The Fred Hill situation ended about as poorly as possible in Rutgers last month. The Knights needed to get someone in there and they needed to do it ASAP. With Eddie Jordan and many others rejecting their overtures, Rutgers finally landed their man in Robert Morris’ Mike Rice, Jr., according to reports.
Report: Rutgers Goes With Robert Morris’ Mike Rice, Jr. As Next Basketball Coach
Rice’s body of work includes stints as an assistant at Marquette, St. Joseph and Pittsburgh and an impressive three-year reign at Robert Morris, which went 73-30 and made two NCAA Tournament appearances under his direction. Rarely, however, has a head man made the leap from the low-major Northeast Conference directly to the Big East. The last was Kevin Bannon, who went from Rider to Rutgers in 1997 and flamed out four years later.
Early reaction from Rutgers fans is...tepid excitement. Rice could be a great hire...or another Fred Hill.
Rutgers is taking on quite an awful risk with Rice, who could be the next big thing, or blow up spectacularly in their faces just like Hill did. The pressure will be on the new staff immediately to make up ground with key class of 2011 junior recruits like Tyrone Johnson, Myles Davis, and Myles Mack, as recruiting is (once again) believed to be a strength of the incoming coaches. The status of one-time Hill signee Andrew “Red” Nicholas (York, PA) is yet to be determined. There should be plenty of available playing time to go around for any signees.
Keep an eye on On The Banks for more updates and opinion on the Rice hire.
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