Rutgers coach struggling to build winning program

Rutgers head coach Fred Hill Jr. remembers some struggles when he was an assistant at Villanova from 2001 to 2005.

But nothing could prepare for some of the tough times he's enduring now, especially over the past two weeks for the Knights (9-8, 0-5), who are winless in the Big East.

"Villanova right now is benefiting from what Randy Foye, and Allan Ray, and Curtis Sumpter did," Hill said. "But it took time to change the culture at Villanova and that's what we're trying to do now. We just have to find a way to get some wins. Once that happens, it snowballs the other way. Right now we're pushing that big snowball up the hill, and you have to change that and start pushing it down. That's what Villanova is doing; they're pushing the snowball down the hill."

Hill and the Scarlet Knights have been pushing all season, but as they prepare to host No. 4 Villanova (16-1, 5-0 Big East) tonight at 8, they will do so on the heels of two of the most trying weeks in recent program history.

On Jan. 8, Gregory Echenique, a promising 6-foot-9 forward, announced his plans to transfer from Rutgers. On Jan. 13, the St. Benedict's high school product who averaged 8.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game as a true freshman last season, said he was headed to Creighton.

The Knights then lost their next three games, bringing their losing streak to six and keeping them winless in the Big East.

And that's not all.

On Jan. 12, J.R. Inman, a forward at Rutgers from 2005 to 2009, made national news when he posted an expletive-laden diatribe on his Facebook page, ripping Hill personally and professionally. Inman, now playing professionally in Japan, joins an increasingly vocal contingent around the school calling for the firing of Hill.

Those calls aren't surprising to Hill, he's been around basketball long enough to know how it works. But they haven't stopped him or his team from believing in itself.

"I understand people's frustration and sometimes people can't see the forest for the trees," Hill said. "But I expect us" to have a good attitude.

With the loss of Echinque, "it's going to change things. But I was extremely confident and still am that we're going to turn it around."

Sophomore guard Mike Rosario, Rutgers' leading scorer and former McDonald's all-American, is averaging 16 points a game. At St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, his teammates included Villanova freshman guard Dominic Cheek.