It may only be summer, but the winter circus that is the Rutgers men’s basketball is already back in town.
The latest news out of the Louis Brown Athletic Center is that junior guard Corey Chandler has been dismissed from the team for a violation of athletic department policy.
It really comes as no surprise. Just look at Chandler’s history and it was almost inevitable.
Chandler, while a talented player, struggled with disciplinary problems throughout his college career. Head coach Fred Hill Jr. suspended him at the beginning of last season for a preseason game because of a violation of team rules and became a major distraction when he nearly left the program at the tail end of the season.
After playing just five minutes in a 30-point loss to Syracuse, Chandler set off a myriad of rumors by posting on his Facebook page that he wanted to leave the school. In the end, he remained at Rutgers, but played just 29 minutes the remainder of the year.
Chandler’s relationship with Hill was rocky from the time he stepped on campus, but the fact that they could never get on the same page outlines a bigger problem with the program.
Let’s be honest, Chandler isn’t the first player that Hill has struggled to deal with. JR Inman, who just graduated, regressed in each year he spent under Hill.
Now some of the blame has to fall on Inman’s shoulders because he just never took to Hill and never fully applied himself. But how can a player who was a viable scoring option as a freshman with a team that went to the NIT not figure into your future plans.
Chandler’s case can be looked at the same way. He showed promise as a freshman out of East Side High School in Newark, in particular, one game against North Carolina at the RAC where he was the only player that didn’t look scared. But save for that game he was never really productive.
Maybe Hill never utilized him properly. Mike Rosario came in as a McDonald’s All-American and Chandler was relegated to the bench. Maybe he did it to himself with the disciplinary issues. It was probably a combination of both and as it ends up Chandler is nothing more than a kid with a ton of talent that just couldn’t put it all together.
Now the Scarlet Knights have an even bigger problem because Chandler, despite his issues with Hill, had an excellent chance of starting this season at point guard. Remember he travelled with the team on its trip to Spain and played with the East Coast All-Stars on its tour of Europe.
RU has brought in James Beatty, a point guard from Miami Dade Junior College, but he has never played Division I ball and doesn’t know the system. That’s not to say Beatty won’t learn the system, but does he really make this team better than they were with Anthony Farmer running the show.
Junior Mike Coburn is also an option, but Hill has said before he sees him more as a two guard and Rosario is not a point guard meaning the job will be Beatty’s.
But the bottom line is Chandler’s dismissal puts this team in a tough spot. They’ve won just 32 games under Hill, that’s just over 10 wins per season.
That puts Hill in a precarious position because his job, without a doubt, is on the line this year.
Athletic Director Tim Pernetti knows that his first big move in charge may come when he has to make a decision regarding Hill’s future. He could fire him now, but won’t. Not because he doesn’t have the guts, it’s just too close to the season to bring in a new coach and brand new staff.
It’s Hill’s first season with all of “his players,” or guys he recruited. And despite his inability to handle player’s ego and skill sets he gets the year to try to change the direction of the program.
But if there isn’t any improvement, the next time the circus comes to town, the clowns are leaving with Fred Hill and his band of entertainers.
— Kyle Franko covers basketball for the Daily Targum and accepts hate mail at kjfranko@eden.rutgers.edu.
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