ave atque vale

(read on)

 The "Mulcahy-McCormick Big East"

-- Shakespeare, Henry the Fifth

"The new Big East will consist of 16 members, all of whom will compete in basketball. By the 2005-6 season, the football-playing members will include Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Syracuse, Rutgers, Connecticut, Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida."

-- New York Times, October 30, 2003

 

The greatest year in Rutgers football history was 1961, when Mason Gross was president of the university. The team went undefeated and was nationally ranked. Center Alex Kroll was a consensus All-American. Here is a list of Rutgers' opponents in that year, with their current U.S. News college academic rankings:

In 2003, after thirteen years under Michael Bongiovanni, Floyd Bragg, Francis L. Lawrence, Robert Mulcahy, Eugene O'Hara, Ronald Giaconia, and Richard McCormick, the university has undergone a substantial change in both athletics policy and academic stature. Here is a list of Rutgers' football opponents in the Mulcahy-McCormick Big East, with U.S. News academic rankings:

West Virginia 158 (3rd tier)

We are unable to provide average SAT scores for these schools, as we obtain our SAT information from Princeton Review. Three members of the Mulcahy-McCormick Big East (South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati) failed to make this year's Princeton Review list of the top 351 colleges and universities in the United States. So we are without a complete set of comparative statistics.

 

McCormick era football recruit.

Newspapers reported that this individual, one NATE ROBINSON, was unable to achieve the ludicrously low 820 SAT score needed to play for the University of Miami. The same newspapers reported that he was, however, more than able to satisfy Rutgers admission standards.

He is expected to benefit immensely from the McCormick Magic program that permits even "student athletes" in the bottom 14% of the nation academically to pursue a Rutgers education with UNQUESTIONED INTEGRITY. As a response to sceptics who argue that "students" with scores in the 820 range have no business whatever being in college, president McCormick has directed his office to compile a complete list of Rutgers courses that may be successfully passed by entering students with 5th grade reading comprehension. Journalists and others interested in obtaining the list may e-mail R.L McCormick. Mention "McCormick Magic" in the subject line.

Applicants with 800 SAT scores who do not play a sport, but who would like to be given equal consideration in the admissions process so as to attend Rutgers to pursue a curriculum identical to that of NATE ROBINSON should e-mail the Equal Treatment in Admissions Office. Mention "Nate Robinson" in the subject line.

For an account of why individuals like Nate Robinson are being exploited in the name of a cynical and rapacious commercialism, and why some faculty members are not ashamed about being complicit , click here on Academic Oversight Committee.

For an account of how schools like Miami go about recruiting athletes for their football franchise -- giving a vivid picture of the world that Richard McCormick , Robert Mulcahy, and their Scarlet R boosters want Rutgers to join -- click here on Willie Williams Visits Miami.

-- Shakespeare, Henry the Fifth

Can Rutgers be like UConn?

On Tuesday, April 13, an undergraduate named Christopher Swasey -- not a member of Rutgers 1000, and unknown to any of its members still on campus -- wrote a Targum op ed on why the emphasis on commercialized sports at Rutgers has brought about an observable measure of academic and intellectual decline. 

Swasey was viciously attacked on several Rutgers boosters boards for having suggested that there was any connection between student hooliganism and commercialized Div IA sports. On the same boards, other boosters were celebrating UConn's glorious "double victory" in a spring basketball tournament, and looking avidly forward to the day when Rutgers could "be like UConn."

For your edification and enjoyment, the original Targum op ed and a sampling of posts from these Rutgers boosters boards. Just click on the face of the typical UConn student in the picture.

Vacancy on the Board of Governors

A Tiny Suggestion for Governor James McGreevey

John J. Burzichelli

Albio Sires

Joseph J. Roberts

John S. Wisniewski

-- Shakespeare, Henry the Fifth

What They Said about Neuheisel

"To get the very best, you have to play in, and pay in, the market. The same thing applies whether you are trying to recruit and maintain faculty in the history department or a coach in football. The market, of course, is vastly different in those areas but the same basic imperatives apply - to get the best - and in Rick Neuheisel, we have the best."

- UW President Richard L. McCormick

  Wednesday, October 9, 2002

NCAA slaps Neuheisel

Huskies coach, former school penalized for recruiting violations

By Ted Miller

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter

Washington coach Rick Neuheisel's smooth charisma is a powerful recruiting asset in a football prospect's living room.

He charms parents. He connects with young football stars in ways many coaches can't. He wins trust.

As a result, he has pulled in nationally rated recruiting classes since he left Colorado and took over the Huskies' program in 1998.

The NCAA's Committee on Infractions took that asset away yesterday for eight months when it presented its report on recruiting violations that occurred at Colorado from 1995-98, when Neuheisel was coach.

While Colorado was placed on two years probation, had its scholarships reduced by five and had its recruiting visits restricted, Neuheisel was prohibited from participating in any off-campus recruiting until May 31, 2003.

The committee found Neuheisel repeatedly broke recruiting rules during his tenure in Boulder, and Colorado failed to properly monitor his activity.

"What made this case major were not only the calculated attempts to gain a recruiting advantage, but also the number and pattern of the violations," the report said. "On several occasions, attempts to be 'creative' in recruiting only resulted in 'creative' violations." . . .

This is the second time Neuheisel has been sanctioned for recruiting violations since arriving at UW. He was found guilty of a number of secondary violations shortly after he arrived in 1999. . . .

The committee also found violations involving the providing of clothing to recruits, contacts with athletic representatives, excessive reimbursements for travel expenses for recruits and improprieties involving recruiting entertainment expenses.

   "The former president at the University of Washington, McCormick believes academics and big-time athletics can go hand-in-hand.

'A successful athletic program can raise the university's profile in the public eye,' said McCormick."

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has placed the University of Washington on probation for two years, taken a scholarship away from the men's basketball team, and imposed other penalties after an assistant coach admitted to violating the association's rules on recruiting. The decision, announced on Thursday, comes as Washington faces further NCAA scrutiny for the actions of its recently fired football coach, Rick Neuheisel.

Last year, a rival coach reported the assistant basketball coach, Cameron Dollar, to the NCAA for having had impermissible conversations with parents and prospects, impermissible contacts with club coaches, and improper telephone conversations. The other coach also said that Mr. Dollar had arranged to sit next to prospects on airplane flights and had attended recruiting events from which college coaches were banned.

Mr. Dollar did not contest the charges, and the NCAA and Washington settled the case through the association's "summary disposition" process. Officials agreed that Mr. Dollar had been involved in 13 major and 3 minor violations of NCAA rules. . . . According to a report from the NCAA's Division I Committee on Infractions, the university docked Mr. Dollar a month's pay and forbade him to recruit off-campus for a year.

The Pacific-10 Conference, the only league with its own rules-enforcement staff, also placed the university on probation and required Washington officials to explain whether Mr. Dollar should be retained. . . .

Mr. Dollar's situation casts an ominous shadow on the university, which fired Mr. Neuheisel last month after he admitted to winning large sums of money by betting on the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Gambling on sporting events, especially collegiate events, is strictly forbidden under NCAA rules, and Washington may yet be penalized for Mr. Neuheisel's actions.

If the coach is found to have committed "major" violations of NCAA rules, the university will be subject to the NCAA's "repeat violator" sanctions, meaning that any penalties will be harsher.

Lorenzo Romar, the Huskies' head coach of men's basketball, said the university would not appeal the NCAA penalties.

 

"McCormick, the former president of the University of Washington, has seen successful college sports up close. "

-- Shakespeare, Henry the Fifth

"I have one thing to say to that: 'Beat BC!'"

--R.L. McCormick, at a Boston meeting where several older alumni asked why Rutgers was promoting commercialized athletics at the expense of academic and intellectual distinction.

"We expected Camelot. We got the University of South Florida."

--Rutgers alumnus, commenting on letter from Richard L. McCormick to Trenton politicians inviting them to watch football games with him in the "Presidential Skybox" at Rutgers Stadium.

"The University of Washington is Dick McCormick's Chappaquidick."

-- Member of RU1000 Faculty Council

"This is not over."

--RU1000 member

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