A Lack of Expertise?

He’s back!! Officially, that is. Greg Schiano’s huge contract (yet middling by general standards within the Power 5 conferences for head coaches) was approved by the Rutgers Board of Governors in a pro forma vote on Tuesday. On Wednesday Schiano gave the Scarlet Nation what they wanted to hear—a rousing speech that made them believers again, even if the road ahead is the most arduous path ever faced by a Rutgers football coach.

For now, Schiano has just one assistant—Nunzio Campanile, interim head coach and former head man at Bergen Catholic. A wise and astute move that certainly will be approved by the high school coaches in New Jersey, who detested Chris Ash, Schiano’s predecessor. He also is going to try to bring some former players active in the coaching ranks back to Piscataway.

Schiano is talking with those who entered the transfer portal, trying to have them remain at Rutgers and buy into his vision of the future. Former starting QB Artur Sitkowski was the first to return to the fold. 

The recruiting period ends in two weeks. He is actively working the New Jersey connections he had established, along with returning to Florida, a place where he successfully mined talent in his first gig at RU.

While the sky is the limit in his mindset, the reality facing Schiano is grim. His positive energy and enthusiasm will be both proactive and entertaining. What would make the faithful happiest would be some wins next season in the Big Ten, ending the second longest drought in conference history. 

I, like those who cheer for the Scarlet Knights, can only hope that Schiano is the savior of Rutgers football. Next season isn’t soon enough.

Embattled Athletic Director Pat Hobbs and Schiano were all happiness at the Wednesday press conference. Maybe they can make their shotgun marriage work—Hobbs joked that they can meet for dinner on November 30, as each was hired on that date. But the fact is that Hobbs faces a daunting challenge to secure the necessary funding for the buildings and improvements Schiano made a mainstay of his demands. 

Despite the votes of confidence by Schiano and Rutgers President Robert Barchi, a faculty group has called for Hobbs to be fired for the way he had conducted himself in the past—including his profanity-laced rebuke of a reporter and the controversy surrounding the softball team. While this group has its own motives in procuring considerable pay raises and benefits for the RU professors, they also would have liked to have seen RU remain at the level it was in the 1960’s and 70’s—playing Lafayette, Lehigh, Colgate, Princeton and a host of other FCS teams. Which is never going to happen.

So there is a lot to watch as RU football goes forward into the 2020 season. How Schiano and Hobbs work as a team is the central tenet. Or does Hobbs leave and RU brings in a new man who can fundraise and watch over his department in a manner consistent with what observers expect. Stay tuned. The drama is just getting started.

The college football championships are upon us. Such garbage. For so many years the regular season meant so much. Now, claiming inequities in scheduling due to larger conference memberships, these extra games provide revenue and are a way to define the four entrants into the CFP as well as setting the bowl game lineups. 

I find it hard to believe that the formula used by the FCS, Division II and III cannot be workable for the big boys. High schools have their formulas in every state to determine champions. Why is it so difficult to add just 4 more teams to the mix? It can be sold to the bowl games who take the 5-8 teams on a rotating basis, notwithstanding the Rose Bowl’s insistence to playing only on January 1 when not in the CFP.

Alabama’s baffling loss to Auburn based on poor play and penalties put the Crimson Tide out the playoff picture. The bigger question is whether Tua Tagoavailoa returns for his senior year. He is on the record saying that if he was a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft, it “would be hard to pass up.” With his injury record, it is a big question whether an NFL team will take him in the top-10. Then what? Play and hope that his stock rises with an injury-free 2020 season? He has some tough decisions to make—which I believe will point him in the direction of the NFL.

In the FCS, most of the big names have survived or in the case of the top 8, received first round byes. Austin Peay, Sacramento State, Monmouth, James Madison, Northern Iowa, North Dakota State, Montana and Montana State, Illinois State, Central Arkansas, South Dakota State, Kennesaw State, Albany, Southeastern Louisiana, Nicholls and Northern Iowa are all in the hunt.

Division II saw top-ranked and first seed Valdosta State eliminated last weekend. Five teams ranked in the final Top 10 poll are gone. Slippery Rock plays Notre Dame in the quarter finals—Notre Dame of Ohio.

Mount Union, the D III school with 20 appearances in the championship game in 24 years, uncharacteristically lost in the second round. The other teams who have won the DIII prize in this century, Wisconsin-Whitewater and Mary Hardin-Baylor, play in Texas this weekend. Two schools from Illinois, Wheaton and North Central are still in the picture. Three Eastern schools, Salisbury, Muhlenberg and Delaware Valley also are still playing; Muhlenberg and Salisbury meet in Maryland. The last remaining school is St. John’s from Minnesota.

Rutgers men’s basketball went on the road for its first campus visit of the season. Inconsistent play in the first half and then again in the second half after an early rally put Coach Steve Pikiell’s squad ahead at Pitt in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge turned a potential victory into a defeat.

Up next is a road contest at Michigan State, the favorite in the Big Ten, even if Coach Tom Izzo’s troops haven’t fared as well in the early going. Then a home date against Wisconsin, followed by Seton Hall coming into the RAC next Saturday. The team will almost welcome the December 22nd game versus Lafayette followed by the December 30th contest with D III Caldwell before playing the remainder of the schedule against Big Ten foes. 

The inconsistency of play has been a hallmark of the early season. The blowout of Niagara was more the aberration than the norm. Plus I feel that the team will be much stronger at home, perhaps giving some of the top tier visitors a tough time, as opposed to struggling on the road. 

Yet this formula could put RU into play for an NIT bid if they can secure enough home victories in conference play plus sneak in a win or two on the road. It is early December—there are a lot of games to be played.

The topsy turvy nature of DI men’s basketball was demonstrated in the aforementioned ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Big 10 won the 2019 installment by a count of 8 to 6. The ACC leads the annual event started in 1999 by a 12-6 margin with 3 years ending up in a tie. 

#7 North Carolina was blown out at home by #6 Ohio State. The 74-49 score was somewhat indicative of how bad it was for the Tar Heels. #1 Louisville throttled visiting #4 Michigan. Purdue dominated #5 Virginia 69-40. #3 Maryland demolished Notre Dame by 21. NC State beat Wisconsin by 15. #10 Duke (the Blue Devils fell that much after the loss to Stephen F. Austin) won in East Lansing by an 87-75 margin over #11 Michigan State. Other winners besides these mentioned above and Pitt were ACC schools Miami and Georgia Tech, with Big Ten teams from Northwestern, Penn State, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota also on the plus side.

Unlike Big Ten football, which to me may be a tad overrated, the Big Ten has some formidable teams in men’s hoops. Conference play is starting soon for most schools—the 18 game schedule and then the tournament in Indianapolis will be a truer test of how good the conference schools really are.

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball update—they visit 3-4 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Niagara won its first game of the season, downing Norfolk State 65-61 on the road. I am following these two schools that Rutgers downed to see how good or bad they end up this year.

F&M men’s basketball, perennially a Centennial Conference powerhouse under legendary coach Glenn Robinson, has struggled out of the gate, perhaps due to the absence of Robinson from the sidelines hastened by his sudden retirement just before the team’s first game. Swarthmore, Johns Hopkins, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Muhlenberg and Ursinus may be stronger than the Diplomats. Washington College has given F&M fits as has Mc Daniel. Haverford is improved, too. Could the Diplomats tumble all the way to the CC cellar?

The Yankees have supposedly opened the vault to offer a gigantic contract to former Astros hurler Gerrit Cole. Cole has indicated that while he grew up in California and attended UCLA, he does not have a bias against playing in the East. The 29 year old has emerged as one of the top pitchers in baseball and he was a Yankees fan as a child. Can the Steinbrenner’s, GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone land this prized pitcher like they did with the recently-retired C.C. Sabathia or in years gone by, secure the likes of Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter? If they do sign Cole, this will undoubtedly change the dynamic within the American League and make the pennant-starved Yankees the prohibitive favorite to win the A.L. and the World Series—if they remain healthier than in 2019.

In other baseball news, the Tampa Bay Rays have given up on their plan to play some home contests in Montreal. Good. I hope that they can secure a long-term commitment from St. Petersburg or they head elsewhere after 2027. The team has been a good one, but the struggles at the box office are unending.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have agreed to purchase the stadium and land surrounding the ballpark while committing to remaining there through 2050. Whether the Angels redesign the existing ballpark—one of the uglier venues in my estimation—or build a gleaming new edifice and develop the land they purchased is a win win for all sides, including Major League Baseball.

On the pro football scene, the woeful Jets and Giants are in the news. Baffling those who thought the Jets were on track and would win the majority of their remaining games, they laid a big egg in Cincinnati as the Bengals thoroughly outplayed them en route to securing their first win of the season. The Jets hold the dubious distinction of giving Miami and Cincinnati their first wins of the year. And it is the Dolphins who visit Met Life Stadium this Sunday. Will the Jets team that handled Dallas and Oakland reemerge or will the team which lost to the Dolphins and Bengals be present?

With the Giants, they have a Monday Night Football game in Philadelphia against the 5-7 Eagles, who, amazingly are in the hunt for the NFC crown along with 6-7 Dallas. What makes this game interesting from both a national and local standpoint is the return of Eli Manning under center. Daniel Jones is nursing a high ankle sprain and is in a walking boot, necessitating Manning to play. I am rooting for Eli to rally the troops and stun the Eagles at the Linc. Probably wishful thinking, but it is a nice storyline about a woefully inept team.

Tom Brady and the Patriots host Pat Mahomes and Kansas City. Brady is suffering from an elbow injury, which is apparently impeding his throwing, something a 42 year old, even if he is the G.O.A.T., cannot readily overcome. Saddled with kicking problems when Nick Folk went out with an appendectomy, the Patriots are the worst 10-2 team I have seen in awhile.

An interesting game is Baltimore at Buffalo. Will the Ravens have a hangover from their last-second home win in the rain against the 49’ers? The Bills are a solid and potentially dangerous 9-3 team. This is a good test for both squads.

A final pro football note. My daughter and I are entrants in a football pool at an unnamed media conglomerate. We had never won the weekly pool, and we finished in the top three in the overall pool a couple of times. 

That changed the last two weeks. We have won two in a row. We sweated out the Ravens-Rams debacle because the Ravens needed to score a lot of points. This past week’s Seattle victory over the Vikings was even more nerve-racking. 

Nobody has won three in a row. I cannot be greedy, even if I would like to be. Dallas losing to Chicago Thursday night didn’t improve my chances (those Bears uniforms were hideous). 

This sudden bit of luck doesn’t make me an expert. Far from it. It sure is fun to have a horse in the race; it made a bleak Monday night after a Jets loss to the Bengals more exciting.

Those who know me would have seriously questioned my sanity if I had said I have never suffered from a lack of expertise.