Bob Mulcahy is answering back.
In the wake of articles by The Star-Ledger reporting secret aspects of football Greg Schiano’s contract, Mulcahy says previous press releases — as well as a story by the Ledger itself — documented some aspects of Schiano’s contract. The Ledger reported that a secret addendum to Schiano’s contract enabled him to receive an additional $250,000 from Nelligan Sports Marketing, and also that he had a secret escape clause if the stadium renovations weren’t finished by 2009.
“There’s a press release talking about the contract and sponsorship, and it was in the Star-Ledger article,” Mulcahy told The Trentonian. The Star-Ledger of Newark, he pointed out, reported in 2006 that Rutgers had “used public money to pay Schiano $250,000 and $625,000 from Nelligan Corporate Sponsorship money” in the seven-year contract he signed in 2005
Here is the initial press release indicating that Schiano would get “guaranteed income from private sources.”
Gov. Jon Corzine said the athletic department was at fault for “the secret stuff.”
“I think they made a mistake by not disclosing all the elements of the contract, or at least the compensation package,” he told the newspaper. “Everybody would have been better served if no one had to go through that. I don’t know that there was anything illegal going on, but it would have been better in a public relations standpoint.”
The Home News Tribune also reports Saturday that the RUtgers Stadium project will be scaled down, but that the school does not run the risk of losing Schiano as coach. Mulcahy told the paper that an addendum excusing the previously reported $500,000 buyout figure for Schiano did not exist.
“After many discussions and offers, the coach felt that the university was working with him and was committed to the completion of the stadium. Since such a drafted document was never executed, we never submitted it. There is no agreement amending the buyout,” Mulcahy said.
