Rutgers Basketball Gets A New Voice & MidKnight Madness Is Tonight

The Rutgers athletic department announced today that play-by-play announcer Chris Carlin is stepping down from calling men’s basketball this season. He will continue to be the voice of Rutgers football. Jerry Recco will replace Carlin after calling Columbia Basketball games since 2006. Recco is also a morning anchor on the “Boomer & Carton” radio show on WFAN. He will partner with color analyst Joe Boylan, who is entering his second year in the broadcast booth after a previous coaching stint at Rutgers.

Here are some key quotes from the press release:

Pat Hobbs

“We are very excited to welcome Jerry into the Scarlet Knight family,” said Rutgers Director of Athletics Pat Hobbs. “Considering his experience, knowledge of college sports and Jersey roots, he is a perfect fit. There’s tremendous momentum under Coach Pikiell, and we are thrilled Jerry will be doing our play-by-play.”

Jerry Recco

“Having grown up and lived in New Jersey for the last 39 years, I am thrilled to be joining Rutgers,” said Recco. “It's a great opportunity and I'm excited for the new season. There's a lot of excitement surrounding Steve Pikiell and this program and I'm happy to have a small part in it.”

Chris Carlin

“Because of some personal commitments, I have decided to cut back on my schedule,” said Carlin. “I’m thrilled for Jerry, a great broadcaster who deserves this tremendous opportunity. I can’t wait to sit in my seats as a fan and support Coach Pikiell and this program.”

Jerry seems like a great choice to call Rutgers men’s basketball moving forward. We wish him the best of luck and look forward to hearing him call games this winter.

However, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge how great Chris Carlin was for close to the past decade calling Rutgers hoops. He has called games since 2008 and experienced a lot of lean times in program history during his time served. His career continues to blossom and for that we congratulate him! Our own Dave White had a chance to speak with Carlin over the summer and he shared some great Rutgers stories and insight here. It’s also great he will continue to call Rutgers football games, so he will still be heard by scarlet faithful.

MidKnight Madness

Don’t forget, tonight is the night the basketball season tips off for Rutgers fans at the RAC, with both the men’s and women’s programs taking part in MidKnight Madness.

The men’s team has a huge recruiting weekend planned and will host many local recruits both tonight and for tomorrow’s Rutgers-Michigan football game. We will have a full report of all the visitors and where Rutgers stands with class of 2017 target Mahktar Gueye, who is taking an official visit to campus this weekend.

Coach Pikiell has been doing everything right in preparation for this upcoming season. The team has been practicing for a week now and there is no doubt defense is the key to improvement this season. Coach even found time to promote MidKnight Madness to students this week, serving up lunch at the Grease Trucks. Let’s hope for a big fan turnout tonight!