Fred Hill's Steak of Turmoil

[General Mike]

is ready to be served. Well Done.

[General Mike]

Come on. No one wants to hear a story about the insubordinate inept head coach of the Rutgers' Men's Basketball team?

[timmynausea]

I read the article about it earlier. My favorite part was when he was seen hunched down in his car after specifically being told not to attend the next few baseball games.

[Logan]

He basically pulled a Bobby V after being told to stay the hell away by the AD while his "outburst" was investigated. With this news, we also found out that our top recruit next year has asked the AD to be released from his LOI, and our best player is likely to transfer. Huge clusterfuck.

I was all for him being fired after this dismal season, but it came down to the school (already in terrible financial shape) owing FHJ $1.8 million over the next 3 seasons thanks to a terrible extension signed by the prior AD. The school would be dealing with a political and economic mess, so I understood why they retained him. But this screams of "we're using this to get your ass out the door cheaply" and they need to do it quickly before an already suffering program has almost nothing left. They're investigating whether he can be fired for cause...if they can't do that quickly, my approach would be to offer him $500k to walk away, otherwise come after me in court for your $1.8 million while you sit on the sidelines not working and your reputation gets even worse.

[General Mike]

I agree with you Logan. Hopefully they can offer the next coach a respectable salary for a Big East coach.

[Logan]

I'll just be happy with a next coach.

[General Mike]

Nothings going to get accomplished with another 500K a year guy.

[lcjjdnh]

I am a big Seton Hall fan, but I always liked Hill because he graduated from my high school--and I always went to his basketball camp growing up. Oddly enough, he is the second person from my pretty small town (about 13,000 people) to coach basketball at Rutgers; Kevin Bannon also graduated from my high school--and also had plenty of his own problems. Guess we have pretty bad luck producing coaches.

In some ways, I do hope you guys manage to turn things around (and that Willard works out for us). There was a year or two when both Seton Hall and Rutgers seemed to put things together that produced some pretty good rivalry games. I remember going to one game at the RAC (maybe 2003-04 when you made the NIT finals and we made the tournament) that was a real blast.

[Logan]

It really is unfortunate that St. John's, Seton Hall, and Rutgers are all struggling so bad now. SHU has been the closest and SJU should get a big bump under Lavin, at least initially. Not sure how Rutgers can get better at this point.

Fun fact: if this ends up getting Hill fired, the last 3 Rutgers basketball coaches will have gotten fired for the following reasons:

1. Making players shoot free throws naked
2. Getting caught in a snowstorm and missing a game after being honored at a ceremony at his prior job
3. Hiding in his car while trying to watch a baseball game after being told to stay away.

Great program we have there.

[Lathum]

so is the thread title supposed to say Steak or Streak? It's really confusing.

[lcjjdnh]

I also must say that although the RAC is not the most comfortable place to watch a game, it can be a pretty awesome environment when it's packed. I seem to recall reading it's the second-loudest arena in the country behind Florida's. Another reason it'd be nice if SHU (with the Pru Center), SJU (with MSG), and Rutgers (with the RAC) could all do well--got some pretty great places to watch college basketball around here.

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by Lathum

so is the thread title supposed to say Steak or Streak? It's really confusing.

It;s Steak. One of Hill's former players mentioned it in a facebook rant a couple months ago.

Rutgers Basketball Is Frying Up A "Steak Of Turmoil" - Rutgers Scarlet Knights - Deadspin

[Logan]

Likely out by the end of the week, and all the potential player movement is on hold.

Scarlet Scuttlebutt | Rutgers Football, Basketball, Baseball | Keith Sargeant and Paul Franklin's blog | MyCentralJersey | Home News Tribune | Courier News

[General Mike]

Mike Rice Jr?

[Logan]

Seems to be the choice. I like it...young guy, NYC connections, did some nice work recruiting as an assistant at Pitt, and he's gotten Robert Morris to the tourney a couple years in a row. Plus we all know his boys beat Villanova in that first round game.

But please only call him Mike Rice haha.

[Logan]

As I read up more on Rice through stuff posted on Rivals, I thought this was a pretty interesting connection: De'Sean Butler was dying to come to Rutgers, but the previous regime wouldn't give him a scholarship. Saint Josephs was one of the few to be offering him, and he was set to go there but three other players jumped on their offers quicker and there just wasn't room for him. He ended up at WVU and the rest is history. Mike Rice, of course, was the guy who was responsible for Butler's recruitment at Saint Joe's.

[General Mike]

He must be off his meds

Daily Targum - Hill labels impending dismissal as rumor in team meeting

[Samdari]

So, after all the good coaches are hired, they're going to fire Hill because he yelled at J.R. Inman?

And (here's the funny part) ruined his NBA chances? Uhh, J.R. those were kind of ruined at birth.

[Logan]

Not sure why you're making a connection to Inman...

Apparently Freddie turned down a 600k buyout.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Logan

Not sure why you're making a connection to Inman...

Apparently Freddie turned down a 600k buyout.

The thread title refers to a post Inman made, linked to above - which from what I can tell is the genesis of his imminent firing, weeks after they decided his performance did not warrant his replacement.

Thought that might make it relevant.

[Logan]

No, not at all...(edit: as in, not at the genesis of the firing)

Originally Posted by Logan

I was all for him being fired after this dismal season, but it came down to the school (already in terrible financial shape) owing FHJ $1.8 million over the next 3 seasons thanks to a terrible extension signed by the prior AD. The school would be dealing with a political and economic mess, so I understood why they retained him. But this screams of "we're using this to get your ass out the door cheaply" and they need to do it quickly before an already suffering program has almost nothing left. They're investigating whether he can be fired for cause...

So you have this public outburst, insubordination, not keeping the athletic dept in the loop on failed drug tests, not telling the AD that your players have requested transfers, and whatever else we don't know about all being rolled up into "a pattern of conduct" that allows him to be fired for cause in accordance with his contract. With no outlay of the $1.8 million.

At the very least, even if we don't end up saving a dollar, with all of this out in the open, the political fallout will be nil as no one will be able to make the claim that he shouldn't have been fired.