Rutgers Basketball Town Hall Event Hits Nothing But Net

Last night, the Rutgers athletic department hosted their second Town Hall event for students during Pat Hobbs tenure. The first one occurred back in the spring with Hobbs and football coach Chris Ash. This time the focus was basketball, as both men’s coach Steve Pikiell and women’s coach C. Vivian Stringer joined Hobbs at the Student Activities Center. Our own contributor Griffin Whitmer was on hand for most of the event, after gutting out the long line to get in. The Daily Targum’s sports editor Brian Fonseca gave some great detail as well on Twitter. The athletic department broadcast the entire event on Facebook Live. God bless social media!

This type of an event seems like a good idea and a pretty obvious way to get more students involved and excited about Rutgers athletics. However, it’s another example of positive change under the tenure of Hobbs and fills a necessary void from the past. He has proved that in many ways so far and has had a phenomenal week. First, was the announcement for the November 1st groundbreaking for the practice facility. Then was the report on the naming rights for it and a potential larger deal attached to it. He also appeared on WRSU’s “SportsKnight”, being interviewed by the Rutgers student run radio station. We have never seen such transparency and enthusiasm on the banks in quite some time from our AD, perhaps ever. The “Hobbs Effect” is a living, breathing thing that is putting life into the entire Rutgers sports community. Amen!

Here is a recap of the Town Hall event, highlighted by tweets, video, quotes, and pictures, along with some commentary.

RVision Video Recap

Facebook Live Broadcast Courtesy Of The Rutgers Athletic Department

Associate AD Sarah Baumgartner Sets The Scene

Steve Pikiell Shaking Hands Of Students Waiting In Line

C. Vivian Stringer Highlights

Hobbs left out that CVS is also in the Basketball Hall of Fame, but we can let that slide.

Pikiell spoke about a similar experience at Stony Brook last week at Big Ten Media Day. Both coaches have built programs from scratch. Hopefully with a AD who is all in, generating interest for both programs will improve. Of course, winning helps.

I can’t confirm whether this is true or not. Rutgers has had 19 players drafted into the WNBA. UConn has had 32 players drafted. In terms of which school has the most current players in the league, I will look this up another day soon and report back.

Steve Pikiell Highlights

Pikiell has made it clear he thinks this type of instability has been a major factor in the program’s losing ways the past few years. Fair enough.

I like this idea and I trust the Riot Squad to make this happen and to execute it the right way!

Tremendous quote. Enough said.

It was said at media day that the men’s team has about a dozen student managers. Pikiell talked about how their enthusiasm helps the program. Let’s hope if this ever happens it’s because Rutgers is so far ahead and not due to injuries.

Pat Hobbs Highlights

Another example of the “Hobbs Effect”, as relations with the media are far better these days!

Hobbs seems determined to bring back the Alley next season and in a manner that works for everyone! Keeping the students interest’s as a priority is another positive change at Rutgers with Hobbs.

It’s a bold statement and many will find it laughable. However, Pikiell seeing it firsthand with Jim Calhoun at UConn make him believe it’s possible. I love his moxie and determination. It’s refreshing and there is no doubt he is fired up to lead this program to better days ahead.

I love that Hobbs brought this up, especially with Penn State set to visit a month from now in the last home game for the football season. Our own Scott Logan wrote a great piece on why this chant should end last year. Hobbs is getting out in front of the issue this year, which is yet another example of him being proactive.

Closing

This is never a bad thing!

The transparency, enthusiasm, and willingness to invest time back into the community and student body is truly remarkable. On the face of it, it seems like a basic thing that should happen at every university with their sports programs. However, as you know, this is Rutgers and that’s just not how things historically have worked at our beloved school. To quote Nobel prize winning poet Bob Dylan, “ The times they are a changing!”