The Big Ten is always one of the best conferences in basketball, as it has some of the best programs in the nation. This season was no different, as they are expected to send seven teams to the NCAA tournament. The big difference with the Big Ten this year was the bottom of the conference.
Usually at the bottom of any conference, you will find teams that have really bad records, but the bottom of the Big Ten was especially ugly this season, with the bottom four teams all having losing records overall. The headliner of the bottom of the Big Ten is Rutgers, who won only one Big Ten game all season, and it was their last regular season game against a Minnesota team that only had five scholarship players.
As a result of the truly awful season, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights have decided to fire head coach Eddie Jordan. This was Jordan's third year as the head coach of his alma mater, but the program has not shown any sort of progression under his watch, and they bottomed out this year. Rutgers finished with a record of 7-25 and will now look in a different direction moving forward.
Jordan initially signed a six-year deal with Rutgers in 2013 to replace former coach Mike Rice, who is best known for verbally abusing players and throwing basketballs at them during practice. Jordan was tasked with revitalizing a program that hasn't had any success recently and hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 1991. Jordan was obviously unsuccessful, and the next coach will be asked to do what Jordan couldn't.
Rutgers does have three commitments from players for next year, but it is just two three-stars and one two-star giving them the number 85 recruiting class in the nation. A major problem for Rutgers recently has been their inability to recruit and keep players from the tri-state area home. It won't be an easy fix for whoever the next coach is, but that will likely be their main goal.
As for a replacement for Jordan, the first name that has come up is Rhode Island head coach Danny Hurley. Hurley is from New Jersey and was an assistant coach at Rutgers from 1997-2001, but there are questions as to whether he would leave URI for the Rutgers job. Rhode Island is expected to have a very good team next year, and Rutgers is not expected to be very good. Regardless of the team's next year, some people would argue that the Rhode Island job is better than Rutgers, and Hurley would be crazy to make that move.
