Rutger Sports--Chicken vs.Egg

Are non-revenue sports cut because all the money is spent by football and basketball on the ever important facilities? Or is it that the institution has become depending upon the taxpayers to foot the bill for athletic programs? It is rare that you see Penn State or Texas cutting sports as their football programs pay for the other sports including the requirement of Title IX (I X out men's non-revenue sports).

Rutgers is play catch up in the growth of revenue sports but should be taken to task for allowing the situation to get this bad over the years. With a campus on the edge of the largest metro area in the nation Rutgers could have an athletic balance sheets that resemble those of a major sports power rather than an also ran. Paying Schiano a million dollars per year is a step in the right direction and while he has not gotten the Scarlet Knights a signature win he has made the team respectable for the first time since the Carter administration.

The outcome of a close football game may appear to have been decided in the final seconds but, the final score may also be a result of opportunities missed earlier in the game. In the same way, the lack of vision by the Rutgers administration years ago may have doomed these six teams more than a budget crisis in Trenton.