Rutgers President Shows His Cards: Not on Board for Fall Football, Insults President Trump for Advocating for Return of B1G Football
Jonathan Holloway, President of Rutgers accuses Trump of 'cheap politics' and questions the national importance of B1G football:
"I mean, it's just cheap politics," he told NJ Advance Media. "I want that person to be paying attention to matters of national security and national importance. This does not rise to that level -- not for a half-second. And even if it was a president that I was completely in love with that was doing this, I'd still think it would be cheap politics."
"If I'm wrong because I was erring on the side of safety, I don't have a problem with that," said Holloway, who played football at Stanford, where he was teammates with Cory Booker, now a U.S. senator representing New Jersey. "I don't think I'm wrong, though. I just don't think it. And if I had to put money down, we're going to see some radical changes within a month -- no later than October. I'm really worried about what we're heading toward, on just college campuses in general, not just sports. It's deeply concerning."
Here we have a B1G university president (unfortunately Rutgers counts) insulting the President of the United States, stating a billion dollar B1G football/sports industry does not rise to national importance, not for a half-second, and cryptically speculating on 'some radical changes within a month - no later than October' without providing specifics. Holloway sounds like he is trying his own hand at 'cheap politics'. This guy is one of the 14 people with a vote on whether or not to allow B1G athletes to make their own choice to play or not this fall. Meanwhile, the athletes' peers have the opportunity to play the sport they love, improve their skills, market themselves for NFL teams, and improve their chances of huge paydays in the NFL. High school football is happening. Youth football is happening. Professional football is happening. But guys like Holloway will not allow college athletes to play football; a group that the majority already believes is unfairly exploited in the current system. The irony is truly remarkable. Many of you openly dislike our nation's President - for valid reasons that I respect. But, a university president arrogantly speculating with a very political stance, while accusing the President of the USA of playing cheap politics is embarrassing. Holloway made one thing clear: he does not think he is wrong. He just doesn't think it. Bringing in Rutgers continues to cause embarrassment for the conference.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:45 AM ^
Just because things are happening doesn't make them right... Sturgis Motorcycle rally ring a bell??
September 11th, 2020 at 11:50 AM ^
Indy Pete,
1. The B1G presidents don't have a say in youth football, etc. So fairness isn't an issue. Rutgers isn't allowing youth football *but* prohibiting Rutgers football. Come on.
2. Why is it less risky to have a gathering of 10 people on your immediate block, but might be riskier to have a gathering of 10 people who all flew in/drove in from 9 different locations to join you? Over and over ten times during the Fall/Winter?
3. If POTUS decides - during a global pandemic and economic crisis - to weigh in on college football, is the act of calling that out as political necessarily political as well? Can we not call bullshit bullshit anymore?
September 11th, 2020 at 12:22 PM ^
ThWard -
There were several solid critiques in response to my post (and naturally, several childish ones), but yours may be the best. Thanks for answering my questions. I think you have made excellent points on all three of these and have sufficiently answered my questions. Thanks for the thoughtful response!
September 11th, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
I completely agree that this was a political play by the President. Everything right now is a political play by Trump and by Biden.
Just for some context though... Presidential involvement in sports has happened quite a bit over the last 100 years. Some during WWII, some doing the cold war. I really don't find this to be that out of the ordinary from a historical viewpoint. Everyone from both sides are just getting their butts hurt by what the candidate they don't support does.
Here is an interesting article that lists a lot of the presidential involvement in sports over the years. Both from Republicans and Democrats.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-presidents-who-made-americas-sports?ref=scroll
And one example of Roosevelt calling on colleges to change the sport. If this didn't happen, we might not even have football today.
President Theodore Roosevelt could very well be the most important figure in the history of American football. Roosevelt used the bully pulpit of the Oval Office in 1905 to save the game from calls for a ban on the sport that had killed 18 players in 1905 alone. Instead, T.R. called the heads of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to Washington and told them to clean up the game.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:51 AM ^
It's not really happening to the extent you portray. Lots of leagues are straight-up canceled and as pointed out, games are being canceled or postponed every week.
Pro football a different animal and I worry we're going to see outbreaks among the fans.
This has absolutely nothing to do with "fairness." It's galling to see millions of people completely unconcerned about a freaking global pandemic involving a virus we still don't know all that much about.
September 11th, 2020 at 12:25 PM ^
Great point on the fairness question! I agree with that logic.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:54 AM ^
And the Biden ads blaming Trump for empty stadiums isn’t cheap politics?
September 11th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
And the non sequitur?
September 11th, 2020 at 12:17 PM ^
That ad shows the stark difference between what we continue to endure and what Europe is largely done with. They’re playing sports right now with people in the seats, we aren’t. And that is a direct result of Trump’s ‘leadership’. It’s a fair ad...
September 11th, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
From his perspective he's correct, nobody cares about Rutgers football nationally! And he's also right about Trump playing cheap politics - there's a reason he doesn't care if the Pac 12 comes back but is pandering to the Big 10.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^
It's true. He's using trying to create a diversion and pull votes in these swing states. "Hey vote for me football fan because I said B10 football should come back! Ignore the almost 200k deaths and miles-long list of other shit I pulled."
College football is something the federal government should stay out. But I'm sure some people are going to neg me for this, forgetting all of a sudden that the GOP was supposed to be all about small federal government as one of their major principals...doesn't matter when the Apprentice host does it.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:38 AM ^
Really? And you don’t think the big ten is politicizing this either to hammer this on Trump for the elections’ sake. Everything is “cheap politics” whether you want to admit it or not
September 11th, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^
Time to take off the conspiracy hat
September 11th, 2020 at 11:55 AM ^
No I don't think the "big ten' is an anti-Trump monolith. The Rutgers president could be or it's possible he is not a cheerleader and looks at each topic individually and thinks Trump is wrong on this particular subject (the president should not be concerned with big ten football), in which he is objectively correct.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
I think the big ten is looking at the lawsuits they might get hit by if something goes wrong trying to play football
September 11th, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
Absolutely not, you conspiracy nut.
You honestly believe that all of these schools are willing to swallow hundreds of millions of dollars, piss of their donors and fans, just to troll Trump. You guys have lost it, man. Come back to reality, it sucks, but it's better than living in whatever world you're stuck in.
September 11th, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
Hearing this today. All B1G are pedophiles conspiring to undermine the President and install a bunch of pedophile academics in place of the federal government
-Q
September 11th, 2020 at 2:25 PM ^
I'm not sure if this is the craziest or stupidest thing I've read on the Internet today. B10 giving up hundreds of millions of dollars to mess with Trump...Wow that cult Kool-aid must be delicious!
September 11th, 2020 at 4:03 PM ^
They're just stupid, it is what it is.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:42 AM ^
Yeah the diversion is exactly right.
Which is why he's been silent about the PAC-12 cancelling their season. California, Oregon, and Washing are all "Liberal" states, so he doesn't give a shit about them.
If he was really being genuine, there would be calls for the MAC and Mountain West conferences to start playing again. But because they're either less popular (MAC schools) or in "Liberal" states (MWC), there's gonna be crickets.
September 11th, 2020 at 12:01 PM ^
Exactly. That's part of his warped mentality.
It's why he's also desperately pushing any sort of vaccine to come out quickly (no matter how dangerous) because he thinks that would completely make up for the nearly 200,000 deaths and the million times he continued to tell the public that the virus was completely under control. Remember that the hot April weather will kill it off.
POS
September 11th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^
Don’t ever go full Rutger.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:28 AM ^
This is why they don't deserve the "s"
rutger they remain
September 11th, 2020 at 11:29 AM ^
Rather not play and be wrong than play and be wrong. - said many times on MGoBlog
September 11th, 2020 at 11:29 AM ^
He's not wrong. Whether you're pro- or anti-Trump, there's really only one thing to glean from all his tweets about college football: there must be something in it for him. In other words, cheap politics.
September 11th, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
Exactly. Trump won't move a muscle for anything he doesn't see a personal benefit in doing. That's how he has always been, and will remain.
It is what it is.
September 11th, 2020 at 2:14 PM ^
Sounds like any other politician.
September 11th, 2020 at 3:27 PM ^
Not all politicians would spend their time tweeting about college football during a pandemic, though.
September 11th, 2020 at 9:36 PM ^
Or facilitating peace in the middle east garnering nobel peace prize nominations.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:31 AM ^
He's correct, and personally I agree with everything he said.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:32 AM ^
"and cryptically speculating on 'some radical changes within a month - no later than October' without providing specifics."
How deep down the conspiracy drain do you have to go to not understand that he's talking about an increase in cases and the impact it will have on college campuses?
September 11th, 2020 at 11:40 AM ^
If he feels this way, then why is he allowing Rutgers to remain open with in person classes?
https://www.rutgers.edu/status
It does not appear that his actions here correlate with his words.
That does not appear to be erring on the side of caution, that is erring on the side of cash. These university presidents won’t put their money where their mouth is.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:46 AM ^
I'd guess because education is the priority of universities, not football. So allocating all of the resources possible to fulfilling that mission is a lot more important than you getting to watch football.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:54 AM ^
Very proud that the BIG10 schools are full of leadership that prioritize education over athletics, which can't be said for the BIG 12 or SEC...
September 11th, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
don't have to be a one trick pony brother
September 11th, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
I wouldn't have to keep reiterating this sentiment if people didn't continuously place football above all else and make the claim that "Oh we should close down the university so we can play football". Totally asinine.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:34 AM ^
The decision literally wasn't political until Trump made it political and started advocating for CFB to be played in swing states so people don't realize the impact of his botched Covid response for the election.
So he would be correct that it is "cheap politics"
September 11th, 2020 at 11:41 AM ^
Bingo, this was batting practice, the whole country would have united around a reasoned and science based response, instead we got politics and picking and choosing which states would get support based on the party that their governors belonged too. Heck, he even said mask wearing was just a way to show dispapproval of him.
September 11th, 2020 at 12:55 PM ^
Stop watching Rachel Maddow, and reading the twitter posts of Miley Cyrus...the Presidents “botched” response...??! Is laughable again. When the President wanted to close off the country to travel from China-where this virus came from-you and every other democrat called him a “racist”....LOL
keep your political party’s “riots” going all the way through nov 3rd, and when President Trump is re-elected by normal Americans, you can just keep complaining and name calling for the next 4 years
September 11th, 2020 at 1:13 PM ^
If he cut off travel, why did approximately 40,000 US nationals and citizens travel back to the country with next to no testing done? What was it supposed to accomplish aside from riling up a xenophobic base when community spread had already begun?
September 11th, 2020 at 4:25 PM ^
I find it hilarious when Trumpers show the world that the stereotype of them being dumber than a bag of hammers is so true. If you really believe that Trump closed off travel from China then there is simply nothing anyone can say that will get through your unbelievable stupidity. But, who knows, maybe you just awoke from a coma. Read 'em and weep, dumbass: (and, no, the AP is hardly a liberal news source. It's a very much right of center media producer.
https://apnews.com/d227b34b168e576bf5068b92a03c003d
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/trumps-snowballing-china-travel-claim/
September 11th, 2020 at 4:39 PM ^
You are not a smart human being.
September 11th, 2020 at 8:01 PM ^
Why is that the only thing his supporters can point to as the reason he’s done a good job handling covid?
If that’s all you have to support your stance then the lack of other points speaks volumes...
September 11th, 2020 at 11:38 AM ^
People in real life who don't have tenure or lifelong positions in federal agencies (a common theme among the "experts") have never had to evaluate risk and take them in order to earn a living.
NJ just allowed HS football, public transit is now open, beaches were packed during summer peaks, and they just opened gyms, indoor dining, and movie theaters. This was the worst hit and densest state in the country. Basically, people are telling me that life is slowly starting to return to normal.
So against this backdrop, there is a reasonable question as to why Rutgers is not playing football.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:51 AM ^
Lmao. Did you just state people who work in federal agencies don’t have to weigh calculated risk?
September 11th, 2020 at 12:06 PM ^
Dude works in private equity. Enough said.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:40 AM ^
That's an insult? You have a very low threshold for what an insult is if you think that was as harsh as you're portraying it to be.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:49 AM ^
It would be considered an insult by a big baby with thin (orange) skin.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:53 AM ^
Accusing the president, by definition a politician, of playing cheap politics is a bridge too far for him. However, that same president calling our veterans suckers and losers is something he is willing to let slide. I am of course assuming he is going to vote for Trump.