Rutgers can't let a booster bully it into keeping Kyle Flood | Politi

The last time Kyle Flood coached a football game at Rutgers, he was greeted with a long hug on the field from the man who has emerged as his most vocal supporter. But that was nothing compared to the warm embrace Jeff Towers has given him in the media lately.

"A change in the head coaching position at Rutgers now will set the program back for years, if not permanently," Towers told Gannett New Jersey, as if blowout losses to good teams, serious off-the-field controversies and mediocre recruiting are really things worth preserving.

So add this to the list of problems in Piscataway: Now Rutgers has a booster who thinks the size of his bank account not only makes him official spokesman for the well-heeled football supporters who watch games from the Audi Club suites, but enables him to make decisions for the athletic department.

Towers didn't come right out and say it, but the threat was implicit. Fire Flood at the end of the season and his support -- and his commitment to the facilities plan is believed to be in eight digits, on top of the $1 million he's already given the football program -- leaves town with the coach.

But let's be clear on this: Rutgers is not Oklahoma State and Towers is not T. Boone Pickens, the oil tycoon who has given $160 million to that university's athletic programs. The university would be heading down a slippery slope if it starts letting the people who write the checks make personnel decisions for the football team, especially someone whose commitment to the coach is stronger than his commitment to the school.

Towers, who runs his own consulting firm and is married to a billionaire hedge fund executive, is not a Rutgers graduate. He has no ties to the university beyond his friendship with the man who tried to make him "director of indoctrination" on his recruiting staff until university president Robert Barchi and athletic director Julie Hermann nixed the idea (perhaps for good reason).

So let's play out the other scenario. Say Rutgers rebounds and wins the rest of its games. Say Flood becomes a hot candidate as the coaching carousel spun this offseason, and that Rutgers decided it couldn't afford to match his offers from other programs.

Would Towers take his checkbook to Miami or Virginia or wherever his friend went next? Or does he realize that the next Rutgers coach would continue to let him hang around on the sideline and host team pool parties if he keeps cutting seven-figure checks?

RELATED: Rutgers should have fired Kyle Flood for academic misconduct

I understand the allure of the "mega booster." You could argue that the difference between Rutgers and Big Ten rival Maryland is Kevin Plank, the Under Armour CEO who has committed tens of millions of dollars for facility improvements. There is a reason I put Towers fourth on my annual list of the most influential people in New Jersey sports this summer: His level of commitment could be a game-changer for Rutgers facilities.

But even Plank has stopped short of publicly endorsing or criticizing coaches, telling the Baltimore Sun in 2014, "I support our coaches, bar none. I don't make decisions on whether they stay or whether they go."

Towers is taking another approach entirely, both in his interviews with Gannett New Jersey and on social media. He said that "successful leaders" base their decisions "on data and facts, not public opinion shaped by the media," but then he seems to ignore all the facts that point to the problems within the program.

That seven players arrested since the start of the season are not an "anomaly," as he insisted, but a sign of a lack of discipline that made the program a national story for all the wrong reasons.

That Flood's own behavior in contacting a professor about a player's grade and attempting to cover up the meeting led to a three-game suspension that was unprecedented in college football.

And, maybe most of all in the eyes of most fans, that the product on the field is average at best and that a bowl trip given the remaining schedule looks unlikely this winter.

Towers isn't just guilty of blind loyalty. He's guilty of small thinking. "A 'marquee coach' would demand a salary and buyout amount that the university is unwilling to pay," Towers told Gannett New Jersey. "And a 'superstar-in-the making' would most likely see Rutgers as a stepping-stone to his next job."

RELATED: Towers' tweets caused Rutgers to self report an NCAA violation

What is the message there? That Rutgers should just give Flood a lifetime contract now? It might not be the best head coaching job in the country, but the idea that a Big Ten program couldn't identify and hire a head coach who could produce better results is absurd.

The reality is, Towers isn't speaking for all donors. Some are deeply concerned about the state of the program. "They will lose me if they keep (Flood)," one prominent and, unlike Towers, longtime booster told me on Monday. There is no pro- or anti-Flood consensus, just a lot of opinions from people who should have little or no say in the decision.

In 2013, when donors were fleeing in the aftermath of the Mike Rice fiasco and the dismissal of popular athletic director Tim Pernetti, Barchi was clear: "I don't make my decisions based on philanthropy," he said in an interview, "and the university doesn't either."

He can't start now. Rutgers officials will face an enormous decision on the future of its football program in a couple months, and it can't let a guy with a fat wallet make it for them.

Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find Steve on Facebook.

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