We don't need Buckeyes telling us we have some issues!

One of the comments from the article on the latest "leak" on athletics construction was from reader patelj27b, who cited an article on our fellow SB Nation site, Land Grant Holy Land.  Those are our colleagues from Ohio State.

Land Grant Holy Land?  That should put most of what they say in perspective.

Their point was that Rutgers did pretty badly in its first year in the B1G.  We know how we did!  We've reported it ourselves.

And, taking the view from Columbus, it's easy to only look at wins and losses.  That, though, would be a bit unfair to the RU coaches, especially those who are just a short time in their positions.

Our Buckeye buddies did, of course, with the National Championship in football; hats off!  But in their hurry to slap us silly they conveniently forget their own field hockey team's 1-7 B1G record and its 3-7-3 women's soccer record.  Other people suck, too! Et tu, Brutus!

The LGHL article, while gnawing on red meat and pouring salt onto fresh wounds about RU wins and losses, raised another comment from WestCoast_RU.

It will be interesting to see what coaching changes (if any) are made this year.

by WestCoast_RU on Apr 21, 2015 | 1:21 PM

We talk a lot about coaching changes (that sounds relatively civil compared to some terms) for football or even basketball.  But we don't talk about the other sports.

In fairness to any of our current coaches, consider what any boss has to take into account when judging performance. We do have facility issues, and that is a big part of recruiting. Has the University provided the resources necessary to do the job? They can’t continue to recruit solely on academic strength, though we’ve certainly done well in that regard. And the money for scholarships is finally coming around to what it should be…and should have been for years.

But wins and losses are what we are here to address. As Board of Governors Chair Greg Brown said, "We weren't interested in joining the Big Ten; we were interested in competing and winning in the Big Ten,.” So how long do you go with a current coach before you say, “We need to go in a different direction.”

Recent changes and Julie's term

Maura Ballard retired last year as the women's golf coach.  Fred Hill did so, somewhat suddenly, at the start of the baseball season last year.  Women's soccer saw long time coach Glenn Crooks step down before the season in late July.   And just this year, Phil Spinniello stepped down as head coach of Swimming & Diving at the close of the season.

Ballard was replaced by Kari Williams, a veteran Ivy League coach, Julie's first actual outside hire.  Joe Litterio, who was already Hill's assistant, was the logical person to take over baseball in the short term, and was ultimately kept on as head coach.  The same situation applied to women's soccer, as Mike O'Neill was promoted short- and long-term.

With swimming & diving, this will be the first real major coaching search and hire to be undertaken by Hermann.  And in a very competitive, and very successful, Big Ten, Spiniello's replacement will be a very important hire.

We'll take a look at the coaching situation season by season.  Where are we strong, where are we struggling, and who - if anyone - is on the hot seat?

Tomorrow: How we opened up - the fall season