Rutgers unveiled its new weight room today inside The Hale Center. The new addition was made possible because of a generous $1.25 million donation from RU graduate Ron Garutti. The top of the line facility is now known as The Ron and Joanna Garutti Strength & Conditioning Center.

“Of course, it’s wonderful on a certain level,” Garutti said today. “Everybody likes to see the fruits of their investment recognized. But I tried to get it to the players in my remarks before. I would really like them, when they are in this room working out, to look at that sign and say ‘those people are saying thank you to us.’ As I said, we’ve had a lot of thank yous. People have been very generous. Rutgers has been extremely generous to us. But now we want to turn it around and thank the players and the coaches.”

Head coach Chris Ash was on-hand for the unveiling and expressed how important it is to have this kind of weight room.

“It is the foundation of your football team. Like [Strength Coach] Kenny [Parker] said, the physical development, mental development and brotherhood on the football team gets built in here. It is really important that we have a first-class facility that our players feel like they are part of a top-notch program. It helps with player development and helps with their attitude, belief in our program and it helps with recruiting.”

Since Ash has been Rutgers’ head coach, a lot of changes have been made and this new weight room is evidence of how much of a difference he’s been able to make in the early going.

“It is easy to say we are going to do this and we are going to do that. This is not theory of what we are trying to do; this is testimony that we are going to get stuff done,” Ash said. “It speaks volumes to our plan, but even more to Pat Hobbs’ support as athletic director because as coaches you can only do so much. You have to have the support of the administration to make your plan come to life. And the fact that Pat believes in our plan and believes in what we are doing and is helping us make this happen is everything.”

The weight room will also play a role in recruiting, according to Ash.

“It is going to be great. You walk around here and you can tell this is going to pop for recruits," Ash said. "It is not just a barbell thing. This is a recruiting tool also. It is going to be big time.”

None of that would be possible without the generosity of Garutti, who is a proud member of the RU class of 1967.

Now, Garutti is calling upon more donors to follow his lead.

“The [coaching staff] has energized a lot of people, but honestly I wish more people were stepping up, particularly if I could speak to the larger-end donors. There are people who have been on the sidelines for a while and some of them have stepped up in the last couple of months. But there are many other people who are capable of doing a lot more. …Every time I speak to people, I tell them the time is now.”