetti. Doubly so; the matter of fact that any athletic director hire will be replacing a favorite son who many believe is unfairly taking the fall for the mistakes of others means that there will be a high level of scrutiny on his successor to begin with.

That level of pressure will only be ratcheted up after Rutgers failed to perform an adequate background check on Jordan. That at least was understandable, as there was an urgent need to name a coach so that Rutgers could even field a team next year. Where's the urgency to name an athletic director though? There are no other hires to make, and the school's big donors are already mad anyway after the way Pernetti was treated, so any notion that a new hire is going to quickly win back their favor is unlikely at best to downright naive.

It almost seems as if the rush is to get ahead of an investigation into what exactly happened with Mike Rice last November, anyway. Pernetti partisans believe that a report could vindicate him and that the Rutgers administration and state government simply will not tolerate any distractions before the July 1st merger with UMDNJ, while the more likely explanation is simply that Pres. Barchi, the board of governors, and New Jersey politicians simply want to move on in hopes that everyone will calm down and not rock the boat. Fat chance.

Rutgers had to wait days to hire Eddie Jordan (which as we know, accomplished nothing and may have hurt recruiting for this year's class.) Given that happening, how come there isn't going to be a similar delay? The two athletic director candidates are reportedly meeting key figures over the next two days, with an announcement due Wednesday. How can that quick of a turnaround be possible here with a hire that may not be well received, when we have literally seen over the past two days that Jordan is so widely loved that we will look past his warts? Why drag your feet then and not now?

At the very least, there are incidents in both candidates' pasts that they will have to explain in depth. Sean Frazier had tangential involvement in a scandal involving another Wisconsin athletic department official. Hermann left Tennessee (where she had been head women's volleyball coach) under a cloud of scandal following a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit by one of her assistant coaches. (No link available, so quoting the relevant part.)

EX-UT VOLLEYBALL COACH AWARDED $150,000 OVER FIRING Knoxville News-Sentinel, The (TN) - Thursday, June 5, 1997
Hineline's suit alleges she was discouraged from becoming pregnant, lest it affect her duties. Her complaint recounted Hineline asking Hermann whether she would lose her job if she had a child, and Hermann's response was, ``I hope it doesn't come to that,'' according to the suit. `

`Julie and I had various conversations that discouraged me from becoming pregnant,'' Hineline said Wednesday.

Leadbetter contended Hineline's termination was Cronan's decision and that it ``was made by Joan Cronan before she ever knew Ginger was pregnant. It was based on the volleyball program being unsuccessful that year. It was either the head coach or the assistant coach.''

Hineline had informed Cronan of her intention to start a family, according to court testimony. May said documents were presented in court as evidence of Hermann's involvement in the termination decision.

There may well, heck, there likely is (one would hope) no merit to both of these allegations, but you can sure bet that plenty of news outlets will be digging up this information, contacting the other parties, requesting court records and the like. Rutgers better be doing that too in advance, or they're going to be in a lot more trouble than the nothing pseudo-scandal with Eddie Jordan that ultimately didn't really mean anything either way. Mind you, this is just something that any schlep can find with Google or Newsbank. Is it that much of a problem if we take a few extra days with this one to make sure that we get it right?

The Latest Kerfluffle

2013-05-11T13:16:59Z

If you weren't on Twitter yesterday, you missed the panic.

You see, it turns out Eddie Jordan didn't graduate from Rutgers, despite his official biography on the school's website saying he did. Deadspin was all over it, and then the rest of the world got involved.

At first, this seemed like a minor annoyance. Rutgers record keeping is spotty at best, and the bureaucratic nonsense that graduates go through has even been given a nickname: the RU Screw. Everyone who passed through campus has faced the screw at some point. This time however, it just seemed like it was happening to Eddie Jordan on a national scale.

Then, Adam Zagoria tweeted the NCAA requires all coaches to have a college degree.

Rutgers wasn't answering phone calls. No one could get information. Deadspin said Eddie only had 103 credits, however anyone with a calculator said Jordan had 211 (EDIT: though Deadspin contends there's a difference between credits and credit hours). Was Jordan supposed to get his degree and made a mistake? Was he going to lose his job over this, mere weeks after taking it?

Only at Rutgers.

But, you see, it turns out Zagoria was wrong. The NCAA issued a quick statement saying it does not require coaches to have a degree, it comes down to what the school requires. And, about 18 seconds after that, Rutgers issued a statement saying Jordan didn't need his degree and he'd be keeping his job.

So, Jordan stays for now. By most accounts from the local press, Jordan did not deceive Rutgers, it was a University error. Jordan should have finished his degree in 1985, but he wasn't registered correctly, Jordan told Andy Katz.

Story over, right?

Hopefully, though it seems likely the press will keep digging. They smell something, which is their right. With some luck, nothing will be found and Jordan will get back to turning this thing around.

Economies of scale explain Rutgers campus funding

2013-05-05T18:18:38Z

The fiery rhetoric was as cliched and predictable as it was incorrect. Rutgers is the subject of a racist takeover, alleged a department head on the system's de facto satellite campus in Newark. The same charges were levied by a disgruntled former Newark chancellor. Don't forget the claims of how we wanted people to die in the streets of Newark by closing University Hospital. Even absent such disgusting fear mongering, the perception that deep funding inequalities exist and persist between the campuses was widely believed, with these demagogues exploiting the planned UMDNJ merger to extract additional political patronage. George Norcross and Steve Sweeney tried to pilfer Rutgers-Camden by dusting off traditional South Jersey paranoia about getting the short shrift in state funding, even though that actually couldn't be further from the truth.

While the mandarins in Newark shriek about losing influence, there is not a peep from them about the vile, horrific gutting of Rutgers Medical School, a naked power grab orchestrated by North Jersey politicians forty years ago that firmly established the principle that academic excellence meant nothing compared to the prospect of putting a few more cronies on the payroll. This offense was so monstrous that it would seem to warrant by itself the kind of punitive retribution that is being claimed in Newark. In the mere act of righting this historic, criminal theft, the most charitable reading of this rhetoric is one of wild ignorance and lack of perspective, but more likely is that they are hypocrites who are more than happy to help themselves to the spoils of others until the onus starts falling on them.

Regardless, it appears that the supposed funding disparity simply is not true, which truly comes as a surprise to most. The flagship's association with the Newark and Camden campuses is seen largely as a millstone that simultaneously lifts their academic prestige while damaging ours. Of course they should pay a premium, until at least the Rutgers administration is able to implement rumored plans of increasing enrollment on both campuses. Rutgers is effectively synonymous with Rutgers-New Brunswick, and to claim otherwise is disingenuous at best. It seems to have fermented these wild fantasies of collective mediocrity, just when there finally is a push from above to finally let the school embrace academic excellence instead of running from it.

How do you explain why there is clearly so much more capital construction in New Brunswick and Piscataway than in Newark or Camden? It's a basic economy of scale. New Brunswick has 40,000 students (undergraduate and graduate, full and part time), while Newark has 12,000 and Camden 6,400. Suppose there is a new ten million dollar academic building under construction. That's $250 per student (and given that the cost probably is spread over multiple years, in actuality far less) in New Brunswick, $833 per student in Newark, and $1560 per student in Camden. These figures probably aren't exact due to the various tuition/credit breakdowns, but give a rough idea of what's going on. For the same rate of spending, New Brunswick can have at least three new buildings for everyone one in Newark, and six for every one in Camden.

Considering the fact that there is clearly far more demand in New Brunswick, and the reasoning for past resistance to new capital construction on the satellite campuses becomes evident. Add in labor and assorted fixed costs like energy and maintenance, and this adds up very quickly. Think of it like this; for as much as one aspect of the public hates chain restaurants and big box retailers. they still are largely voting with their feet to support them. Because a company like Walmart is so massive, they can negotiate gigantic bulk discounts, and squeeze increasing profits out of every single part of their supply chain. Even if you control for quality, an undershirt from Walmart or a hamburger from McDonald's are going to be a better value than going to Peter Luger's or Urban Outfitters. Perhaps money is no object and you value that increase in quality more than any price premium, but for the majority of people that is going to be true.

Even if Rutgers is hardly an example of ruthless efficiency, this still explains the supposed gap. Growth is always going to be impossible to resist, because, it's, well, growth. A big campus at New Brunswick is a better bang for the buck if you can do it right (e.g., not the Montclair/Kean/Rowan model of crushing debt coupled with heavy faculty teaching loads), which raises a few interesting implications. One is that there should be even more doubling down in New Brunswick, which is happening to some extent, although the campus is largely strained to capacity as is. The focus for now is likely to shift to quality over quantity. Growth in New Jersey higher education slots is likely going to come in Newark and Camden, which you might assume would mollify the critics, but that could not be further from the case.

They want the flowers without the fruit; that is, access to more funding without having to take on the heavy, at times overbearing burden of expansion that has strained the New Brunswick campus to the hilt. That is craven opportunism at its finest. Fortunately, there is enough pressure from above (and blood money for Norcross and Sweeney) that this news will probably put this issue to rest for good. Right now, the goal has to be to get to July 1st unscathed with all the relevant assets in the hands of the Rutgers Board of Trustees. Then and only then will the time be right to push back against Camden or deal with any other lingering internal issues. Too much is at stake, and I will try to explain it in depth soon if I do have time to write something on else on Barchi and the merger in the next few weeks.

ESPN, Christie are blatant hypocrites

2013-05-02T13:02:31Z

Noted Paterno truthers ESPN's Dana O'Neil and USA Today's Joe Posnanski have already been castigated here for their stubborn, wrong-headed insistence that Mike Rice's conduct in practices was more offensive than Joe Paterno's cover up of decades of child abuse and molestation. One would think that would be the absolute paradigm of hypocrisy, never to be matched, but for better or worse that hope seems to have been mistaken.

Leaders who make decisions purely based upon media accounts are irresponsible and they are grandstanding, and we don’t need more of that. - Chris Christie, referring to disgraced Newark archbishop John Myers.

They were wrong not to come to the conclusion that Coach Rice needed to be fired immediately. - Chris Christie.

Let's get this straight Governor, just so we're all clear. Cursing, disgusting remarks, and borderline physical abuse when practices got too heated demanded immediate action, and the ousting of Rice's supervisor, who allegedly was not responsible for retaining Rice. There was absolutely no room for nuance or gathering all the requisite facts in the rush for judgment. Meanwhile, Newark Archbishop John Myers covers up the actions of a pedophile priest who abused children, endangering thousands more, and Christie suddenly wants caution.

Let's move on to ESPN, who was all too happy to castigate Tim Pernetti over Mike Rice's use of gay slurs, despite Pernetti's previous pro-LGBT support. When NBA player Jason Collins came out as gay several days ago, it was a great moment for the thousands of closeted teens in this country, who have a scandalously high suicide rate. They now have a role model. Aside from that aspect, one of the main arguments in favor of gay rights has been precisely the point that a person's sexuality shouldn't really be anyone else's business.

Not so to ESPN's Chris Broussard, who delivered a homophobic rant in response to Collins that point any of Mike Rice's comments to shame. The only thing that ESPN loves more than not giving credit to other news outlets on a story is to not castigate their employees publicly, so they remain predictably silent on Broussard, as does the entire media at large in response to Mike Francesa's public support of a caller's homophobic rant.

Yes, some readers here may well agree with Broussard and Francesa, but even then the issue of the double standard and inconsistency is galling. Either this sort of behavior is a cardinal sin, or it is not. There is zero evidence that Mike Rice actually does hate homosexuals (or people from Guinea or Lithuania), but we have these two now on the record with their sentiments, to few (ESPN may eventually still cave) and no consequences, respectively. Who,again, is the real homophobe here? Who is causing the most net harm to the well being of homosexuals? The answer is clear, and sponsors should start boycotting ESPN and WFAN until they start feeling the pressure to start practicing what they preach.

Eddie Gets One

2013-05-01T02:09:24Z

Eddie Jordan got off the schneid.

Even though Eli Carter is transferring to Florida, Eddie Jordan was able to fill 2 holes.

Last week, wing Craig Brown signed his LOI. The JUCO--who by all reports can shoot--was recruited by Mike Rice, but decided to honor his commitment under Jordan.

Then, earlier today, JUCO Point Guard D'Von Campbell committed to Rutgers. Campbell begins the stop the bleeding of Jerome Seagears and Carter's loss. Rutgers only had Myles Mack in the backcourt. Campbell was a Top 150 recruit after high school who transferred from UTEP to JUCO power Hutchinson. Expect him to contribute right away. If he can penetrate, he will take some pressure off a Mack.

Rutgers is still thin from deflections. Malick Kone has been rumored to stick around, but that's not official yet. The defections of Carter, Seagears, Mike Poole and Vince Garrett really put a dent in Rutgers' depth and talent.

But Eddie's not done yet. He's still out recruiting, and rumors persist that there's still talent out there to be had. Eddie is pounding pavement and still wants to have a solid year next year.