Everybody from fans to media has a list of football coaches to choose from.
But who will be the next one for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights? That’s unknown right now, but the hope is, according to Athletics Director Pat Hobbs, is to not take too long but still be thorough.
“My intention right now is that we would hopefully be in a position to announce at the end of the season,” Hobbs said. “Obviously this is a very important decision for myself, for Rutgers University, for our fans, as we go forward. I'm always open to opinions and information from football coaches, and I always seek out a lot of advice for football coaches. But we need to be deliberate in this. We need to be able to move quickly, if necessary. You know what happens in coaching right now, and likely as we near the end of the season, we'll see some other openings open up.”
So what he is looking for this time around in his second search for a head football coach at the state university of New Jersey?
“I'm looking for the very best coach who will make Rutgers football competitive and compete for Big Ten Championships. That's why I came here,” Hobbs said. “I want to go to a Rose Bowl, right. So I want a coach that I believe is capable of making us competitive on the field and competing ultimately for Big Ten Conference championships.”
Greg Schiano, who led Rutgers from 2001-12, is perceived to be the No. 1 target. But Hobbs didn’t tip his hand either way.
“Anyone who can help Rutgers football be competitive and win conference championships is a candidate for this position,” Hobbs said. “I have had no conversation with anyone about the permanent position of being head coach here at Rutgers University.”
Rutgers has to pay Ash $8.5 million and then more to McNulty along with a new head coach and probably an entire new staff.
Hobbs feels he and the department will be able to open up the wallet so to speak.
“Well, we are in a very fortunate position to be part of Big Ten, and obviously that means a very different financial position as we go forward,” Hobbs said. “We also have a great opportunity in terms of season ticket sales. The excitement of a new coach that comes in; every 10,000 season tickets that we sell is another $4.5 million dollars. That's not insignificant. So I believe we will have the resources going forward and I know I have the full support of Dr. (Robert) Barchi and our board athletic committee chairman, Greg Brown, to go out and hire the very best.”
Over the last three-plus years, Rutgers has put a lot into the football program in terms of facilities. The team is in better shape overall than it was in 2015 which could make it enticing for candidates.
“Let me tell you something, Rutgers University -- this is a great job. This is a great job. We have other things. We have not closed the gap fully, but this is a great job here,” Hobbs said. “We have a wonderful strength and conditioning facility. We have a few football locker room. We have a pledge to build a new team lounge that will get started hopefully in the next 12 months. We have the Rodkin Academics Success Center that the steel is now up, and that will open next December; so they will have the very best in academic support. So we have many, many components. The Marco Battaglia Football Practice Field is the best in the conference.
“So I think coaches are going to look at this and they are going to say, they made some real investments at Rutgers University. Is it an easy job? No, it's not an easy job. Is it a great job? It's absolutely great job, and I think we are going to get a lot of interest around the country.”
Firing Ash had been on the back burner for quite some time, but the 52-0 loss at Michigan on Saturday was the last straw.
"Saturday night. Saturday night," Ash said on when he came to a decision to make a change to leadership. "I came home from the Michigan game, and look, our barometer going into this season, as everyone knows, was significant improvement and that wasn't just my barometer. That was Coach Ash and it was our shared measure of what we wanted to see this season. I know some football coaches will say, well, the games coming up -- there's no days off in the Big Ten. I just saw some things in terms of lack of offensive production; my concern about penalties and some of the things, and I think we have more talent in this room and on this team than we were showing in the game. So that's why Saturday night, I concluded that we needed to make a change.
"It was really hard, very hard to do that in-season. Obviously it's difficult for your student athletes, difficult for the coaching room, but I wanted to give our kids the best opportunity to be successful going forward for the remaining eight games of the season, and so that's why I made the decision. Sunday morning, I reached out to Dr. Barchi and Greg Brown, chairman of our athletic subcommittee. Told them that was the direction that I wanted to go and they offered their support for that and for the decision to promote Coach Campanile to interim head coach."
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisWasky.
