Rutgers WBB Coach Search

Both Berube and Griffiths being mentioned as potential candidates …

Granted Rutgers will pay $1mi or more, Berube has a better job and will get a shot at UConn eventually. The Seton Hall coach would seem to be an uninspiring choice. Good coach, great dresser but hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament in 10 years. Meg Griffith (no “s” at the end) is spectacular but probably gets a better job. Carly Thibault-DuDonis from Fairfield would be a great choice. Rutgers job has a lot of upside.

I don’t think Rutgers gives any more guarantees or resources than top mid-major positions. Berube, Griffith, Reiss or DuDonis are names they would love to get but I don’t think they are capable of convincing them (in fact, people say DuDonis already declined the job). It would take an above average P4 program to get those names on board (think about something like Florida, that could be opening soon). In the end, Princeton, Columbia, RI and Fairfield are programs that now a days operate at a similar level of resources than Rutgers is promising (who knows if they actually deliver), so taking that job would not be a step up.

Anyways, get used to hearing those same names on every P4 coach opening happening this season (Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Boston College, and more to come). In the end, they are the best non P4 coaches in the country, so any mid P4 program will add them on their list.

I disagree with one point here. The Ivy League, MAAC and A10 don’t operate or have the same resources as the P4. Rutgers has more resources and is going to pay at least a million bucks a year. Maybe a bit more. Big conference, more NIL, nice arena and a strong history. There are only so many jobs like that.

I have no idea if she’d want it, but isn’t Shea Ralph more likely for UConn than Berube at this point?

Hard to imagine that any coach would think they could make Rutgers a contender in the Big 10, but the money would be attractive for sure.

I think this 1mil is misleading. Sources are saying Rutgers is offering 500k of rev share for wbb, so I doubt they go up to 1mil as a coach salary. Mid-low tier P4 have coach salaries of 400k-500k. This is the same level that top mid-major coaches are right now. So I don’t see the attractive.

Rutgers is a program where WBB has been almost completely abandoned in the last 10 years. Right now, they get commits that use the program as a trampoline to get to better P4 teams. Their players are continuously hitting the portal every season. That is a hard dynamic to change.

And no, the overall P4 team operates with more resources than Ivy, MAAC and A10 teams. But top teams of these mid-majors: Princeton, Columbia, Fairfield, Richmond and RI now a days operate with similar resources that the bottom P4 teams in wbb. You would be surprised how little a bunch of P4 teams invest in wbb.

I think is going to be very hard for Shea Ralph to leave Vandy in the short run. Even for UConn. The rumor is that most coaches do not want to take over UConn because they don’t want to be the one “after Geno”.

The candidates mentioned probably make $400-500k. A good source told me Rutgers will pay up to $1,250,000. The top coaches in the league all make $1mil or more.

And Carla is making what at Princeton? 150-250k?

Kreeeker- Let me punctuate this by saying that despite my handle, I am as big an ivy fan. As my friend John McEnroe would say, you can’t possibly be serious. Rutgers will pay between 1-1.25 million. The NIL and rev share will be around 1.3 million. They have the best practice facilities in the country and I have been to most. Grentz won it all and Stringer went to a Championship game. Carly has a great situation at Fairfield and is definitely on UConn hold. Megan has emotional ties to Columbia. Carla will only leave Princeton for UConn, if she leaves at all. Rutgers is a far, far better job than all of them and can compete for Natties and finish top 3 in the Big Ten with regularity. It is Wisconsin now, but with the right coach will segue over to Ohio State. You think that Richmond and URI invest as Rutgers will tomorrow? I have a bridge to sell you.

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How does 1.3 mil rev share and NIL compare to the rest of the league?

If these numbers are true, then it’s a different story. I heard 500k in rev share. If the numbers are 1-1.25 mil in salary and 1.3mil in rev share, that puts them in the top half of the B10 for sure and changes lot of things. I still think that flipping things from a 1-16 regular season is really tough and money doesn’t solve problems by itself but it definitely helps

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Add Penn State to the list of teams who are in need of a new coach. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tyler Cordell got a call for one of these openings.

She has a little baby. I dont think she would have the bandwidth.

Tyler would be a great candidate to replace Meg at some point.

Not that Cordell couldn’t do it, but it would be unusual for your first head coaching job to be at a Power5 program.

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Especially for a mid major assistant. Cordell would be a good candidate to replace a mid major coach who takes a P4 job.

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It’s hard for me to see them somewhere else, but it might get to the point where life decisions move them out of manhattan.

Well, looks like Rutgers hired Gary Redus II

For any coach who’s built something at the Ivy level, making Ivy Madness, the NCAAs, the job may be better than it gets credit for. Less money than the Power Four, sure - and with all the Ivy admission hurdles with no scholarships. But genuine job security, less existential pressure, and no roster-churning portal chaos every spring.

On the women’s side, the Ivy League has become a legitimate mid-major force, five programs in the top 140, real NCAA at-large bid potential, and a ceiling that puts a good team in the Round of 32 conversation and, with some luck, hopefully soon the Sweet Sixteen. The next rung up, like Banghart’s job at UNC, brings more resources, but even Courtney hasn’t cleared the Sweet Sixteen. And beyond that tier, there are maybe eight genuine national contenders in any given year. That’s a lot of fan pressure, NIL headaches, agent calls, and portal turnover to absorb, just to compete for the second weekend Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight rounds.

Worth noting: a top Ivy women’s job is already a step up for most non-Power Four head coaches, and compares favorably to more than a few Power Four gigs. In what may be a golden age of Ivy women’s basketball, these are among the most solid and underappreciated positions in the sport, places where a coach can focus on development and all the reasons they got into coaching in the first place. Sometimes ivy is better than the perceived green grass next door.

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