I wrote frequently during the college football season about the stunning season that the Rutgers Scarlet Knights had and, while it’s nice to see the football team being taken seriously and that will clearly benefit the school in many ways, I have to wonder if this isn’t a big case of misplaced priorities:
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Some of Rutgers University’s assistant football coaches are receiving hefty raises this year even as the rest of the university is laying off workers and cutting programs amid a state funding shortfall.
A review of employment contracts shows double-digit percentage raises this school year for coaching assistants, many of whom already make six-figure salaries, The Record of Bergen County reported in Sunday newspapers.
Nine coaches are making $115,000 to $185,000 this year. They’re also each getting a $7,200 annual car stipend and an additional one month’s pay, a reward for the Scarlet Knights going to the Texas Bowl last month.
Last year proved historic for Rutgers football. The team was ranked since week three, tied a school record for victories and won its first-ever bowl game.
But while the Scarlet Knights have been reveling in gridiron glory, state budget cuts have forced the university as a whole to eliminate 825 jobs and cancel at least 459 course sections to make up for an $80 million budget shortfall.
This is, of course, an issue that is frequently debated in colleges all across the country. And, in some sense, it goes to the question of what whether the benefit that Rutgers, or any other school, receives from having a competitive football team is outweighed by the cost of diverting money from academics to athletics. Until recently, academics usually got a higher priority at Rutgers, but now, with a winning team, it looks like things are shifting the other way.
Experts, though, say it usually takes consistent winning seasons for football programs to start turning a profit.
Still, Mulcahy says football is raising Rutgers’ profile and generating more attention for the university from alumni, applicants and prospective donors.
“If you want to be excellent you have to be competitive, and that’s what we’re doing,” Mulcahy said. “It’s all part of my plan to get to a point where we’re consistently in the Top 25.”
Yes, but at what cost ? One of the things that surprised me a little bit when I left New Jersey after graduating was the fact that Rutgers had a very good academic reputation, even in a state like Virginia that boasts schools like UVA and William & Mary. As much as I loved watching the Knights last year, I’d hate to see that reputation tarnished.
