Rutgers AD Pat Hobbs Discusses NIL, Facilities and More! - #Rutgers Scarlet Knights Football

welcome back to a special edition of the net Report podcast I'm your host Mike Broadbent joining me is my co-host Richie oir we have a packed podcast for you today we'll have Pat Hobs later on the show returning once again to discuss a Litany of topics uh basically anything you could possibly think of we had a thread up on the board for for questions to get asked we tried to synthesize those down as much as we could so that is uh really good interview coming later in the show uh but first some housekeeping uh the presenting sponsor of the night Report podcast is n day apparel calling all Rucker students alumni and fans are you looking for new and unique Rucker merchandise night day apparel has you covered t-shirts and hoodies to drink wear and pet accessories night and day focuses on providing the Ruckers Community with exclusive one-of-a-kind tailgating products like the trapezoid of Terror shirts awesome crew neck sweatshirt uh which I love uh be sure to check out today's links in the podcast below uh to get their website and social media information so you can stay on top of everything night and day including new merch drops and promotional announcements shop now and keep shopping yeah this this is only the second time it w this the only other time was the uh pinstrip poow so oh do we have some good luck today we get some break news yeah we might have we might have a a whole uh shopping cart full of news for you guys coming later in the show some interesting stuff very interesting stuff uh we are also brought to you by the cut app uh I love betting uh betting with my friends especially really on anything who can you know win the game of Mario Kart who's the fastest uh you know who's GNA win the you know this specific game uh coming up in the the tournament that's what cut allows you to do it's a peer-to-peer social bding platform in 40 plus States uh cut has customizable odds tracking capabilities in entire social network with group chats user profiles and rewards all the payments are made through the app you don't need VMO or anything like that use our promo code believe ruter that's bav V ruter you get a 10% welcome bonus but don't forget to use that promo code cut put your money where your mouth is uh without further Ado though let's just hop right into this interview with Pat Hobbs uh thanks again Pat for coming on um and we'll go to that now joining us back now on the podcast is ruter Athletics director Pat Hobs Pat thanks once again for joining us good to be with you guys today absolutely we have a lot to talk about today so we'll just get right into it uh why is there is there anything going on in the world of College athletics I don't know you'd be a good you'd be better talk about that than us uh but recently You released a video advocating for businesses alumni and fans to support Rucker's athletes by helping them receive financial compensation for their name image and likeness uh how long has that video been in development and what's the response your office has received since the video came out and do you expect to produce more content like this in the future uh any and also anything in particular that spurred this video to come out well I think you remember back in the fall I put a statement out um sort of similar s similar sentiment um that there are these opportunities out there you know how whatever a lot of different Avenues to do this right um and uh you know we're at a time where I think people need to know even more that our student athletes need that support um that it helps our coaches right it helps on the recruiting front um you know we're at an important time of year with all that going on so um I just wanted to make sure that folks out there knew that um we need them U we need them to support our student athletes there's a variety of ways that you do that so um yeah I probably will um try to be more public with that um those who um you know work with me day-to-day and know in the part department know there's there's not a day where uh I I wake up and I'm not thinking about nil uh and how do we do that for our student athletes uh in our conversations with our sponsors we're always mentioning that hey we're we love the sponsorship we love the support of ruers um but there's also things that you can do with our student athletes I think folks saw the um the opening of the the shopright um earlier this week with Destiny and Jeremiah down there um that's something that I had pitched to the folks at Shop Right U when we tried to work our deal together is you know listen as we as we go down this partnership together who better to promote your stores your products and everything else uh than our student athletes and you we're very grateful to the folks at chopr right for seeing the value in doing that because I think as these things happen more and more folks around Ruckers will say hey I I want to do that um that that's great let me let me bring these kids down to our Showroom on a Saturday for autographs whatever it happens to be so I've been pretty intentional uh behind the scenes in trying to make and promote our student thetes and the value that they can have um but I thought the video was important at this time as well you know as we're you know you're always recruiting uh you're always trying to get players signed but obviously this is a pretty important time with the transfer portals opening and uh people are paying a lot of attention and uh for some folks the sky is falling uh for some folks the skies are opening up with opportuni so um I I thought this was a good time to get that out and and I and I hope it's you know it hit the right note for fol I think it did I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from people gotcha so so let me ask you this a little bit of a two-part question um first off do you think this is more opinion based I guess do you think college athletics can survive based on the current way of the nil the transfer portal and then my second part was more of how hard is it to keep uh PE fans and people engaged in in this crazy world of college sports right now well if they're engaged um well yeah because um you know it's hard not to be when you see some of the things that are happening on a day-to-day basis I've said this from the beginning we need rules right we need a set of rules we need tell me you know right now as as you you know people have described as the wild west if you think about it there is no other industry that operates the way that we are right now right so you know let let's start by looking at the professional leagues right the professional leagues you got collective bargaining you've got a contract you have a set of workplace rules M and you sign somebody to a four-year contract they're going to play for you for four years unless you know some other Arrangement gets worked out but you don't get to get promised four years and then two weeks later decide you know what I think I W to take myself elsewhere I'm gonna jump into the portal and do that and I think that it unfortunately we're going to learn over time that we have a lot of young people making really bad decisions uh and we see that I think I know somewhere upwards of over 40% of the student athletes that entered the portal did not find a landing spot so you gave up an opportunity you know think think back to they probably spent two years figuring out where they want to start their college education right they do all the research they meet with the coaches they meet with the team and some are in 24 hours deciding they're going to go somewhere else that they've been promised a certain existence or a certain reality or maybe even they've been promised that certain ni opportunities are going to be presented for them but it's not in writing right there's no contract there's a contract you know I haven't seen any of these um there's probably outs in those contracts so I think we can't keep going like this I think everybody recognizes this can't be our um reality going forward in college athletics because uh you will have the halves and the have knots you will have um really bad um outcomes um sometimes for student athletes sometimes for programs um you have folks who are now in this um in this world who think they're agents right I'm always wanted to be an agent and here's an opportunity to jump in and put myself off as an agent at times you have four or five people calling a coach and saying they represent this individual you're not even sure if they know the individual um and so that doesn't help anybody um but but the people Hurts the Most are going to be the student athletes so I think we need uh a set of rules um I don't know what those rules are I know you know at the conference level we're giving a lot of thought to that um you know I I jump back again and I think our starting point should always be what value do we currently give our student adets let's leave nil aside and all of the other you know I sent uh three kids to college and graduate school and I would have loved for somebody to give them a scholarship to take care of that cost um I probably could retire on what I paid colleges and everything else right so there's still a great value in uh what we provide our student athletes it's a scholarship it's cost of attendance it's really really high quality health care it's high quality Mental Health Care uh it's apparel it's opportunities to travel overseas and maybe like our our men's and women's soccer programs were just overseas you know for many of those student athletes they had to go get a passport they never traveled before right our men's basketball team was in Sagal in Portugal last summer um they had to go get passports they saw a country in Sagal that's very different in the country they live in and they come back with a greater appreciation so lost in all this conversation is what we are currently doing and what we have been doing um and I think that's challenging the other piece that gets lost is that you know we talk about well these are the me the media rights contracts and what you know and the revenue that's coming into the department that revenue is also doing a lot to support our women's programs right I Title 9 is a little over 50 years old now and so you're able to have a high quality field hockey program and women's lacrosse program and women's soccer program because football and clearly football right is is is driving the revenue for for our conference and for each individual school um and so I guess what I'm looking for is give me a set of rules and have balance have balance so that we can Reserve what's really really great about College athletics uh because we don't want to end up in my view I don't want to end up in a situation where um folks are screaming down at our athletes on the field because of some in their viw poor performance and they're thinking well we're paying them so they should they they need to they're not Eli Manning right when Eli Manning played for the Giants you yell at him all you want because he was making however much he was making a year um and one of the great things about College athletics is we cheer for young kids who came they come to get an education maybe they're now benefiting from their name image and likeness like a Caitlyn Clark right but people still with Caitlyn Clark out there on the court they don't see her as an employee of Iowa University right they see her as a really talented young woman who is inspiring a lot of young women to get into sport whether it's basketball or otherwise and that's what's really special to me about College athletics it's why I came from where I was to ruter um because I saw an opportunity um to work with 700 student athletes the 99% of them who are going to go on to other things in life but they get to enjoy their physical Talent their their their athletic Talent they get to inspire a university in alumni base and I just don't want to lose that yeah and I think you've seen that kind of creep in a bit where people are a little bit more harsh towards athletes now but I think what gets lost in this is they some get paid some don't all professional athletes get paid but professional athletes also are full- grown adults like their brains are fully matured like an 18-year-old dealing with you know adversity like their first year at College they're hearing all these new things thrown at them by you know opposing fans things like that that is a lot harder to deal with you know might be your first time away from home and it's much different than you know an Eli Manning like you said who's 32 years old and he's getting stuff him at the Super Bowl that is an entirely different existence uh so yeah I I totally agree what you're saying yeah and and 100% right and and to your point um you know this is the the first generation that has always had the phone right always always had the iPhone it's the first generation that has always been exposed to social media uh to Anonymous critics right to people who can um you know instantaneously bash them on online and it's impossible you know if if we could all sort of snap our fingers we would make sure that none of them looked at social media until they were 25 years old to your to your point right yeah um you know and I always bring up in conversation Anthony Ash's um national championship year um national championship year na Anthony ashel got off all social media completely shut it down he was off everything and he has talked to our teams about the value of that how from a from a mental approach from a mental peace um during the course of that year he was able to focus on what can I Anthony ashel do and he goes out and he wins a National Championship now I will tell you he's had he's he's had that conversation in front of our teams and as soon as the conversation is done everybody's pulling out their phone and looking at their social media so it's an addiction right it's an addiction and as much as I think they do know that hey it really doesn't matter what that person thinks um you're young you're impressionable um it hurts listen you know I'm 64 years old and when somebody's bashing me out I don't I really don't go on message boards I don't go on social media I have people who tell me sort of hey I think you need to respond to this um because there's some misinformation out there um but you know it affects people um so I most care about 18 19 20 year old kids who um shouldn't have this kind of pressure right this pressure didn't exist 20 years ago in college athletics didn't really exist 10 years ago in college athletics um and so I don't know what the answer is um but I hope we can get back to a world where their mental health is protected in a better way totally agree um you kind of alluded to this uh earlier but you know with the football team rning most most of its starters next year coming off a bowl win basketball programs signing two of the top three players in the country every SE season for Ruckers Athletics is obviously exciting but is there a different type of Buzz and urgency inside the athletics department right now given all the expectations and all the hype around these two programs leading in next calendar year so um I think the short answer is yes I I answerer every year um every new Academic Year thinking that this will be the greatest year in Ruckers Athletics history um and and I have that confidence because I'm confident in my coaches confident in the way they run their programs they do it the right way um but yes as we look forward to this year um I think there is an added Buzz around this year people are really really super excited to get this football season going as am I um I think Greg has done an extraordinary job Greg and his staff have done an extraordinary job this year when you look at what's happened with of the other team like even the bowl game right our kids all wanted to play right now Miami had a lot of kids who you know decided that they didn't want to play um but our kids wanted to play they wanted to play at Yankee Stadium it was a great result and I think that that that sort of kicked off the real the expectation about wow look at what happened this year wait what happens next year and we've got a great team coming back we've got some veteran folks um you know the the folks will get into the quarterback controversy and all that um I love I love our quarterback room so I love the guys that are in there and um and they'll all figure it out um obviously with Kirk shurak in the second year of running our offense I think we'll start blending in some other things so I think people are going to see um an exciting offense this year our defense is outstanding um I like our schedule um I if you didn't mention it I was yeah like our Mur anymore you know we're gonna go out to USC going to be exciting we have tens of thousands of alums in California so we'll make sure that we plan a week out there to enjoy that and then we welcome UCLA and Washington right Washington just played in the national championship game so uh if folks don't get excited about this football season I'm not sure how to help them um and you know you look at field hockey field hockey has everybody back in a team that really could challenge for a national championship our soccers I believe will both be stronger look at what's happening with track right now right so you know track is that year-long sort of activity got Khloe timberg finished third in the ncaas um you've got some of the other kids that have meddled we had I think seven or eight podiums at Big 10 this year um so yeah across the board look what baseball softball are doing right now they're both playing really really well uh so across the board if folks aren't excited about next year um and in wrestling you know I mean 10 guys coming back yep folks go after goodie I mean like guys's done a pretty extraordinary job here yeah uh and you know we had two all-americans we got a great recruiting class coming in as you said everybody's coming back so that makes everybody better um you look at you know Dylan and and sort of his progression over the course of the year to go and win a big 10 Championship this year so I don't there there shouldn't be any sport people aren't excited about um they will be uh this is the year get your tickets um if you don't have your tickets at Jersey Mike you're probably going to be going on uh the uh secondary market and pay a heck of a lot of price for that but um yeah this is uh I'm really excited about it um and um and everybody should be as well and that should then get them F more focus on how do they help us right how do they help us continue to build facilities how do they help us um make sure that our student athletes have opportunities because when you're winning and when you have excitement that's when people really want to step in and help yeah and one more on this the basketball program you didn't mention specifically but obviously when you have two guys who are you know massive celebrities coming in as freshman Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey who have hundreds of thousands of followers you know everything they do gets you know posted on overtime or Sports Center next or whatever um what was you know Ruckers has one of the smaller Arenas in the Big 10 but it's you know I think the best environment or one of the best environments in the country what is the the kind of the the media requests been like for for the basketball season is has that been crazy do you expect there to be like NBA scouts at every game in the coming year like just kind of talk about what that preparing for the basketball season's been like so I I expect insanity and I and I welcome Insanity um look even if you just look at Dylan's uh you know high school championship game uh and then uh when he was in the house I think a week or two after that um the number of little kids running up and asking for autographs and stuff like that um it's going to be it I I agree with I think it's the best venue in college basketball um I think people are going to be so frustrated that they can't get a ticket next year because I think a lot of people are not going to put their tickets on the secondary Market that have done it in the past they're going to want to see every single game and it's not just Dylan and Ace it's the whole recruiting class and then you know we got a bunch of guys in the portal maybe some of those guys come back but um you know Pikes is going to put together a great team uh it won't be just those two guys it'll be the other guys you know B well athan's done this year his progression um I'm you know I'm excited about everybody coming in um and I think I think it'll be crazy I think there'll be more celebrity requests to get in the house um if I had another thousand tickets I would get they would be gone now um that that is one of our challenges because um it's it's we got 8,000 seats we probably need 15,000 for this coming year but it'll make the arena just that much more special um and look the Big 10 it's still the Big 10 right you know you you we've seen a lot of programs around the country that have had really good recruiting classes and um that just makes you a Target right so every game will be a people will be looking at us and we'll be the we'll be the hunted I think for a good part of the season and that's fine that's where we want to be so I do want to talk about Jersey Mex arena in general but I'm going to seg or um I'm going to table that for a little a bit later in the Pod uh facilities wise probably my favorite topic um I know last time we talked uh you we talked about the master plan is there any updates to that and when that might actually get released so one of the um things about these these Master plans um is they are constantly evolving right they're constantly evolving to adjust to um the world right that we're in the expectations what the needs are um the feasibility work around Jersey Mike's continues um we got to get that right um I I know what people want um they want all the amenities and they don't want their seat price to change they don't want their seat location to change um you know the good news in this offseason is we did not do a receip um we could have right U we have in my time here we've never done a receip of the Arena um so what I think is most important to people for next year is that they can continue to sit in the seat that they're in um and we may tweak some prices a bit um so uh you know we're looking at that that shouldn't surprise anybody we've had one price increase in eight years um so we've got to look at that uh and uh because people are very quick to tell me about our deficits and things like that so if we can add a little Revenue to the to the kitty we we we need to do that um you know we've got uh adjust I say we are continuing to adjust those plans and we are also sequencing right sequencing is also really important we need to do things with baseball softball um those those venues um are are the worst in the conference and when I say they're the worst in the conference it's the worst by far in the conference and given the quality of of what we're doing and the quality of who we're playing as we go forward I think we need to do something around there um you know our field hockey program meridith just done a tremendous job and we're one of two schools in the conference that has their field hockey surface in the middle of a track we need to get that out of there and that's better for track two now you see what Bobby frell and his team are doing in terms of recruiting um we we don't need those two teams crossing over in practice so so we're making adjustments there um football obviously it's really important that we give Greg everything that he needs uh and we're continuing to work on the conceptional um design of an indoor practice facility for football um that's that's really important we've done some really nice things with the hail Center and some others and you know folks will say like listen the kids coming in today they're more focused on nil and those opportunities than what your facilities look like um I still think you have to have good facilities right that's a sign of your commitment to your student athletes and their and your ability to have them grow and develop um you know we're we're the um only team in the in the Big 10 that doesn't have a Fieldhouse right we have the bubble right which was a temporary facility built back in 1986 so it's temporarily continued for decades as as our primary indoor facility um and ultimately we need two indoor facilities right you you need you need a place where your tracks and your crosses and your others can go in there and practice when they need to practice while your football team is also practicing when it needs to practice and this is just the deficit that um we've had here at ruus for a long time um we did not have the facilities we needed when we entered the Big 10 we have closed the Gap I think considerably I'd sort of say we're probably about halfway there in what we need to do ultimately we do need a lacrosse stadium right so it'll start with trying to build a practice surface um so that again you're not sharing Fields with football um we get that built I think that will inspire some folks who you know we've got some um we've got some folks who care about our lacrosse program very much um they've done really well in life uh we need them to step up and help us Brian needs that he needs that facility um you know Michigan built their facility a couple years ago and we see how that's helped that program and helped their recruiting so um we will continue to have to look at all this so the master plan is to me it's a continually evolving document so every time that we see something that here's an ability to tweak this and maybe accelerate um something because um you're doing it in a way that's more coste efficient so all all those things have to be weighed at a time when you know the University um right has its own Financial challenges and so everything's got to work together and I credit our coaches they're very understanding they want right and and I want our coaches to want right um and and the administration and the board of ruers have been extremely supportive we'll actually have more conversation around facilities at our upcoming committee on Intercollegiate Athletics meeting um we present sort of our updates and um you know ultimately we hope to get some of those projects in the ground as quickly as we can so kind of kind of another two-parter what what would you say is next I guess in terms of facilities I know you just named a bunch of different ones that you guys want to work on is there one specifically you want to work on first because I and I know people see like a facility being built and then they're already like hey what's the next one I me rock and had the foundation down like hey what's next like it's I mean the two two that we're focused on in terms of big cost efforts right is what what do we ultimately need to do in terms of an indoor practice facility M that that can help our football program right um that that's really really important and then second you know what what do we do with Jersey mics Arena as we look at the feasibility because you know I'll take one of those uh is a facility that supports your most important Revenue program right your football program we all know football generates probably 95% of your Revenue um so you got to make sure Greg has what Greg needs right then we also need Revenue producing facilities right so so um you know one supports a revenue producing team and then you have a facility that can generate revenue for you um and you know even this year we're going to look uh you will see at the spring game there will be a um temporary if you've gone around the country some football stadiums that don't have Suites um have sort of done a transition uh effort and they put in temporary Suites into the stadium so we're looking at doing that there will be uh there there's an opportunity for us um probably in the South End of the stadium not the student section but the wings right to back toward the Concourse build some temporary Suites um we know we have an appetite for it we know we have an interest from the corporate Community um you know the The Provident Club is great um but if you're going to entertain your Brokers or whoever it happens to be at a game you want sort of a semi-private facility where you can entertain your guests and I've seen these uh at SMU uh at Wisconsin at Indiana and so we're working with our partner Revel XP to we'll put one temporary Suite in at spring game and we're going to have our corporate Partners come come by take a look and maybe this is something you want to add in terms of your ability to entertain uh your clients and your guests on on a game day uh and we will sell as many as um there's interest in um and that will be a demonstration project it there's two things one it's it's additional Revenue which is great um two it's it's bringing new people into the stadium who may not have been to the stadium before and they see the beauty of big 10 football uh and then to the extent we're successful with them that makes my case to build out permanent Suites uh in the stadium and to do permanent improvements because we do have to improve Shi not just Jersey mics yeah and obviously uh we've talked about a lot is you know the limited resources like money is not infinite and neither is land uh we have one of the best tailgating scenes in the country in my opinion uh and those lots kind of probably will overlap with some where some of these plans will end up uh being initiated so what is the plan for the tailgating parking for football are we looking into possibly moving certain Lots elsewhere I know University of Michigan has a you know Golf Course right across the from the stadium that they do a lot of their parking in something like that being thought about kind of where are your thoughts with parking for football and tail getting yeah well fortunately this see fortunately for those who love their tailgate Lots um there'll be no change for this coming season um we're not going to be in the ground on on any of these other projects um through I think through this next fall um the following spring perhaps um but and we have um you know I've been to every stadium in the in in the conference I think we have more spots closer to our Stadium than any other big 10 um Team program and now that's great because when you get into to the yellow lot or the blue lot or the Scarlet lot or the white lot any of those lots that are close to the stadium it's great because you're really close to the stadium so five minutes before kick you can get into the stadium um now the disadvantage of that is at the end of the game when you want to get home or you want to get out um it's harder to get out but you know we're packing you as close to the stadium so folks just have to understand look if they've been the state college and try to get out of state college after a game uh our our weight times are much much less um but you know you want to be close to the stadium right so so this coming season it'll be fine as we look at where are some of these new facilities properly located um it certainly can impact some of these lots that are really close but you made a good point and it's something we've already looked at and talked about is there is an opportunity perhaps to use some of the holes on the golf course you know on the fairways um to park cars that won't happen this fall um listen ultimately I'd love to do some things to improve our Golf Course um I think folks who know me know I'm a little bit passionate about a game that I don't play well but uh but I'd love to do some things to improve and and I will shout out to Grant viik who is our course superintendent I think he's now in his third or fourth year there and what he has done with the golf course I drove by it this morning it looks fantastic um he's really improved it we'd like to improve it even more and one of the things that you can do then is uh those holes that run along um near the stadium obviously you're not parking cars on the greens or the bunkers or te put a lot of cars into those spaces and I've been to it's not just Michigan um there's a there's a lot of um schools around the country that will use their Golf Course facilities and you could still keep your course open it may be a 14 hole course that day or something like that um so you balance and it's only at most 7 days a year right so um to do that to keep people close to the stadium we're going to always try to give our fans the best experience that we possibly can while they also understand that when we get 53,000 people in there you're not getting home five minutes after the game's over you're gonna sit around for a while yeah so you know bring some extra sandwiches um maybe some desserts you know sit around relax let people get out of the different Lots uh and uh yeah I would love to go through a season where I don't get the Thousand emails about um the wait time to get out a lot um be happy you stay to the end of the game and we're doing pretty well that's true yep I I I will say if you're going to keep 14 holes open I have a pretty mean slice so I don't know if this is GNA work out well but it wasn't me that hit the ball it a guy behind me well at least you you you know how to aim so I got a slice I got I can go in any direction so you know four is a popular word oh you you pull the Bubba Watson you a at that left tree and it's going to land in the middle and it works every time you know um I'll talk about Scott Goodell when I first got here Scotty had a terrible slice um and he he he did it with his tailor made burner bubble driver which I used to kid him do back at the Smithsonian um but he's wored on his he's uh he hits the ball pretty straight now uh which is which is good I think uh think he's a better golfer than me but you you and I could we you and I could definitely play together hey you let me know drinks are on me all right sounds good sounds good uh you talked about the The in-game Experience uh I think one of the better one of the best uh new things Ruckers has brought out in terms of in like game experience is the boardwalk I think that's been a massive success um some fans have talked about possibly bringing back stuff like the alley or the winter village for basketball are there any big improvements for the game experience for this fall that fans should be aware of or this winter uh anything that you think is is noteworthy or a change that fans should look ahead for well shout out to PJ Mullen uh and his entire staff uh for the boardwalk Lisa Terell also I'm very involved in that um they've just done a phenomenal job I mean it's now an experience we do now have people who I think come and they spend they want to come down to the boardwalk they want to enjoy that they want to enjoy the food the rides um I've told PJ and team that I will not be happy until we have a roller coaster there I remember you saying that I'm not sure that that's going to happen um but uh the um yeah we're we're going to keep looking at how do we improve the boardwalk how do we make it um a really an even better experience so I think you know every year you build you build you build um one of these years I'd love to um flatten athletes Glenn um you know we've got the sort of the creek that runs through the middle of it and I think that's a wasted opportunity um if we can flatten that area in there it'll allow much greater activation within athletes Glen so I'd like to see that happen and we've talked about that here at the University I think we will get there eventually maybe it's going to be as a result of one of these other building projects uh that we do where we have to excavate and you got to find a place to put some of this material hey we're better to do it than there um the uh we I think we are working at trying to bring the winter village back um there's GNA be a lot going on in Jersey Mike's Arena this season so um that's right here you know if you got some things that you can do outside uh that entertain people maybe get people there earlier um so that you don't have the crunch in getting into the into the arena um that'll it really worked well people like that they want it so we're looking at what can we do there and maybe even expand on what we did with the winter village uh the alley um you know that that's that's going to be a place that's forever in ruter lore um oh yeah oh yeah you're not kidding you know it's funny because you know that was uh I guess seven years ago at this point yeah and I have freshman uh they they get to they get to ruter and it's after the convocation they come up they go Mr Hobs when are we get in the alley how do you even know about the alley and um so uh you know we'll continue to try to work with student affairs on um getting opportunities for our Stu our students here at ruter uh to enjoy themselves I I you know there's challenges obviously because you can't have underage drinking uh there um and so I listen I love getting our students onto the campus around the stadium as quick as we can right I I think it's on a game day if you've got 10,000 12,000 students who are all around the stadium whether it's in sort of a designated area for them uh or or or anywhere else where you get that Stadium packed at the beginning of the game right you talked to any coach in the country what they hope for is a stadium that is full at the beginning of the game um not trickling in and I will give our students tremendous credit the the most full students the most full section in our student uh and most full section in our football stadium on game day early is the student section um and so you know I I credit them and uh and they're great right The Interchange between our student section and the rest of the fans whether it's in Shi Stadium or in Jersey Mike's Arena I think is is special um so we'll always look to see is there something we can do outside the boardwalk I think is great because our students at ruter like the boardwalk as well um so yeah the the but the alley may be just part of ruers lore we'll see uh let me ask you this because some fans have speculated can you technically make the alley a parking lot and then tailgate on the the um what is it the wck fields H listen possibility or I think all all that's possibility I remember my first away game was at the University of Washington and they had some turf fields very close to the stadium and um one of the things they had in there which I thought was great was they had sort of those a bubble park for little kids you know so they had all those sort of bubble play things and there's kids running and it was like a big daycare um so there was there was a fence around it and um the parents were enjoying um both adult beverages and non-adult beverages outside before going to the stadium while their kids were in there they were kicking soccer balls they were running around they were shooting Hoops all of that stuff was sort of in that venue so that's something I think we can also look at at um and it's obviously really close to the boardwalk as well so um you know all of this stuff I I assume PJ Mullen will listen to this podcast at some point and may maybe he'll uh you know what let's take a look at that because he's always looking for what can I do next what how do we keep improving this Fan Experience well this kind of predates your time but like when I was a kid growing up they had the little kid Zone where the soccer State fields are that was it was little inflatable stuff that was great like yeah the Inflatables that's better for and that's what they I saw Washington and I think they have that other places and listen that's that's creating the next generation of passionate Scarlet Knight football fans right is you know I love um you know I have I have a guy that I met a couple weeks ago and he was just telling me about how his kids are just passionate Scarlet Knight fans and they're I know six and seven years old and they don't want to miss a game they want to watch everything um and you know that's something that's always happened here in New Jersey but I think that's happening in larger and larger numbers you know you look at the applications to the university now you know you hear around New Jersey now is I don't know if my kid can get into ruter um yeah and that want them right and they want to go to ruter and they want to come and they want to see this basketball program next year they want to see our football program and and the way it's competing so those things which weren't always you know the same like again we go to other states around the country and you know you grow up being being whatever fan of that State University is Right passionate um and I'm seeing that now happening here in New Jersey and increasing numbers and that's pretty exciting stuff we're creating the Next Generation yeah yeah like you said you know Ruckers had an alltime record for applications this past year a huge increase I think it was like a 60% increase from 23 to 24 so it is much harder to get into uh than when I was going there when Richie was going there I don't I honestly don't know if I would have gotten in uh at this point probably same boat we all want to say that about our universi right I couldn't get in there because that means your University is doing pretty well but you got your degree so you know no matter how it's h like P used to say by stock and ruers right the value is going up right you you bought stock and ruers so good yeah so so I noticed you have a little logo on your chest and not the block R the other one um apparel deal what's the latest here what can you tell us what can't you tell us yeah so we have extended with our partner Adidas we uh it's uh I think the contract is well the contract's being finalized um and as soon as it's finalized we'll put it out there public but we have great partnership with Adidas and we'll continue that partnership um and they're very excited obviously about what we're doing here yeah and yeah they'll be very happy that uh Bobs is uh you know promoting promoting the Adas brand new Adidas partn cover this one thank you um in terms of college football or college sports in general uh expansion has been you know the same uh level of importance the last you know decade as it ever has been unfortunately it sounds like a conference kind of died out because of the frenzy do you you you expect further expansion amongst the Big 10 and other conferences in the next few years or is that just something that's always going to happen we just kind of got to live with that reality so listen I think anything is possible right um one of the U things that has driven expansion right is um the value of of Brands and the value of the markets in which those Brands compete right um so um between the SEC and the Big 10 right now I think I don't know that you'll see I could be wrong but I don't know that you'll see further expansion at right now I I think I think we're in a pause um I think you know our commissioner we've really well represented by commissioner Tony petiti um and obviously Greg San's um been down the SEC and done a heck of a job there for a long time um you know those are the two conferences that folks would love to be part of um but we all have the way I sort of have expressed it in the past is you we all have bankers and those Bankers are fox and CBS and ESPN right and NBC your Media Partners because of football right because of the football um they are going to um tell you um what brands are additive and what are reductive and um you you want to make sure like you know we we took us seven years to get full share into the Big 10 um you know Ruckers does not want and I don't believe Ohio State or any the other folks in in our conference would want dilutive just to add teams right so I think you have to be pretty strategic about it now that the cfp um sort of is you know they they're still figuring out the final details of that but um those opportunities um I know you know clearly obvious there's programs there's programs that are suing to get out of their conferences um I don't know that they have Landing spots yet um so uh you know obviously not privy to those conversations I'll be as curious as you are um I I think we've got four great schools that have come in with SC UCLA Washington and Oregon um they are all iconic Brands right um they're all great universities and um so they are clearly were additive um to the Big 10 and as you know down the road when we go for you know the next uh media contract um I I think you'll see the value in that and plus I think what we're going to do as a conference over the next five to six years years in terms of success uh is just going to further further demonstrate the quality of the Big 10 and that's what people going to watch on Saturday and that's what they're going to want to watch throughout the the week with our other programs as well look what's happened with volleyball in this conference right um yeah I wrestling you know softball is is is growing um so you know football basketballs um and you know look at what Caitlyn Clark did for Iowa I think that doesn't just help Iowa that brings into the Big 10 across the board so the next Caitlyn Clark you know could be a young woman at ruter right and that's what we certainly hope uh and then again I'm gonna need 18,000 seats um so so I I think expansion I don't see much more happening right now but I'm just one one one voice and you know I keep I keep an eye on it um we'll keep an eye on these the litigation that's happening down in the ACC um and I feel I feel for my my good friend commissioner Jim Phillips um I think he's doing a great job um this is a tough time to be a commissioner I'll tell you that oh yeah so so I got one more for you Pat you're approaching the nine Mark niney year mark this fall as being Rucker I'm just saying that's that's what the dates say that's what the stats say um but yeah you're approaching the nine-year Mark I got a kind of another two-parter what does the future look like for you and what do you want your lasting Legacy to be at at Ruckers do you want like people to be like hey that's the guy with the Statue outside the football [Laughter] so I don't anticipate that's gon to happen I'm just saying I'm always pitching the ple statue ideas so we can we can get that one going and the Greg statue too the Greg statue I mean just build them right um we need to build other things before we build statues all right that's fair that's fair that's fair although you know we have the victory statute courtesy of the groy family and uh that is a extremely popular picture spot so thanks to to Ron and Joanna um and you know I I came here almost nine years ago because I grew up here in New Jersey and I always thought you know Ruckers can be great um they can be great in athletics uh and that maybe I could play some role in in helping to achieve that we've got an amazing State I love it I love it here in New Jersey people say where are you gon to retire to I always say New Jersey um I don't care about the taxes or anything else state beaches I love everything about this place um and um we have a um citizenry that are becoming prouder and prouder whether they went to Ruckers or not they're cheering on ruter and they want to see Ruckers be successful we've got 700 student athletes who I love working with every day that's the best part of the job seeing them have success whether it's on the field whether it's going off to success uh in different Industries um I like what our programs have done um and how they're growing we talked about this coming year pretty excited about this coming year uh so if if my legacy is Pat Hobs helped improve Ruckers Athletics um that's good enough for me um it's h it's a credit to everybody who's here it's a credit to our coaches we've got I've said I say this publicly I think we have the best group of head coaches in the country bar nun I sleep at night um because of the coaches I have uh I love the way they recruit they recruit with Integrity they try to do things the right way I feel really uh I I I I feel for them right now because they're in this new landscape this new world they're all trying to adjust to it um you know they've got uh kids that are coming in and they're recruiting and they want to know they're asking different questions than they did some years ago um so um it's it's it's the it's the coaches it's the staff I have an amazing um group of Deputy ads here who work hard every day um listen I could probably disappear for a couple months and I think this thing would keep r just maybe better maybe better they're really good they're really so um you know I feel I love that we're supported by our great president Jonathan Holloway um he he's you know guy he knows what a D1 athlete is he's been tremendously supportive our board um has been great uh you know you see ads leaving universities because they don't feel they were supported by their board just the opposite here um we're we're really in a great spot right now uh and I'm glad that you know I've been able to play some role in in doing that I have no idea how long I have the privilege of doing this um sometimes people tell you we need to make a change or whatever but uh I'm enjoying the job I'm really excited about this coming year um and I I just U I'm happy for our student athletes for our coaches and I'm I'm happy for the people at Ruckers University because they deserve a winner I couldn't agree more that you've been very gracious with your time is there anything you want to close us out with here before we head out no listen I thank you guys for the attention that you bring to our programs um I think you're incredibly Fair um you're very engaged um your work is really really important um you know folks they used to turn on Walter cronite and David Brinkley at night and those guys show showing your age here I am definitely showing my age here um but now they they get their information to get their news U from folks like you and you do a really good job of asking questions tough question sometimes right but but they're deserving so continue to do what you do and um let's all get excited for a really really exciting next year but remember this year's not over we got lacrosse's going baseball softball track um so we got we got a a every Bowser is going to go down and compete in uh bars for us in the NCA Regional so we've got we've got some stuff going on absolutely an exciting season currently but we got another one coming in the fall uh Pat can't thank you enough for coming on once again but for me and Richie this has been another edition of the NIT Report podcast signing off [Music] thanks hey