On the Banks: All Posts by Brooklyn ObserverInsomnia for the sleeping giant.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/50417/onthebanks-fav.png2013-09-11T02:17:18-04:00https://www.onthebanks.com/authors/brooklyn-observer/rss2013-09-11T02:17:18-04:002013-09-11T02:17:18-04:00Ray Rice Deserves to Be Proud of #NewRoStateChamps
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<p>Let's hook him up with support.</p> <p>I've been MIA for a while on the blog. I am making a guest appearance to make one point. This Ray Rice non-story doesn't deserve any more legs. But, there was really no reason why Ray Rice should apologize for shouting out New Rochelle High School.</p>
<p>Simply put, I'm putting this out there. Everyone on Twitter, hashtag your tweets "#NewRoStateChamps". They made Ray Rice proud. Let Ray and his HS know that we support him too.</p>
https://www.onthebanks.com/2013/9/11/4718196/ray-rice-is-a-great-ambassador-to-rutgers-and-new-rochelleBrooklyn Observer2013-03-05T11:28:11-05:002013-03-05T11:28:11-05:00Oi Vey! Sidney Gopre Commits
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<p>I had the pleasure of watching <i>Heart of Stone</i> at the theaters which, as a subplot, chronicled the school's football team's rise. I forget if it concluded with a NJ State Championship, but as a Rutgers fan, there was a lot of joy watching the kids and their families walk into Rutgers Stadium with pride and accomplishment. I've been waiting for a star player to emerge from Weequahic to be Rutgers' next star.</p>
<p>We welcome Sidney Gopre who will join the likes of Richie Roberts and Philip Roth as the next great Indians alum. A true weakside linebacker, with an appropriate comparison to Khaseem Greene - he cures the sting of losing Skai Moore (I'm bitter about that, long story). You would also have to imagine that Weequahic and Newark/Elizabeth area programs will continue to rise and maybe become NJ's version of Miami Northwester/Central.</p>
https://www.onthebanks.com/2013/3/5/4067006/oi-vey-sidney-gopre-commitsBrooklyn Observer2012-12-07T15:07:07-05:002012-12-07T15:07:07-05:00Rutgers v. the Big East
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<figcaption>The Star-Ledger-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>It's more hairy than West Virginia</p> <p>Amazingly, Rutgers' lawsuit against the Big East for withdrawal and exit fees flew under the radar for over 2 weeks. The complaint was literally filed minutes before B1G issued a press release announcing Rutgers to the Big East. No one really noticed until the last few days.</p>
<p>Leaving aside legal analysis, Rutgers is obviously parroting West Virginia's strategy of using the courts to leverage negotiations for an early exit. Pitt piggybacked off West Virginia's suit and filed one of their own. Each of those cases settled with West Virginia, Notre Dame, TCU and Syracuse all reaching settlement for withdrawal without much drama or expense. Rutgers' move is obviously more offense akin to West Virginia's move and somewhat a formality to engage in negotiations with a pending lawsuit as leverage. Most of this is fairly obvious or at least analyzed at length by the press.</p>
<p>The biggest difference, however, is that Rutgers' lawsuit may have more merit and teeth than West Virginia's or Pittsburgh's claims. I was pretty skeptical of both those prior suits because typically in membership organizations (which the Big East is), a member cannot simply run to the courts because they view the organization as weak. The only real leverage that the previous actions had were 1) home court advantage (thus, the fear of local protectionism by local judges/juries); and 2) the Big East's ability to sustain litigation costs against universities with a better litigation bankroll.</p>
<p>In Rutgers' case, the merits are much stronger because there exists the elements of oppression and arbitrary action/inaction targeted at Rutgers. What's really important is that the substantive standard of law is governed by D.C. law. In most Northeast jurisdictions, breach of fiduciary duty (the primary claim) is governed by the "business judgment rule" which means that in the absence of fraud, bad faith, or gross misconduct, the courts will give deference to the decisions of leadership irrespective of the results. D.C. law scrutinizes decisions of a membership organization based upon "reasonableness". It's not so much a lesser standard, but different and in some cases, broader. A detailed primer into the law would be too long of a post. The relevance, here, is that even if the Big East didn't simply single out Rutgers (through bad faith), the court will engage in far greater scrutiny into the process and decision making.</p>
<p>The West Virginia and Pittsburgh lawsuits had a very limited context to resolve since those conference moves (with Syracuse) were made in a very short span of time. Rutgers now has multiple tiers of precedence on withdrawal protocols: 1) BBall school (Notre Dame); 2) New Member (TCU); 3) Legacy Member (Syracuse); and 4) Immediate Withdrawal (West Virginia). It can also point to impact concerning new membership and scheduling (Temple). And, now they have 3 years of board voting history centered around realignment. Most membership organizations are highly sensitive to their inner dealings. The context of a typical suit would be isolated to certain facts and circumstances. However, Rutgers suit would effectively open up full exposure into all aspects of the Big East which, considering its recent history, would likely be extremely humiliating. Assuming Rutgers' story is true, I am inclined to think Rutgers' claim to revoke membership without penalty may actually be better than strong.</p>
<p>The weakness of Rutgers' lawsuit, IMO, is its claim for withdrawal fees. The conventional wisdom is that the money owed to Rutgers through the Big East would offset Rutgers withdrawal fees. I don't have enough facts from reading the complaint to know the nature of the promise and existence of a vested right to proceeds. However, the fact that Rutgers will receive more lucrative pay from the B1G may end up precluding a claim for monetary disbursements. The "purpose" of the withdrawal fees is to compensate other members from potential loss from withdrawal. This claim may likely be limited to the WVU/TCU scenario where Rutgers lost a valuable home game. Rutgers' burden to prove money damages, especially when the direct beneficiary is the Big East and no money has yet been vested into Big East accounts, may be hard to overcome. Instead, it would likely be shown (apart the fiduciary claims) that Rutgers gained from withdrawal and all other Big East members (new and old) were hurt disproportionately by Rutgers withdrawal. Fortunately, any damage that flows from Rutgers withdrawal (via breach of contract) is limited to the contractual stipulations.</p>
<p>This weakness, however, is not entirely a slam dunk for the Big East either. Rutgers was indeed hurt by the loss of West Virginia/TCU from its schedule. There is some ambiguity on how the promises were made that further court proceedings may shed some light into. If the Big East, indeed, tried to manipulate the proceeds from withdrawal fees in a way to target and hurt Rutgers while letting others go scott free, a court would be hard pressed not to find some additional equitable remedies in favor of Rutgers.</p>
<p>The only remaining thought is whether the Big East will be treating this lawsuit as their Alamo. Bet the house and future, irrespective of the weakness or strengths. The Big East is in a fragile position and may be on the cusp of death. It's not uncommon for distressed firms to engage in suicide pact litigation where there is virtually nothing to lose. I doubt the remaining membership would want to be burdened with this, but some history has demonstrated that the Big East is not the most rational bunch.</p>
<p>That said. I'll just throw this prediction in. Rutgers withdraws from Big East starting 2014 with a $5 million dollar withdrawal fee.</p>
https://www.onthebanks.com/2012/12/7/3736840/thoughts-on-rutgers-v-big-eastBrooklyn Observer2012-11-22T04:41:27-05:002012-11-22T04:41:27-05:00B1G RU Thanksgiving
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<p>And onto Pittsburgh!</p> <p>The most anxiety ridden, Babbs-esque fans of our Rutgers faithful have finally found one occasion to sit back, crack open a beer and feel satisfied about the state of our athletics programs. Many of our modern recruits (particularly those from New Jersey) had a great deal of respect for the Rutgers program, but as a Big East brand, the sell was harder for our coaching staff. Internally, the politics and economics of a marquee football program fragmented (IMO needlessly) our communities. The B1G move is as close to a cure all as it gets. The only real question moving forward is athletic performance and adjustments in a very competitive league.</p>
<p>The journey has been tumultuous. But, we've learned many things about our program going through this ride. Enough cannot be said about the leadership and confidence of those who made the most of a very anxious situation. For that, I am very thankful for a lot of different persons who have taken my recent Rutgers fanhood into stability and relevancy.</p>
<p>For my Thanksgiving, I give thanks to the following in 2012:</p>
<p><b>Tim Pernetti</b> - The obvious choice. Not enough could be said about his leadership and confidence. Conference realignment was really out of our direct control, and the Big East leadership was out of control even with our seat at the table. For realignment, Tim P stayed on message, sold our strengths and prevented any setbacks that could endanger any potential invites to the B1G.</p>
<p>I am more thankful to Tim P more for making Rutgers athletics more about a community than a single person (*cough* Schiano *cough*). Since Schiano's departure, he has been the friendly face of RU Athletics. He understands ambassadorship and that as AD, he is the head cheerleader. Our athletics' message has long been begrudged, mechanical and inaccessible. He understood that outreach and inclusion was key to improving our status within the RU community and to the mainstream. Yet, he did not lose the gravitas and discipline that is often associated with Schiano. I *was* a big Schiano fan (still am, but in a very reserved way). Tim, on the other hand, made being part of a community fun and welcoming. Not enough can be said about how he made Rutgers football engaging apart from the on the field product.</p>
<p><b>Scarlet Nation's Staff</b> - Except for the legacy blog (Bleed Scarlet) of OnTheBanks.com, Scarlet Nation was my first internet destination for Rutgers football. John Otterstedt built it from scratch. He was not a journalist and was more focused on basketball. The original site was actually just a one page elementary school project for his students. The fanbase there is absolutely nuts and frustrating, but he stuck it out. Over time, he built up a great hub for discussion, community and news. John O still has his day job as a teacher, and he sounds like a hell of a dad. However, him and his staff were at the core of building up Rutgers modern fanbase. It's digital, it's younger, and it's diehard. We're somewhat bourgeois in the college football world, but without a true legacy, we didn't have a true homebase for fandom. We turned to the internet, and Scarlet Nation was there from the start. Now, they're at the center of our new beginnings.</p>
<p><b>The Rehabilitation of Tom Luicci</b> - Tom Luicci is a twitter natural. If you've followed him and thought he was anti-Rutgers, your opinion of him would change for the better. He's unabashed about his opinions, especially about what he believes would make Rutgers better. He's not anti-Rutgers, he just has a shitty opinion every so often that is more about passion for the program. He's just a pro-Rutgers curmudgeon. Going back to his twitter, read it. He's gone hard against all unfair critics of Rutgers football. His sharp wit and biting style has been more forceful against Rutgers detractors through twitter, where it would it a waste of time to write more than 150 characters.</p>
<p><b>Class of 2012</b> - Our greatest single recruiting class in Rutgers history. They understood the vision. They were confident within themselves and self-assurance beyond their years. While a lot of credit for that attitude started with 2011's class, the '12ers hammered it away by sticking together even after Schiano's departure. That's some serious courage.</p>
<p><b>Myles Nash and Anthony Cioffi (among others)</b> - If there was a single class where Big East affiliation hurt us, it was this year. However, from what I observed, Messrs. Nash and Cioffi took the torch to be recruiting leaders of this year's recruiting class. We were a bit spoiled with the past two classes when it comes to scouting service rankings. With Barnwell and Miller, our class is now rounding out nicely. I'm not a recruiting expert, but those who I have spoken to (and highly respect) assure me that this is a better class than the rankings say.</p>
<p>Nash and Cioffi, nonetheless, took it to the streets to help build the '13 class to what it is now. Nash, in particular, was bold and brash about rallying his co-recruits. (sidenote: Leaving aside the awkwardness of following kids on twitter, the exchanges between Nash and his coach Rob Hinson just crack me up. It reminds me of the relationship that Parcells had with Bryan Cox during their time with the Jets.( Cioffi was a little more low key, but very diligent and public. Others were highly involved, but Nash and Cioffi get my thankful distinction.</p>
<p><b>Eric LeGrand</b> - He will walk.</p>
<p><b>Khaseem Greene</b> - He's making the inner-NJ-city story right. One of NJ's biggest problems is turning our urban areas around. Corey Booker's been great (boo Stanford, says my Cal wife) with his passion for Newark. But, Greene's story will have better grassroots impact. I believe it. Greene's been around the worst of it. He's getting out of it without leaving Jersey. Through Rutgers, I just have to believe that more kids out of Newark/Elizabeth/JC would be able to visualize their own success through Greene's path and understand it beyond athletics. It's been a compelling story beyond his beastly defensive performance, and I look forward to hearing more about it when he hits the NFL.</p>
<p>Others that I will have to shout out for thanks - <b>Kyle Flood</b>, <b>Jason Baum</b>, <b>Frank Burns</b>, and <b>RutgersAl</b>. Happy Thanksgiving. Beat Pitt!</p>
https://www.onthebanks.com/2012/11/22/3679130/giving-thanks-in-a-b1g-wayBrooklyn Observer2012-02-06T21:58:17-05:002012-02-06T21:58:17-05:00Potentially More Coaches Leaving the Program
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<p><br>Rutgers may be losing more coaches in addition to those going to Tampa with Schiano. Rutgers' job search website lists <a href="http://uhr.rutgers.edu/jobs/JobDetail.aspx?pst_num=12-000336">6 openings </a>for coaching positions. The word is that Robb Smith is mostly likely to stay and become the defensive coordinator. It may not mean additional coaches are gone, but that Flood is opening up all positions for interview. But, it may not look good for those hoping for minimal level of continuity.</p>
<p>Update from Jon: I think every opening has to be listed by state law. There are nine total assistants on staff, so I don't think this says anything one way or another for Smith, Galiano, and Hewitt.</p>
<p>Additional update from BKO: I brainfarted. Forgot that Flood has to replace his own OL assistant position. 6 seems like the right number in the current state.</p>
https://www.onthebanks.com/2012/2/6/2776678/potentiall-more-coaches-leaving-the-programBrooklyn Observer2012-02-03T01:33:31-05:002012-02-03T01:33:31-05:00Coaches Leave, No One Tells The Recruits - Only Grownups at RU are High School Seniors
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<p>According to an inside source, Angelichio, Fraser, Hafley and Cignetti (as well as Jay Butler) will be joining Schiano in Tampa Bay. Now, as a caveat, I'm not a beat reporter with a big circle of sources. But, I trust this one source a lot.</p>
<p>Quite frankly, I've never been this pissed about Rutgers football ever. I get it - Schiano left for a great opportunity that moved quicker than anyone could have hoped. But, this is deliberate disrespect from Schiano and those that are leaving with him. The recruits were sold on the belief that most of the staff would stay intact. And, for those that are leaving now, it's cowardly to wait until after signing day to make this move. For Schiano, it's one thing to take your own lumps. But, he's now complicit in allowing others to breach their own trust with others.</p>
<p>I just spoke to a 2012 signee who will remain anonymous. He just confirmed that he was completely unaware of any pending or potential moves. In fact, his exact words were "shocked" if this was true.</p>
<p>I personally think it's also an absolute shame that after what the recruits went through, no one reached out to the recruits to keep them in the loop. They're already signed. They're not gonna go anywhere if they heard the news now or next week. They deserved to be kept in the loop either by the coaches that left or the current program. Quite frankly, if there was one class that was composed of grown ups, this is it. Give them the respect to be treated as such.</p>
<p>Here's the silver lining to this. The signee confirmed that while he thinks his classmates will be similarly "shocked," the 2012 class didn't sign with Rutgers because of the coaching staff. Schiano's departure taught them there are no certainties with coaches in the college game. He emphatically stated that he and his classmates committed to play with each other, represent New Jersey, and be a part of turning Rutgers into a national power.</p>
<p>I suggest every single Rutgers fan cheer your asses off on every play for these kids. They deserve it, because they showed integrity in the face of cowards and adversity. They saved Rutgers football - no one else.</p>
https://www.onthebanks.com/2012/2/3/2768004/coaches-leave-no-one-tells-the-recruits-only-grownups-at-ru-are-highBrooklyn Observer2012-02-02T10:30:08-05:002012-02-02T10:30:08-05:00Food for thought on the Rutgers Faculty Complaints
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<p><br>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.</p>
<p>First, Rutgers - NB <a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/04/12/salaries">ranks number 8</a> (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).</p>
<p>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 <a href="http://mup.asu.edu/research2010.pdf">only ranks 45th</a> 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.</p>
https://www.onthebanks.com/2012/2/2/2766221/food-for-thought-on-the-rutgers-faculty-complaintsBrooklyn Observer2012-01-30T18:01:33-05:002012-01-30T18:01:33-05:00Kyle Flood is RU Football's Next Head Coach
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<p>Despite snags with Cristobal, RU selected its next head coach with relative ease. IMO, Flood has been very professional about putting himself in this position. He helped bring calm to RU Nation after Schiano's departure. And, he made it fairly easy to negotiate a contract quickly even though he could have leveraged the post-Cristobal chaos.</p>
<p>I'll end here because Jon will Izenberg this better than me. But, use this post for discussions.</p>
https://www.onthebanks.com/2012/1/30/2759310/kyle-flood-is-ru-footballs-next-head-coachBrooklyn Observer2012-01-29T15:09:01-05:002012-01-29T15:09:01-05:00Something Amazing Happened
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<p>And that is we learned that Rutgers Football is now a program.</p>
<p>I started to develop interest in Rutgers football in 2005. I am not a Rutgers alum, but I was a college football fan living in New York City. I tried to pay attention to Rutgers in the past. It was just too pathetic to watch. But, it always piqued my interest because there was no game in town. Syracuse is not NYC's team. Notre Dame and Penn State were the most prominent, but NYC did not have ownership over those teams. Rutgers just made too much logical sense.</p>
<p>In 2005, the Brian Leonard hype was building. I started to hear more about Greg Schiano as the guy that might give the program a fighting chance out of misery. All I wanted was Rutgers to be mediocre just so I can feel compelled to follow and root for a single team. At that time, I was a young practicing lawyer. All my other colleagues had their teams from Michigan to USC to Texas. I wasn't interested in being any of them. I wanted to rep something for myself.</p>
<p>in 2006, I got more than mediocrity. NYC had excitement. And, in that magical November moment, Rutgers became the talk of the town. New Yorkers were willing to openly adopt for a moment Rutgers football as their team.</p>
<p>I started to scour the internet more intensely for more information on the team. Ironically, the first two places I found were this blog's predecessor BleedScarlet and Scarlet Nation. The information was amazing. I became obsessed with each and every nuance of the team. Who was this Anthony Davis kid? Kenny Britt flipped from Ron Zook - The Florida Master Recruiter? Art motherfrigging Forst. And, who the hell is this nutjob RutgersAl.</p>
<p>In my building obsession, I felt an immediate sense of adoration for Coach Greg Schiano. This was a throwback to the days of legendary coaches that helped define programs - Joe Paterno, Bear Bryant, Spurrier. I learned he was an indeed a great man with a rock solid vision. From there, I went from looking for an excuse to find a NYC team to adopt to wanting to be a part of something special.</p>
<p>I decided to pay for my first subscription to Rivals after a few years of lurking - mostly due to the Mfoti incident. But, in my first post, I wrote about a 10 page introduction explaining that I bleed scarlet because of Greg Schiano. I wanted to support his vision. I wanted to let my colleagues know exactly why this program was so special - Greg Schiano.</p>
<p>Since 2006, it hasn't exactly been a straight upwards trajectory. We experienced lots of growing pains. But, in between, the program kept getting better after each and every bump. It was really hard to give up because you just felt that something better would happen if you waited one more turn.</p>
<p>That up and down however was pretty frustrating. But, Schiano figured out ways to find one more way to make the program better overall. Just when we thought we were one class away from solidifying RU Football into a feared recruiting machine, we got hit with a brick in the form of a tweet five days before signing day.</p>
<p>All day our eyes were glued to the internet. We were in shock, disbelief, anger. (Yes, PSU schmucks, I'm diluting your BS PR memes because you are cowards). We wanted to know what GS's departure would mean to the program - our biggest fear was that it would lead to implosion. We'd lose recruits, key players would transfer, no one would trust Rutgers, Rutgers wasn't ready for transition. We've watched Pitt, Penn State, Maryland, etc become utter shells of themselves.</p>
<p>As the day progressed, we learned something really important. Greg Schiano does not define the program anymore. Rutgers Football is now its own brand, program and attitude. We are not going to implode over the loss of a coach as other schools have. Think about it.</p>
<p>Jersey kids want to rep New Jersey and play football at Rutgers. That'll keep going on. Jersey coaches wanted a Jersey guy to rep the area because they want to be tied into the program.</p>
<p>We have an athletic administration that is now viewed as a benchmark for professionalism in college athletics. They are responsive, work around the clock and understand the fanbase and media. That institutional knowledge and capital carries over for years and years. It's what makes business grow and survive.</p>
<p>We have thousands of fans that regularly post on two major Rutgers dedicated recruiting sites. RU football news is reported by the millisecond these days because there is a demand set by die hard fans</p>
<p>Today, I was on an insane amount of message boards, email lists and phone calls trying to get the best information on the current situation. At the end of the day, it ended up being a perfect day for all of us to just simply get a beer together and discover, we have a legit community and program (*sidenote* in a lot of our frantic info exchanges, I ended up learning I had more in common with OnTheBank's main editor). We have enough people who care and are dedicated to Rutgers football that we know that Rutgers Football will exist tomorrow, the day after and for years to come.</p>
<p>We learned from Penn State that the cult of personality is a dangerous thing. But, in our shock, disbelief, anger (which is an appropriate reaction here, and an underreaction for covering up pedophile for football glory), we were ready to move on and not abandon Rutgers football. Of course, Greg Schiano did the very thing that we all really wanted: respect.</p>
<p>More importantly, we learned we can turn to Rutgers football tomorrow and the day after. Tim P. has a big challenge ahead of him with the coaching search. However, one thing us fans have not been saying but deep down know, the next coach inheriting a winning football team - as opposed to past expectations of "please take us out of the dumps." While Schiano was our guy, he wasn't Rutgers Football. He's just simply one of us, a part of a real, bona-fide football program.</p>
https://www.onthebanks.com/2012/1/29/2751838/something-amazing-happenedBrooklyn Observer2012-01-05T14:30:31-05:002012-01-05T14:30:31-05:00Quanzell Lambert to RU
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<p>Timber Creek HS middle linebacker Quanzell Lambert just announced his commitment to Rutgers. The four star talent is a major coup for Schiano and company, as Rutgers has not had the best success in the past with South Jersey's elite prospects. Most of us in RU land thought that we would have no shot with Lambert earlier in the recruiting process. But, we made huge strides the past few weeks after his official visits.</p>
<p>Side note: Scarlet Nation and Scarlet Report have been killing it lately on the live recruit reporting.</p>
https://www.onthebanks.com/2012/1/5/2684979/quanzell-lambert-to-ruBrooklyn Observer