Rutgers Continues To Be Big Ten’s Black Eye

News broke yesterday that Rutgers football received notice from the NCAA that they could be in violation of seven rules. They are not pretty ones stemming from the Kyle Flood era. To put it lightly, Rutgers has been an unmitigated disaster for Big Ten conference. Whatever happens with Jim Delany’s legacy, we should always include how he chose Rutgers to be the team that expanded their New York footprint. Instead, they’ve been the worst and troubled Big Ten program.
NJ.com did a great job compiling all of the violations. The most notable had to be Rutgers allowing 16 players to play after they fall drug tests, we had Flood bullying professors for grades and ambassadors for the football team were allowed to freelance with recruits. Scarlet Knights are a dirty program, and while Chris Ash is a good dude whose trying to fix the culture, it’ll be awhile until their football is no better than the scum around your sink. The worst part is Big Ten’s New Jersey office isn’t leaving any time soon.
The same report says Scarlet Knights will avoid any sort of bowl or scholarship punishment yet it still doesn’t excuse the fact this is a sorry ass football program. Big Ten will not force Rutgers to move conferences any time soon, but I bet if you asked a few athletic directors, they would do it tonight and find a replacement this summer. This might be a little bit of a hot take, but Rutgers is the worst Power 5 football school, right? Given the violations and the lack of winning, it has to be Scarlet Knights.
Hopefully, Ash can turn the corner in the coming years like their basketball team has done thus far. People love a comeback story, and Rutgers is in need of one badly. It’s not going to be easy.
Charlie.