That season was coach Steve Pikiell’s first campaign, as Rutgers spent record amounts on scholarships, payments to non-conference schools for scheduling, coaching salaries, severance payments and recruiting.
It all added up to Rutgers spending a record $8.3 million during 2016-17 — the most recent year available — and a $5.9 million deficit on the program’s bottom line.
Still, Rutgers' spending wasn't even close to the highest amount in the Big Ten, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis of the financial ledgers of every conference school whose 2017 Fiscal Year report was publicly available through Open Public Records requests (Northwestern, as a private school, wasn't available).