Well, this is one way to change the narrative during a lousy football season: Strike an eight-figure deal with a major health-care provider to not only buy naming rights for an important new athletic facility, but to become part of the recruiting pitch to potential athletes.
That is just part of what makes this deal, first reported by NJ Advance Media's Keith Sargeant, so brilliant. Rutgers isn't just slapping the name RJWBarnabas Health on the side of its multisport training facility. It is welcoming the hospital's doctors and nutritionists inside, making the smartest medical people in New Jersey part of the program.