OT: Rutgers digging deeper hole re: new AD

Submitted by Monocle Smile on

As if this whole mess hasn't been handled poorly enough, now Rutgers' response strategy is to blame the victims. John J. Farmer, the senior vice president and general counsel, claims the letter written by the Tennessee volleyball team "lacks any indicia of reliability" and labels Hermann's actions "neither surprising nor abusive"

Can we get a refund?

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2013/06/blame_the_accusers_rutgers_str.html

LB

June 3rd, 2013 at 11:28 AM ^

in a hole you did not plan to be in - stop digging.

I know what indicia means, although I don't use it in my daily vocabulary unless I am discussing postage. When I see words used that way in a press conference, my bullshit detector goes on high alert.

State Street

June 3rd, 2013 at 11:34 AM ^

It's just Rutgers repeating the same mistakes over and over again.  Pernetti kept going to bat for a mediocre coach for no reason, which resulted in a scandal.  Now the higher ups at Rutgers are going to bat for a mediocre administrator for no reason, perpetuating another scandal.  

Word on the street is that the boosters are fed up and want this mess over with.  They lack any respect for Hermann right off the bat and when it comes down to it, if your AD is impeding on your ability to raise money, you're sunk.  

Just delaying the inevitable.  And causing more bad PR along the way.   

snoopblue

June 3rd, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^

The whole thing with Hermann looks like typical woman behavior. Holding grudges forever, never letting go, bringing other women down. I feel bad for her, women are already at a disadvantage in athletic administration (whether you like to admit it or not, it's true) and this is just going to knock her out of a high profile job.

I think this is exactly what the Big Ten wants, maybe it's even an inside job.. This AD will be gone, and probably the president too. I wonder who will have major input in the selection process for those two positions? Maybe the conference that willl make the school a lot of money, give it a ton of visibility and exposure?

Monocle Smile

June 3rd, 2013 at 1:34 PM ^

Ignoring the blatant sexism, Hermann's past wouldn't be NEARLY the issue that it is if not for two primary reasons:

1) Rutgers just fired a head coach and as a direct result "fired" their AD for an incident that appears to mirror Hermann's issue at Tennessee

2) Rather than admit to her mistakes, Hermann LIED about her past in incomprehensible fashion at a press conference.

After reading your conspiracy theory, maybe I shouldn't have spent the 76 seconds I did on this post, since you seem to live in some alternate universe where any of that shit is rooted in reality.

biakabutuka ex…

June 3rd, 2013 at 11:53 AM ^

I can't think of a job that is easier to do and done more poorly than Big Ten college administrators. In no order:

  • not firing a coach who humiliated his players until it makes national news
  • hiring an AD without a background check
  • having a twitter conversation (or trying to) with a rivals' star player about going pro
  • making tasteless religious jokes
  • a president openly admitting a rule-breaking coach has more job security than himself
  • defiling the most sacred jersey in college football
  • hiding a pedophile from the police
  • going damn near bankrupt

Am I missing any?

You'd get fired from managing a McDonalds for less than this.

Michigasling

June 3rd, 2013 at 2:30 PM ^

walking the streets of NYC, I see far more people in Michigan gear than in Rutgers'.  They've already got the NYC market.  (Okay, once there was a guy in our elevator with an OSU T-shirt, but he claims no allegiance, only that it was the least expensive t-shirt available. And because he was just going down to the basement to do his laundry, so no public marketing opportunity was involved.)

Michigasling

June 3rd, 2013 at 3:15 PM ^

of this not being a scientifically supported observation.  And of course you're right.  Didn't mean to sound like I was disagreeing, but probably should have left in the disclaimer so you'd know I wasn't being completely serious.

But I may as well add to my non-scientifically-supported observations that the only media coverage I can remember seeing of Rutgers athletics on the local sports broacasts of the NYC network-affiliated stations is the story of the football player who was paralyzed a year or two ago and this current debacle.  (Not that Michigan games are covered on local TV... Hence my becoming addicted to this here Blog.  But the alumni football watches are so popular they need three separate official hang-outs.)

Michigasling

June 3rd, 2013 at 6:01 PM ^

And even in NYC, I believe that the NY Post and NY Daily News cover more regional sports, including high school, than the NY Times and probably would cover Rutgers regularly.  In fact, the Times never (or rarely ever) carries high school sports, unless it's a special interest story. 

Tater

June 3rd, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^

Why does everyone assume that everything in the letter written by the UT volleyball team 16 years ago is true, and why is it even relevant 16 years later?  All there are here are a bunch of allegations, and no proof that she actually did anything wrong.  

This sounds much more like someone with an axe to grind is digging up allegations than any actual proof that she doesn't do a good job.  I would blame the media here a lot more than Rutgers.  She was employed at Louisville, so it's not like she was "unemployable."  

She may, indeed, turn out to be the PB that everyone thinks she is, but there needs to be a lot more proof than "she said, she said."

JamieH

June 3rd, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^

Bacause, in general, an entire team of players doesn't usually get together and write a letter talking about how utterly horrible a person their coach is unless their coach is truly an abysmal, horrible human being. Yeah, you might get a few kids that go off the rails, but a whole team?   I've played for an abusive drunk and even that team didn't get together and blast our coach in public.  It usually takes a special level of awful to get your team that pissed at you.

Do we KNOW the team was telling the truth?  No.  But if I had to place money on it, I'd side with the entire team over the 1 coach.

Now, add to all of this a school that just fired the last AD over covering up an abusive coach, and you have a situation that has gone so far past the absurd that I don't even know how to classify it anymore.

 

Monocle Smile

June 3rd, 2013 at 1:40 PM ^

Hermann was dishonest. If she has nothing to lose from the truth of the incident, why did she lie? And why did she lie about the wedding of her assistant and the subsequent firing? Read the actual article. Few people would be as concerned if she came clean and issued an apology or some semblance of regret at the press conference. She did the opposite.

LSAClassOf2000

June 3rd, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^

"Farmer, who only has this job because the previous general counsel was fired for his own mishandling of this mess, goes on to suggest that anyone who thinks Hermann is now compromised as a leader must be "Facebook gossipers and misguided boosters of the former athletic director.""

Wow. I like that John Farmer can alienate entire segments of staff, students and donors without any indicia of acknowledgement for the concerns that were raised. That takes a lot of courage and lack of thoughtfulness. I hope that Rutgers is pleased the next time they need something to be donor-funded. 

markusr2007

June 3rd, 2013 at 12:50 PM ^

Can we really blame an institution like Rutgers for not getting it?

I don't think we can.

It's like blaming a teenager for not being adult about things.

They're a long time Independent and only a recent addition to the the Big East (joined 1991), which has always been a loose, unstable, departure-laden confederation at best.

I would laugh harder about all this, because it's "Rutgahs!", except for the fact that this kind of incompetence and dullard leadership is now diluting the Big 10 brand.  

Potentially it can all reflect badly on other schools that associate with Rutgers via the Big 10 conference.

CRex

June 3rd, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^

Rutgers said they'd capture a media market and they're being true to their word.  Sadly we're not getting NYC, we're getting the "I can't believe those morons said it" section of the morning shows media market.