OT - Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti resigns

Submitted by MGoBender on

Pernetti has been fired or has resigned according to ESPN (watching on TV, no link).  It is not yet clear which.  [EDIT: Resigns]

According to Brett McMurphy, who is reporting the story, is saying a major factor was the political pressure on to do something.

EDIT: Rutgers press conference live on ESPN at 1pm EST.

EDIT2: Here's a link to the ESPN story.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9137089/…

EDIT 3:

From the press conference, President Barchi says that "Rice was not fired for cause, I just fired him."  He mentioned that the independent investigation concluded that they could not fire Rice with cause, contractually.  Barchi says that he did not see the tapes until this week and at that point immediately made the decision the fire Rice, despite not having contractual, legal cause. This means that Rice will be given whatever by-outs that exist in his contract.

MGoBender

April 5th, 2013 at 9:55 AM ^

I'll be the first to say I did not think he should have been fired at first, however more and more evidence came out throughout the day yesterday that looked bad:

1. Apparently didn't show the President the footage when he said he did.

2. Apparently saw the video in the summer and did not hire the independent investigator until November.

3. The weird situation with the assistant coach that did not get punished directly.

I have to assume that this is a resignation, not a firing since it appears that Pernetti did enough to not get fired, but we shall see.

MGoBender

April 5th, 2013 at 10:02 AM ^

Well, if the President did not see the tape until we did, I don't really know what else he could have done other than have the foresight in November to ask for more evidence as to why Pernetti was suspending the coach.  However, if a AD goes to a University President and says "our basketball coach is throwing around homophobic slurs during practice, I'm suspending him for 3 games," the president probably assumes that his AD is being proactive and doesn't see a need to ask for more info/evidence.

GoWings2008

April 5th, 2013 at 10:08 AM ^

but given the impact that scandals have nowadays and the way the NCAA is operating, or not operating if you prefer, then if the AD either A) went to the president saying "I'm suspending and fining the coach $50K the coach for inappropriate behavior" or B) told him "our basketball coach is throwing around homophobic slurs...etc" and the president DIDN'T ask for any proof or supporting evidence, then I say he failed at his job.  This just stinks all the way up to the top.  (NOT making a Penn State comparison, but it certainly is in the back of my mind).

MGoBender

April 5th, 2013 at 10:14 AM ^

This assumes the President and the AD work together on a regular basis.

As someone in education (though not higher education), I just don't think this is true.  University Presidents are there to raise funds. That's their #1 job and they are very removed from the athletic departments. I really don't think they concern themselves with the acts of the athletic department other than the hiring of the athletic director.

Maybe someone who works in higher ed can enlighten us.  I hardly think Mary Sue is involved with day-to-day athletic operations.  And if an AD presents an issue to the president as a day-to-day situation, I can see the president simply trusting their athletic director to do his/her job.  It really comes down to just what did Pernetti tell the president.  If Pernetti never mentioned any video or said there was no video, why would the AD ask to see the video?

GoWings2008

April 5th, 2013 at 10:17 AM ^

And I can appreciate what you're saying, esp since you're in education.  I'm not firmly 100% against what you're saying, just think that the president should have done more. 

On a side note, I believe your last sentence you meant to say "why would the Pres ask to see the video?"   Yes?

MGoBender

April 5th, 2013 at 10:25 AM ^

This is kind of evidence as to my point.

Mary Sue was uninvolved in the Michigan football head coaching search (most prominent position on campus) until it became such a fuck-up that she had to get involved.  There's a bit of a parallel there in regard to the President's actions.

MichiganManOf1961

April 5th, 2013 at 10:29 AM ^

Yes, but didn't she mess it up even more?  I seem to remember a part of "Three and Out" where they were discussing issues worth millions of dollars and forgetting them, writing them out without a lawyer... it was something that was just completely asinine.  Does anyone remember?

~Herm

MichiganManOf1961

April 5th, 2013 at 11:20 AM ^

Wow.  You are such a shining star.  Excuse me for actually asking a question and adding to the conversation rather than simply launching personal attacks over nothing.

Please return your Michigan gear to Wal-Mart.

~Herm

LB

April 5th, 2013 at 10:37 AM ^

If a high profile employee is disciplined like that, somone needed to find out why, and what proof existed to support a $50K fine. Even if it was HR, someone needed to ask the questions. If the AD admitted the tape existed, end of story. If he lied, it is the end of that story and the beginning of another fairy tale.

Letting the Athletic Department operate outside the guidelines of normal society just happened in PA. We've learned nothing (that is the universal we, I am confident it would not happen at Michigan because of AAT&PS and MGoBlog).

SysMark

April 5th, 2013 at 10:52 AM ^

I agree on your points generally.  However, I would think that suspending and significantly fining the basketball coach at a major university would take it outside of day-to-day operations.  If nothing else it could impact PR and the fund raising activities the President is engaged in.  The University President should want to know details of what happened.

Needs

April 5th, 2013 at 11:23 AM ^

Yeah, as someone who works in higher ed, there's no way Rutgers' president is involved in the day to day stuff in the athletic department. I'd be surprised if he paid much attention even to the initial suspension, because there was a big debate almost at the same time about whether New Jersey's medical college and the NJ Institute of Technology in Newark should come under the broader umbrella of the university.

More generally, university presidents are involved, as you suggest, in fundraising, and general governance issues as the structural point between the board of trustees and the faculty. It combines general development and strategic direction stuff with a lot of flakcatching. 

I'm sure, right now, Rutgers' president just wishes the entire AD would go away, what with this scandal and the monetary losses at the same time the university made huge investments in its facilities while other departments were facing severe cutbacks. It's all been quite the mess there. The money infusion from the Big Ten will help somewhat but that's a department with some serious management issues.

PB-J Time

April 5th, 2013 at 2:47 PM ^

^^^This^^^ is a very good point. When this was happening the NJ Governor (you may remember him from Hurrican Sandy & SNL & his Hoke-likeness) was proposing a massive overhaul & reorganization of the state universities of NJ (including adding & eliminating schools from Rutgers' system). This is not to say that the president shouldn't be cognizant of things that could be harmful to his university and its representatives*, but if your AD notifies you that there is a situation with the basketball coach and you are taking action to correct poor behavior, that should be enough. For the president himself to be throwing himself into an investigation amounts to micro-managing. We can certainly debate if the AD actually handled the situation appropriately, but from the president's standpoint you have to trust your AD to handle a situation like this within the athletic department. 

*Since people are comparing this to the PSU scandal, I would hate for someone to have hidden behind any form of a "I'm too busy with something else to handle child molestation" argument.

(Edit-Directly below me U-M/VA fan did a good job making this point in a sarcastic way)

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

April 5th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^

No, you've got it completely wrong.  At the first hint of unethical behavior the president should have dropped every single thing on his plate and reviewed the tapes.  And then he should have fired the AD, the head coach, the assistant coaches, the student managers, the video coordinator, and the ball boys.  All of them witnessed this behavior and kept silent.  They should never be allowed to work again.  By keeping silent himself, the president indicted himself in this terrible crime.  He works for the Rutgers board and since he didn't immediately go to the board with his concerns and show them the video that he had, he should be fired too.

MGoBender

April 5th, 2013 at 10:18 AM ^

No, you've got it completely wrong.  At the first hint of unethical behavior the president should have dropped every single thing on his plate and reviewed the tapes.  And then he should have fired the AD, the head coach, the assistant coaches, the student managers, the video coordinator, and the ball boys.  All of them witnessed this behavior and kept silent.  They should never be allowed to work again.  By keeping silent himself, the president indicted himself in this terrible crime. 

Honostly cannot tell if this is serious.

If it is serious:

A: Unethical is probably not the exact right word.  Unethical implies cheating and defrauding.  As abhorrent as Rice's actions were, I would not call them unethical.

B: You're assuming the president knew video of practices existed.  And/or you are assuming Pernetti told the President there was video.  Given the "miscommunication," I think it's more likely that Pernetti left out any details about video. Perhaps Pernetti went out of his way to make sure that the president did not see the video, which seems very plausible.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

April 5th, 2013 at 10:27 AM ^

Not even close to serious.  It's a hilarious parody of the people who think that once someone tells you they're uncomfortable with what's going on, it's your job to drop everything and leave no stone unturned until you fire the perpetrator and all those who saw it happen.  As well as those who think that witnessing the behavior is as big a crime as the behavior itself, unless you run to the authorities and ESPN the first minute it happens.

People get so righteous and horrified about Rice's behavior and are very quick to judge everyone involved, which is a sure sign they've never been in such a situation themselves.

JamieH

April 5th, 2013 at 11:56 AM ^

If you are ever head of a big Human Resources department, then I suggest you hire youreself some good lawyers.  Because with the attitude you have toward abuse you're going to get yourself sued to high heaven if you are ever unlucky enough to have an abusive employee in your organization.

The AD had a current eimployee come to him with a report of CURRENT abuse happening to STUDENTS at his school by the head basketball coach.  As the athletic director of the school, YOU HAVE TO TAKE THAT ACCUSATION SERIOUSLY.  He had access to tons of practice tape with which he could make an accurate decision on what was ACTUALLY GOING ON at practice.  The fact that he chose not to even look at the tape for something like six months is pretty much negligance. 

Don't be a fool and think he had to sit there and watch the film himself.  He could have had a staffer do it, or even hired some investigative firm to do it.  But when you have a person on your basketball staff claming the abuse is happening, you have to investigate it, not just say "PROVE IT!" to them and then pretend nothing even happened.  That act alone probably opened Rutgers up to a massive lawsuit, because it means the AD was essentially complicit in the abuse for several months.  He was told about it and didn't even lift a finger to see if the accusations were real or not despite having ample resources (the tapes) to do so.  Obviosuly it was possible to find the evidence or the assistant coach couldn't have created the tape that he eventuallly did.

The attitude that somehow the entire burden of proof laid at the feet of the assistant coach is ridiculous.  He did his job--he came to the AD and told him what was going on.  The fact that he didn't deliver him the entire case to fire the coach sealed up on a silver platter doesn't mean he didn't do his job well enough.   It was the AD's job to investigate things properly and he didn't.  The AD didn't do anything until the assistant coach basically forced his hand by creating the tape that has now led to this entire incident.

 

JamieH

April 5th, 2013 at 3:45 PM ^

You are correct about this particular post being about the president.  However the particular people involved in this discussion spent all day yesterday defending the AD and saying that he didn't deserve to be fired because his behavior was completely proper.  I had about 10 posts downvoted because I had the audacity to say that I thought the AD had acted in an extremely improper manner. 

FWIW I do agree that if the AD told the President that he was handling the matter then the President probably didn't really need to be involved any more than he was and shouldn't really be culpable for his AD having f'ed the situation up so badly.  This should have been the AD's job to handle, and the President didn't need to be involved other than to be provided status updates on what was going on.  Unless the President was directly involved in the decision making process (i.e. told Pernetti specifically not to fire the coach) or was shown the video a long time back and signed off on keeping the coach, I don't see why his job is in question.

The other possibility is what the AD is now pitching, which is that he WANTED to fire the coach, but was handcuffed by his superiors and therefore didn't.  Now, I don't believe him for a second because in that OTL interview he came off as a lying douchebag, but it IS possible that he was told not to fire Rice and that the OTL interview was just his massively botched attempt at damage control.

So there is a chance that Pernetti has been set up as the fall guy for a decision that was not made by him.  I'm not buying it, but you never know.  My gut tells me he made the call and now he is paying for it like he should. 

snarling wolverine

April 5th, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^

The whole state of New Jersey should be fired.  Its tax dollars support Rutgers and ultimately, this whole mess, so really, the state itself is the problem.  I propose that the whole landmass be weighted down with 82 billion paperweights so that it submerges into the ocean, leaving no visible sign of Rutgers or anything else.  Only after years and years, after the forces of nature have finished ravaging away all signs of civilzation on that state and sweeping them away, can the paperweights be removed and the healing begin.

Niels

April 5th, 2013 at 11:13 AM ^

Fwiw, Barchi was the head of the deparment at Pennwhere my father was on faculty for many years. As such, I've followed his career from Penn (Provost) to Jefferson and then Rutgers with some interest. 

I think it is fair to say that while his leadership style is not for everyone, I really doubt that he would have kept Rice on staff if he saw the kind of video that has now been released. 

newfoundhbomb

April 5th, 2013 at 10:06 AM ^

its only fair.   this or with penn state, i would really like to ask these men why they think it was ok to just try and sweep it under the rug.  if you would have done the right thing in the first place you would have been a hero.  i would rather be a hero then a douche

Lac55

April 5th, 2013 at 10:09 AM ^

Its a shame it took the video going viral and becoming the talk of the country for heads to roll. Better late than never I guess.

PB-J Time

April 5th, 2013 at 11:56 AM ^

I couldn't agree more with this statement. One of the first things I thought about (considering we knew no one was seriously hurt) was if someone at ESPN had an axe to grind with Rice because they seemed like they were actively trying to get him fired. 

MLaw06

April 5th, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^

Too bad for Pernetti.  He seemed like a pretty good AD, but mishandled this issue because he probably didn't want to rock the boat on the cusp of entering the B1G.  Based on accounts that I've read from Ray Rice and Eric LeGrand, Pernetti seemed like a family-oriented, team first type of guy.

He made a big mistake by relying on the findings of the Roseland, NJ law firm that they hired as independent investigator... the optics of having an abusive basketball coach is just totally misaligned with the university's values.  Instead of taking that common-sense view, it seems that Pernetti relied on the contract interpretation with respect to the Mike Rice situation.

With respect to the President, Barchi, he likely won't and can't be fired because Rutgers is in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime merger right now.  Essentially, they are merging the best parts of Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-Camden into their flagship school, Rutgers (New Brunswick).  As an illustration, this would be like taking the assets of UofM-Dearborn and UofM-Flint and transferring them into the main campus, UofM-Ann Arbor.

This transformation would give Rutgers (New Brunswick) a medical school (in connection w/ their asset swap with UMDNJ and Rowan), better graduate schools and it will let them push out their lower SAT and GPA students (via turning the Newark and Camden locations into satellite campuses and removing their metrics from Rutgers (NB) reporting).

oriental andrew

April 5th, 2013 at 10:27 AM ^

They're actually realigning the entire higher education system in NJ based on the Christie report (that's what they're calling it, anyway) which was realeased about a year ago.  The UMDNJ folks (and I'm sure others) were on pins and needles until this thing came out, and not just a little angst over taking what is their flagship school (RWJ Med School) and giving it to Rutgers.

gwkrlghl

April 5th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^

who pointed out that just about anyone in any other profession would've been fired for kicking / berating their kid, direct reports, etc and that Rice got special treatment because he's a basketball coach. The AD made a huge mistake by not just firing him. If it's on tape, people are gonna see it eventually

gbdub

April 5th, 2013 at 10:42 AM ^

I get that point of view, but it's a little naive. There are lots of things a coach does that ate considered part of their job that would result in sanctions against a professor. Totally different environment with totally different expectations.



Obviously Rice crossed the line, but yelling, cursing (to a point), touching (in a non abusive way, eg to demonstrate form), and enforcing physical punishment (go run the stairs!) are all normal, accepted behavior for college level coaches but not for professors.



Again, no excuse for Rice, but hopefully you can see why there's a bit more gray area for a coach.

MichiganManOf1961

April 5th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^

Yeah, but it's like the Supreme Court's strange characterization of porn: "You know it when you see it."  You know coaching when you see it and you know abuse when you see it.  The two, in my opinion, are actually quite far apart. 

OrangeWolverine

April 5th, 2013 at 10:17 AM ^

I don't know I feel like this is more of a PR move than anything else. It's not like he completely ignored it, he gave Rice a fine, suspension, and asked him to go to anger management classes. He at least gave Rice a chance. This guy was a good AD for Rutgers, moving them into the Big Ten and really developing a new culture around athletics there. He won't be out of a job for long though, he's been successful everywhere he's been.

Mr Miggle

April 5th, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^

Pernetti came out and said their president had seen the videos in November. The president then contradicted him and said he hadn't seen them until a few days ago. Blindsiding his boss by dragging him into this mess was the dumbest move Pernetti made. At least he was given the opportunity to fire Rice on his way out.