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Last night, Athletic Director Pat Hobbs spoke with Chris Carlin during the Big Ten Network's telecast of the Rutgers Spring Game. Hobbs touched on the positive changes with both the football program under head coach Chris Ashand the basketball program with new head coach Steve Pikiell. The most exciting news from his interview was regarding facilities.
Carlin asked Hobbs about the R B1G Ten Build campaign that was launched back at the end of January. Hobbs had this to say in response:
"It's going terrific. We are about two weeks away from giving a public announcement on where we are. I think people are going to be very surprised. I think more people are going to jump in and say, let's get this done. This is a different day at Rutgers. Our athletes need these facilities and so we need to bring them to them. Whether it's for our basketball teams, our soccer and lacrosse teams, and certainly our football team needs that as well."
Hobbs comments alone would be encouraging. However, it's important to remember what Pikiell said in a radio interview shortly after he was hired as men's basketball coach about a month ago.
On Sports Zone with Pete Franklin on WOR, Steve Pikiell said, "We are building a new practice facility, which breaks ground this summer."
— Dave White (@Dave_White) March 24, 2016
Putting the two comments together, there is reason to believe at least part of the announcement Hobbs referenced will be to announce the groundbreaking on the new basketball practice facility. This would be great news for Pikiell and his staff, as they are hard at work on the recruiting trail. Perhaps there will be news on additional projects as well. But at a minimum, it would be amazing news for work to begin soon on the basketball facility, especially in such a short time after the R B1G Ten Build campaign began. It would be just another example of everything Hobbs is doing to align the athletic department for long term success. If this is the case, it would be hard proof that the "same old Rutgers" way of operating is officially dead. And that alone is reason to celebrate!
To view the R B1G Ten Build plan, click here. To donate, click here. Below is the entire interview of athletic director Pat Hobbs last night on BTN with Chris Carlin.
Athletic Director Patrick Hobbs talks with BTN during the start of the second half of the @RFootball spring game. https://t.co/tO6kd3LUaZ
— Rutgers On BTN (@RutgersOnBTN) April 24, 2016
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