As the Rutgers athletics director of fundraising earlier this decade, Doug Dolan helped broker six-figure donations and was instrumental in a privately funded initiative to launch the Scarlet Knights’ online streaming network. As the past president of the Rutgers Touchdown Club, Dolan sparked grassroots interest in the football program and raised money that directly supported the team.

Dolan has multiple Rutgers degrees, and he says “some of the proudest moments of my life’’ involved attending Scarlet Knights football games as a season-ticket holder for 35 years.

On Sunday, shortly after negotiations to bring back Greg Schiano as the Scarlet Knights football coach ended without a deal, Dolan sent a simple two-word email to Rutgers’ current fundraising team:

“I’m done,’’ it read.

“I’m giving up my tickets. I’m giving up all my giving. And I’m taking Rutgers out of my will,’’ Dolan told NJ Advance Media. “We’re really in a bad situation with the football program. And while it is possible that someone else over time can fix it, Greg is the only person who knows what needs to be done. He’s done it in New Jersey and he would’ve immediately put fans back in the seats, which would start to turn the football program’s bleeding financial fortunes around. Whoever they turn to I hope he is successful; I don’t wish anyone failure. But anybody other than Greg coming into this situation I don’t think will have any clue what they’re in for.’’

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Dolan wasn’t alone in his disappointment that the reunion between Rutgers and Schiano failed to materialize. NJ Advance Media interviewed nearly a dozen boosters, fans, and former players who said they planned to protest — with their wallets — Rutgers’ inability to come to terms with the coach who took the Scarlet Knights to six bowl games in his final seven years before departing for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012.

“I have heard from no less than 10 big donors and supporters who are canceling tickets and pledges for gifts, some changing their estate bequest language to remove Rutgers,'' one Rutgers insider said. "It’s really bad.''

James Curran, a Milltown-based attorney, bleeds scarlet as much as anyone. That’s evident by his attendance whenever Rutgers holds a coaches’ radio show — he would frequently ask former Scarlet Knights coach Chris Ash a challenging question from the public podium.

“I’m greatly disappointed,’’ Curran said.

A former Rutgers wrestler who has been a longtime booster and season-ticket holder for the football team, Curran said his feelings were mild compared to the outrage he was hearing in his circle of friends Sunday evening.

"I know people who are devastated,'' he said. "I thought this was going to happen but the longer it dragged on I was very nervous. And I don’t know who bears the blame. I don’t know if it’s Greg who negotiated too hard or whether Rutgers played games with him. Either way, I think it’s devastating for Rutgers football. Everything I’m hearing, from fans and former players, is people are just done because it didn’t happen.’’

Dolan was less diplomatic, pointing the blame squarely at Pat Hobbs, the Rutgers athletics director, who rejected a counteroffer from Schiano last week, according to an NJ Advance Media report on Schiano’s contract demands Sunday.

“I’m terribly disappointed in Pat Hobbs,’’ Dolan said. “This has been a train wreck hurdling towards a cliff for a while now. I don’t know everything that’s gone on behind the scenes. But my opinion is, the way things have fallen apart, Hobbs needs to pay for this with his job. I don’t believe he knows what’s necessary to run a major college football program.’’

Pete Hendricks, a New Brunswick-based attorney who has been a major booster to the football program for four decades, echoed that sentiment.

“Pat has to be brought to the table,’’ Hendricks said. “He’s done some great things by hiring some other coaches but this is your flagship sport and now we’re going to be the laughingstock continuously. I think he has to be held accountable.’’

Rutgers officials didn’t respond Sunday when asked for comment on two boosters calling for Hobbs’ job.

A longtime season-ticket holder who travels to each Rutgers football road game, Hendricks’ office is decorated with Scarlet Knight memorabilia, including signed helmets, a personalized jersey, framed photos and ticket stubs from memorable games through the years.

“I have friends who have told me they have 20 tickets and they plan on giving them up entirely because of this,’’ Hendricks said. “Firing Chris Ash when they did, that’s their prerogative. I don’t have to agree with it, but I understood it. But the problem I have is there was no plan in place. Here we were Saturday, there’s no one in the stands and that cost millions to the university. There needs to be people held responsible for that. From a corporate perspective, you can’t not have a plan to fix this.’’

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In the hours after the talks broke down Sunday, a steady stream of fans expressed their frustration with a #FireHobbs hashtag on Twitter. One fan created a Change.org petition that called for leadership change atop the Rutgers athletics department.

"Rutgers nation,'' the posting read, "has lost confidence and trust in him.''

Someone edited Hobbs’ Wikipedia page to include “Weasel” as a middle name and a final line to his bio: “In 2019, his ego killed Rutgers Football.”

Hobbs has refrained from commenting publicly outside of a 10-minute press conference the day after he fired Ash two months ago. “I’m looking for the very best coach who will make Rutgers football competitive and compete for Big Ten Championships,’’ Hobbs said at the time. “That’s why I came here. I want to go to a Rose Bowl.’’

To that end, he expressed his belief that Rutgers would “have the resources … to hire the very best’’ coach and vowed to get input from former players like he did in coaching searches for other sports.

Ryan Hart, a former star quarterback who helped lead the Scarlet Knights to their first bowl game in 27 years in 2005 when they appeared in the Insight Bowl, was among a small group of former letterwinners who met with Hobbs to discuss the coaching vacancy last month. Hart made no secret of who he preferred then and, on Sunday, joined the chorus of disappointed alums who, he said, “were disheartened’’ by Rutgers’ inability to strike a deal with Schiano.

“It’s incredibly disappointing,’’ Hart said. “I went to the game on Saturday and there were people — fans, donors, former players — that were giddy at the prospects of Greg coming back. And honestly I don’t think Pat Hobbs wanted him. Any coach that is going to take Rutgers to a Rose Bowl will have the exact same demands or requirement that Greg Schiano does. Insert anybody else’s name. Greg just wants to win. He’s been at the biggest programs in the country. He knows what it takes. He’s not presenting a B.S. plan. It’s just incredibly frustrating, and I know there are a lot of other former players who feel the same way.’’

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Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.