PISCATAWAY — The timing couldn’t be better for Rutgers University to have its football program lauded for academic achievement.
Four days after Michigan State President Lou Anna K. Simon emphasized that academics – not just athletics — would play a large role in determining what schools would be a good fit to join the Big Ten, Rutgers’ marquee program achieved the NCAA’s highest academic honor.
“”I think Rutgers has always had a great reputation academically — I know they have – not only here in New Jersey but nationally,” Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano said after his program topped all Football Bowl Subdivision members with a score of 992. “”I think as we do this as a football program and as an athletic department, then it also gives our athletes a great reputation. That I think is important as well.”
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Michigan State’s Simon, who chairs the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors, stressed that academics would play a large role in determining what schools would be a good fit to join the Big Ten.
“”This is more than teams playing teams,” she said. “”I can’t emphasize that enough about the Big Ten and the approach the Big Ten is taking.”
If academics is key a criteria for admission, Rutgers fits the Big Ten profile in that, like each of the 11 current Big Ten institutions, it is a member of the Association of American Universities. The Big Ten, the only Division I conference to have all its schools affiliated with the AAU, is reportedly looking at institutions that are members of the association consisting of 63 leading research universities.
“”With much more sophisticated analysis of the sense of ‘fit,’ but academics has not been much of the conversation (by the media),” Simon said. “”Most of the people in the room were provosts before they were presidents, so it’s a group that is perfectly capable of making very sophisticated judgments on academics. If anything, we obsess about that.”
That may be good news for Rutgers, which is widely believed to be on the shortlist of schools under consideration by the Big Ten.
That’s a nice article and I guess it fits what I asked for. It’s from the hometown paper trying to justify why it should be in the Big 10. That’s not really what I was looking for. I should be more specific. I’m sure I can find articles in Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Syracuse and Conneticut why those programs should be justified to be in the Big 10.
What I’m talking about is national writers that are writing about why Rutgers is being talked about for inclusion into the Big 10. My fault. All of those articles talk about Rutgers opening up the New York market. Are you denying that this is the reason everyone thinks Rutgers is going there??? C’mon!!!