As a non-Rutgers alum, I laugh very hard at the faculty's hatred for the athletics department. I've seen the insides of a lot of America's biggest academic settings. Just some quick thoughts.
First, Rutgers - NB ranks number 8 (edit: of public universities) in the country in average salary for university professors at $140,100. The number one school? NJIT at $151,000. Notable both Rutgers-Newark (#6) and Rutgers-Camden (#10) both are also in the top 10. The rest of the schools in the top 10 - Michigan, Cal, UCLA, Ga Tech and UNC - all schools with significant football programs. The only schools without big time football programs on the list include: UMBC and the aforementioned NJ Schools (minus RU-NB).
Second, besides being top 10 in salary, the dirty secret of University funding is that the real money comes from faculty procured research grants and other endowments. Yes, tuition and other state subsidies are significant. But, most elite schools use these grants to go over the top. Yet, despite top 10 pay Rutgers NB only ranks 45th out of all public universities in total research funding. Notably, based on Arizona State's Center for Measuring University Performance, each of the schools ranked higher that Rutgers in research (except 1, UC-Davis) are Division 1 football programs.