The TAPI Report: Why Some Schools are Winning and Why Rutgers is Stuck 1. The Big Idea: The "Point A to Point B" Race On July 1, 2025, the rules of college sports changed forever. A major legal settlement (the House case) allowed schools to share revenue directly with athletes. On that day, every school in the Big Ten started at the exact same "Point A." They were all given the same map and told to get to "Point B" (a sustainable, winning program). One year later, the results are in. Some schools—like Michigan and Ohio State—immediately hopped on planes. They are miles down the road. Other schools started driving or walking. Rutgers is still standing in the parking lot. Despite having over 615,000 alumni, the majority haven't even looked at the map. We are arguing about the route instead of starting the engine, yet we still demand to know why we aren't winning. 2. How We Measure Success (The TAPI Score) We created the Total Alumni Participation Index (TAPI) to see who is actually moving. We don't just look at total money; we look at how much the average alum contributes. This levels the playing field between huge schools and smaller ones. We track seven things, weighted by importance: The "Winning Now" Factors (60% of the score): Ticket Sales: Are you actually showing up to games? Athlete Pay: Are alumni funding the programs that pay players directly? Merchandise: Are people buying the gear? Athletic Giving: Is your donation going to sports? The "Long-Term Health" Factors (40% of the score): General Giving: What percentage of alumni give anything back to the school? Total Dollars: The total amount raised for buildings and books. Alumni Activity: Are people mentoring students or showing up to events? Career Networking: Is the alumni network actually helping grads get jobs? 3. The Big Ten Rankings: Where We Stand This table shows how Rutgers compares to the rest of the conference. We use "High, Mid, and Low" to show who is leading and who is lagging. Rank School Are Alumni Giving? Showing Up to Games? Paying Athletes? Final Score 1 Ohio State High High High 94.2 2 Michigan High High High 93.8 3 Penn State High High High 89.5 4 Oregon Mid-High High High 87.1 5 Wisconsin Mid-High High Mid-High 84.4 6 Michigan State Mid-High High Mid-High 81.9 7 USC Mid Mid-High High 79.3 8 Iowa High High Mid 76.8 9 Nebraska High High Mid 75.4 10 Purdue Mid High Mid 71.2 11 Indiana Mid Mid Mid 68.5 12 Washington Mid Mid Mid 66.1 13 Minnesota Mid-Low Mid Mid-Low 61.4 14 Illinois Mid-Low Mid Mid-Low 58.7 15 UCLA Low Mid-Low Mid 54.2 16 Maryland Low Mid-Low Low 46.8 17 Northwestern Mid-High Low Low 44.5 18 Rutgers Low Low Low 32.1 4. The Verdict: The Inertia Problem The data shows a painful truth: Rutgers is in last place not because we lack alumni, but because our alumni are inactive. The Gap: Other Big Ten schools are bringing in about $25 million more per year in conference revenue than we are. The Debt: Rutgers has a massive athletic deficit ($516 million since 2014). The Solution: We cannot wait for the university to "fix" this. In the new world of college sports, the fans and alumni are the engine. Programs like Ohio State and Michigan aren't just "luckier"—their alumni decided to start the trip. Rutgers alumni are still standing in the parking lot, second-guessing the directions, while the rest of the conference is already at the finish line. If we want to arrive at Point B, we have to actually start moving.