Note: This piece was recorded and aired before further details about the Carroo incident were released.
It just keeps getting worse for Rutgers football.
Star player Leonte Carroo,who's been called the "Face of Rutgers," has been suspended after being arrested for his alleged role in a domestic violence incident external the team's training facility in Piscataway, and NJ. The arrest and suspension of the Scarlet Knight's most popular player are the latest stains on a program which has been mired in controversy.
Earlier this month,six other players were kicked off the team after their arrests on assault and domestic invasion charges. Meanwhile, coach Kyle Flood is being investigated for possible improper conduct, and after he reached out to a professor about a player's grade.
Rutgers has gone "all in" on its football program in recent years. The school's athletics are among the most highly-subsidized in the country,and football coach Flood is the highest-paid public employee in fresh Jersey. The school joined the titanic Ten athletic conference last year in a tender to boost its visibility and its profits.
Dan Duggan covers Rutgers football for NJ Advance Media. He told WNYC's Jami Floyd that in an era of increasing tuition and stagnant faculty wages, the negative publicity isn't helping to ease the tension on Rutgers' campus over its titanic investment."There's people here on the academic side that didn't want to 'go titanic time.' Period, and " Duggan said. "The faculty union president is really concerned about there being a firewall. That athletics and academics have to be separate [and] athletics can't be driving the ship."
Source: wnyc.org