If Greg Schiano returns to Rutgers, will basketball take a hit (again)? Why die-hard hoops fans should be concerned about a reunion.

Jerry Carino | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption New Rutgers Athletic Center New Rutgers Athletic Center on Thursday, September 12, 2019.

Rutgers basketball tips off Thursday night, and for the first time in many years, the die-hards who’ve suffered through 13 straight losing seasons have real reasons to believe the program is turning a corner.

The prospect of Greg Schiano’s return is not one of them.

In fact, quite the opposite.

The Schiano Era was a big success for Rutgers on the gridiron but a disaster on the hardwood. That was not a coincidence.

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When Schiano co-ran the athletics department with Bob Mulcahy—and make no mistake, they worked in lockstep—men’s basketball was abandoned in a roadside ditch as football hoarded resources. Wednesday’s report outlining Schiano’s demands to return is a reminder that Greg is not interested in sharing the financial pie. He eats the entire pizza.

That’s certainly his right, and the point here is not to scold Rutgers for spending money on sports. It’s to remind everyone that the athletics department robbed Peter to pay Paul the first time Schiano was there, and to meet his current demands—who knows what else there will be once he arrives on campus—Peter could lose his lunch money again.

Rutgers Basketball was relatively healthy before Schiano’s program took off. Gary Waters won 18-plus games in three of his five years, the RAC was routinely packed and the product was entertaining. But as Mulcahy and Schiano siphoned money from the only other revenue-producing sport, it began to wilt. The Scarlet Knights continued to fly commercial while the competition chartered. The next two head coaches got hired on the cheap—there was not even a search to replace Waters—and produced commensurate results. Plans for a desperately needed practice facility got pushed off and pushed off again.

When Steve Pikiell arrived, the shooting machines were broken and the beds were too small for his big men, their feet literally dangling off the ends at night.

This sad picture was the long-term effect of the systemic neglect instituted by the Mulcahy-Schiano regime.

The situation turned around because the current athletics director is a hoop-head. Pat Hobbs’ problems have been well-chronicled, but he hired a quality basketball coach, gave him a competitive contract to ward off potential poachers (for now) and built a state-of-the-art practice facility. He got the right-sized beds, for crying out loud.

Perhaps Hobbs could protect basketball’s budget if he sticks around, which seems far from guaranteed. It’s not a stretch to envision Schiano eventually bringing in his own football-centric guy to run the department.

A counter-argument you’ll hear from the Schiano cult is that basketball has the practice facility now, plus a well-paid coach who knows what he’s doing; what else does it need? Well, maybe nothing at this very moment, but who knows what keeping up with the Joneses will require three, five years down the road. Who knows what corners get cut to feed the king’s demands, with the athletics department still deeply in the red.

It’s true that any established football coach will come to the banks at a steep cost. But only one has a track record of elbowing Rutgers basketball into a ditch. The program finally is climbing out, and his return is the last thing it needs.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.