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By MATT SUGAM & ADAM ZAGORIA
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Tim Pernetti has resigned as the Athletic Director at Rutgers, and President Robert L. Barchi is facing tremendous heat.
Just five months after engineering Rutgers’ move to the Big Ten from the Big East, Pernetti stepped down in the wake of the Mike Rice videotape scandal, handing in a letter of resignation to Barchi.
“I write in confirmation of our conversation earlier today during which we agreed that it was in the best interests of Rutgers University that I step down from my position as Director of Intercollegiate Athletics,” Pernetti wrote.
“I do so reluctantly because I always have and always will love Rutgers.”
Speaking at a press conference Friday at Rutgers, President Robert L. Barchi said Pernetti’s “decision to resign was his decision and one we came to mutually.”
Pernetti said in his letter he regretted not firing Rice earlier.
“As you know, my first instincts when I saw the videotape of Coach Rice’s behavior was to fire him immediately,” he wrote. “However, Rutgers decided to follow a process involving university lawyers, human resources professionals, and outside counsel. Following review of the independent investigative report, the consensus was that university policy would not justify dismissal.”
According to Gannett New Jersey, Pernetti was in the fourth year of a five-year deal worth $410,000 annually. The terms of his settlement are not known.
Pernetti, Rice and assistant coach Jimmy Martelli are all now out, and Barchi could follow. He faces a firestorm of protest from faculty and students in the wake of the release of videos of Rice hurling basketballs at players’ heads and shouting gay slurs at them.. Barchi said his fate is in the hands of the Board of Governors.
“I want to personally apologize to the Rutgers community,” Barchi said at the press conference. “I apologize to any student-athletes on the team who may have been harmed.”
Board of Directors chair Ralph Izzo said Barchi should not resign or be fired.
“I think he’s the right person to run this University for many years to come,” Izzo said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Pernetti still stood by his basketball coach, before changing course and firing him Wednesday morning. Martelli — who is shown exhibiting similar behavior to Rice — also resigned that day.
“I fired [Rice] not with cause,” Barchi said. “I just fired him.”
Pernetti was shown the videos back in November by the attorneys of former director of player development Eric Murdock, whose contract was not renewed. Pernetti decided to suspend Rice for three games and dock him $50,000.
On Tuesday, news broke that ESPN had been given the video by Murdock’s attorneys, and would air them on “Outside The Lines.”
Pernetti opted to pre-empt ESPN and showed the videos to the media Tuesday. At that meeting he said he stood by Rice and that Barchi had seen the videos.
As it turns out, Barchi hadn’t seen them yet, according to The Star-Ledger. He didn’t end up viewing them until Tuesday night.
Barchi did not watch the videos when it was presented to Rutgers by Murdock, at the end of November. The President, who’d only been on the job since September, relied on his athletic director and John Lacey of Connell Foley LLP, the firm that handled the investigation, to come to a decision.
“In retrospect it’s easy to say I could have and should have” taken 30 minutes to watch the video,” Barchi said.
Meantime, Murdock on Friday filed a wrongful termination suit against Rutgers.
The school must now hire a new athletic director and a new basketball coach, and may not be able to do either if Barchi goes down with the ship.
Only when a new AD is picked will the school be able to focus on a basketball coach, including this group of potential candidates.
In the meantime, Rutgers has already seen three players transfer in recent days — Malick Kone, Jerome Seagears and Vincent Garrett — and more could follow.
