This is an interesting debate. I think Pikiell has done a great job, but not sure if he had a better year than Boals.
If you look at Pikiell's 1st year achievement with glass half full lense, then yes... Rutgers won 3 games in conference regular season. They had 2 and 1 conference wins last two years. Lots of close games this year and team showed real fight, competitiveness, improved defense, better rebounding and unity. But, if you look at it with glass half empty lense, Rutgers only won 3 conference regular season games and last in B10 standing again. Their total wins look inflated due to cupcake non-conference schedule for a B10 team. Rutgers did not exceed expectation in B10 standing.
On the other hand, Boals inherited a team without top 4 (double digit average) scorers from last year. Forget coaches pick, you and me, regular fans couldn't have predicted a 12-4 record, 2nd in AE standing. Most of us would have been happy with a 8-8 record. But to actually host two tournament games at home, was beyond most of ours expectation.
But again, each one of us will look through our biased lenses. Boals and Pikiell are in different league now and should have to be judged differently.
One thing for sure, for any of them to have a chance to succeed in AE or B10, they better up their recruiting game. Next couple years will tell, who is more successful.