PISCATAWAY, N.J.: As the Big East was being picked apart, Rutgers was looking for a way out and a new place to show off a football program that has been resurrected in the past decade.
Not only did Rutgers find that escape hatch, but the Scarlet Knights also ended up in one of the most desirable neighborhoods in college sports.
Rutgers joined the Big Ten on Tuesday, leaving the Big East behind and cashing in on the school’s investment in a football team that only 10 years ago seemed incapable of competing at the highest level.
The move follows Maryland’s announcement a day earlier that it was heading to the Big Ten in 2014. The additions give the Big Ten 14 schools and a presence in lucrative East Coast markets.
Rutgers announced its decision Tuesday at a campus news conference attended by Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, Rutgers President Robert Barchi and Athletic Director Tim Pernetti.
“The Big Ten is really where Rutgers belongs,” Barchi said. “This is not just a good fit for us athletically, it’s a good fit for us academically and as an institution.”
Rutgers has been competing in the Big East since 1991. But the league has been torn up by conference realignment, losing three key members last year.
Pernetti had insisted all along that Rutgers would land on its feet, that being a member of the prestigious American Association of Universities and residing in the largest media market in the country would ensure the school wouldn’t be cast aside as the landscape of college sports changed.
The Scarlet Knights landed in the best possible spot. A spot that seemed unthinkable a decade ago, when Rutgers football was a Big East cellar-dweller.
Rutgers left its entry date ambiguous, though clearly the Big Ten and the school would like it to line up with Maryland.
The Big East requires 27 months’ notification for departing members. Rutgers will have to negotiate a deal with the Big East to leave early, the way Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia have done. Whenever Rutgers enters the Big Ten, it will be the culmination of one of the most remarkable turnarounds in college sports.
In 2002, the Scarlet Knights football team went 1-11 under second-year coach Greg Schiano.
The team, however, steadily improved as the university made the huge financial commitment necessary to support major college football. Facilities were upgraded, the on-campus stadium was expanded and as Schiano started to win, his salary began to rise into the millions. Not everyone on campus embraced the idea of turning Rutgers into a big-time football school, and it did come with a price.
The expansion and renovation projects to the stadium cost $102 million. The school had hoped to raise the money through private donors, but fell short. Rutgers scaled back plans for the expansion and issued bonds and borrowed money to complete the project. In 2006, the school had to cut six varsity sports. As the football team has become a consistent winner, the athletic department has received tens of millions in subsidies from the university.
Schiano left for the NFL last year, and Rutgers hired longtime assistant Kyle Flood, who has the Scarlet Knights poised to take make another big step. No. 21 Rutgers (9-1) is in position to win its first Big East championship and go to a BCS game for the first time.
In the Big Ten, the revenue Rutgers receives from the league’s television and media deals should triple in the short term and could be more than that in years to come.
