After making the decision to retain then-basketball coach Mike Rice, despite having seen video of him abusing players, Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti will reportedly be fired by the school. He will the latest to lose his job over the scandal caused by Rice’s behavior.
Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti will reportedly be fired
Tim Pernetti was given the choice to resign or be fired over the Mike Rice scandal, and he opted to be terminated. The decision will be announced Friday afternoon.
Another axe about to fall. Sources confirm Pernetti is done. All that's left is determining resignation versus termination.
— tara sullivan (@Record_Tara) April 5, 2013
Pernetti was responsible for hiring Rice and saw the inflammatory video of the coach hurling balls at players, kicking them and slinging insults at them months before it leaked. He decided to suspend the coach rather than fire him, and withheld the video from his higher-ups, which looks to be enough to cost him his job.
The 42-year-old was responsible for arguably the biggest athletic move in Rutgers history, landing the team a spot in the Big Ten Conference as their old league, the Big East, died. He’s been around the program since 1989 when he began his career as a Rutgers tight end. After entering a career in television administration and serving as a radio analyst for Rutgers football games, he took the AD job in 2009 -- his first in college sports.
His hiring of Kyle Flood to replace Greg Schiano after the school’s longtime football coach took the head coaching job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has been a success thus far, with Flood’s squad winning a Big East championship this year. But despite his longstanding link to the university and the teams’ successes under him, is handling of the Rice fiasco was enough to do him in. He had seemed safe as recently as Thursday, with Rutgers blog On The Banks writing on Wednesday as if Pernetti would be in charge of the search for a new coach.
In addition to Pernetti, Rice and assistant coach Jimmy Martelli have lost their jobs over the scandal.
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