After only a year at Rhode Island, Darren Rizzi is stepping down to take a job with the Miami Dolphins. That is quite the rough break for their players that transferred in from Rutgers. Rizzi formerly worked under Miami HC Tony Sparano a few years back.
Same old story yesterday: clawing out of an early hole before running out of gas. It's been a trying year for Hamady N'Diaye.
The women's basketball team beat Providence.
KB did make the top of the Times's sports section today. Their requisite combine story notes that
Scott McKillop, a linebacker from Pittsburgh, said he was discussing his mother when a scout suddenly blurted, "Have you ever smoked marijuana?"
which is probably par for the course. Peter King has a similar account today, detailing the "speed dating" process, with an anecdote notable only for its pure audacity.
My favorite story involved a defensive coach for one team asking Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis why they should pick him. "Tell me something,'' the coach said. "When is the last time a linebacker from Ohio State came to the NFL and was worth a s---?'' That shook the Buckeye out of whatever confident zone he might have entered the room in.
Of course, the Giants are notorious for taking their Combine psychological tests to another level entirely, so you can imagine that they're doing their homework on Britt. Their team psychologist, Joel Goldberg, notoriously stopped Bob Tisch from rehiring Bill Parcells in 1997, and red-flagged Jeremy Shockey several years later, but was fine with signing Christian Peter. Andy Levitre recounted his take on the NYG test yesterday:
The one test that got on my nerves a little was the test given by the New York Giants which consisted of 260, yes that is TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY questions plus another packet of 70 short answer questions after you finished that.
Britt and Underwood largely lived up to expectations in the forty yard dash. Britt put up impressive numbers on the bench press, and Underwood struggled there but excelled in other areas. Now it's Courtney Greene's turn today tomorrow. Local facilities TEST and Parisi's both had several players at the Combine.
Screw the haters, Bill Belichick is awesome (too bad Lax isn't winning much these days).
Wearing a red and black Rutgers lacrosse zip pullover rather than his usual loose-fitting Patriots gear, Belichick touched on a lot of topics
I had never heard of Scarlet and White Cardboard, but apparently that blog is shutting down. It has several good scans of RU alumni NFL cards. Really good stuff, and now I'm remorseful over losing something I never knew existed.
Baseball won one game in the Miami series, which is about what could have been expected. Watch out for Todd Frazier in Cincinnati's spring training.
The poor economy and increased tuition costs are hurting Rutgers admissions. Dorms are still overcrowded though.
The big exception to this trend is the state's flagship university, Rutgers, where applications are running 2 percent below this time last year. "I wish I could explain it," said Courtney McAnuff, vice president of enrollment.
Rutgers physicists may be able to increase the efficiency of semiconductors.