Rutgers sophomore guard Mike Rosario has been granted a conditional release and intends to transfer.
“No Big East and no school that’s on the schedule for next year,” said Jorge Fontan, Rosario’s Godfather.
“We’re all happy, ecstatic right now. We’re glad Rutgers didn’t give us a hard time about it. We respect them for that and now we’re going to sit back and see who calls us.”
Rosario must sit a whole year and will be eligible for the 2011-12 season.
Gannett New Jersey previously reported that Rutgers planned to file tampering charges against USC and would prevent Rosario from going there. The report also said Kansas and Florida would be off limits for Rosario.
But Fontan said “that never came out of Rutgers’ mouth. Nobody officially said that from Rutgers.”
Jio Fontan, Rosario’s close friend, former St. Anthony teammate and former housemate left Fordham for Southern Cal and will be eligible in December 2010.
Rosario is the 12th player to transfer on Fred Hill’s watch. Three sophomores have left this season alone. Former St. Benedict’s Prep big man Greg Echenique, unhappy with his conditioning and the way his detached retina was treated by the staff, left for Creighton. And wing Patrick Jackson received a release but has yet to pick a school.
Rutgers is working on parting ways with Hill, either through a financial settlement or firing Hill for cause in the wake of a profanity-laced tirade at a baseball game April 1 and then defying AD Tim Pernetti’s orders to avoid future games.
Rutgers now has just eight scholarship players on the roster.
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
