Greetings from Piscataway, Julie Hermann.
Not sure how much you know about the Garden State, but native rock deity Bruce Springsteen’s first studio album was titled, “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.”
As you embark on your new position today as Rutgers athletic director, you don’t have to genuflect when Springsteen’s name is mentioned, but it would be wise to nod and smile — especially with any donors — when Springsteen and the E Street Band are mentioned.
Nothing Hermann does in her first 100 days will be more important than taking as many face-to-face meetings with donors as she can squeeze. Nothing.
For the longest time Rutgers athletics has been referred to as the Sleeping Giant of the East. That slumbering giant is about to enter the gigantic Big Ten. There is a lot of work to be done to get the State University of New Jersey’s athletics programs on par with those in the Big Ten.
There will be plenty of time for Hermann to evaluate staff. There will be ample opportunity to connect with student athletes. She does not have to articulate her message on campus immediately.
But the building of trust with donors and the Rutgers community cannot wait. Because if Hermann can’t win over the men and women with platinum cards, she can’t succeed.
And with the likes of Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio State becoming regular visitors to the metropolitan area, it would be exciting, invigorating and exceptional if Rutgers could compete at the level of those schools.
When Hermann was introduced on May 15 — before her past errors came to light — she was an unknown in the Northeast, making fund-raising an uphill venture to begin with.
Hermann faces a Rutgers community that has been battered and scarred these last three months, ever since former men’s basketball coach Mike Rice was fired for throwing basketballs at players’ heads and hurling gay slurs. The selection of Hermann was criticized and has been painful.
Herman needs to heal — and deal. Quickly.
Hermann’s office is in the Rutgers Athletic Center, which is a great place for her to start. The RAC could be mistaken for the largest funeral home in New Jersey. It is dark. It is usually quiet. It is in desperate need of life.
There is a $30 million-$50 million plan to renovate the RAC, build separate practice courts for the men’s and women’s basketball programs and construct a state-of-the-art center housing academic support as well as strength, conditioning and training facilities. It’s the cost of doing business in big-time college athletics.
Sources told The Post fund-raising efforts had raised about $15 million. But after former athletic director Tim Pernetti was forced to resign in the wake of the Rice fiasco, some donors rescinded their commitments while others placed their donations on hold.
The number now is about $7 milllion-8 million, or the combined annual salaries of Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer and his Michigan counterpart, Brady Hoke.
Consider some of the basketball programs that will come to the RAC in 2015 when Rutgers joins the Big Ten: Indiana, Michigan State, Maryland — these are hard core, big-time hoops programs.
Since you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, Rutgers can’t afford to be penny wise and dollar foolish. It needs to put its best foot forward. Which means Hermann needs to kick down some doors.
Here are other steps Hermann must take:
The women’s volleyball team still uses the College Avenue gym, affectionately known as The Barn. But some animal rights groups might protest if livestock were housed in that antiquated structure, no less a competitive college volleyball program.
Seven Big Ten programs finished in the Top 25 in women’s volleyball last season. Time for a new facility.
The women’s gymnastics team competes in the Livingston Rec Center, which looks like one of the ancillary rooms used for toddlers’ birthday parties at Chelsea Piers.
Five Big Ten programs finished in the final Top 25 women’s gymnastics rankings. Rutgers was 44th.
The men’s and women’s lacrosse teams use the Rutgers Stadium Complex. Calling that a complex is as misleading as calling Denny’s a restaurant. Those teams play on a field, which happens to be adjacent to Rutgers Stadium. It’s not a complex.
To make improvement in its facilities happen, Rutgers needs to make a significant commitment to adding support staff for resources. The Scarlet Knights have a top flight person in place to lead that undertaking — Doug Fillis, the senior associate AD for administration, who worked miracles at the United States Military Academy.
The mark of a great administrator is to evaluate personnel and allow talented people to do their jobs. Hermann would be wise to lean on Fillis, who knows the Northeast, while she makes her connections.
As traumatic as her arrival has been, Hermann has a chance to build some significant momentum in hurry. One of Pernetti’s last moves was to end the university’s sponsorship deal with Nelligan Sport Marketing. According to published reports, IMG College and Learfield Sports, two sports marketing heavy hitters, are in contention to replace Nelligan, which netted Rutgers about $30 million in media rights over the course of its 13-year relationship.
Sources said Rutgers can expect to receive a media rights deal worth about $50 million-70 million over the next 10 years. That could provide Hermann with some serious momentum.
Hermann, however, must start generating her own mojo. That starts today. After she puts out her personal pictures and coffee mug, she should start calling donors. In fact, she would be wise to dial first and decorate second.
She might begin by chatting up Springsteen. After all, she, too, now is The Boss.