John Munson/THE STAR-LEDGER via USA TODAY Sports
Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti followed basketball coach Mike Rice out the door on Friday.
Pernetti, widely criticized for his handling of the issues surrounding Rice’s behavior with his players, was fired by the university, according to multiple reports.
Two days earlier, Rice was dismissed after an ESPN story and video revealed his treatment of players that included throwing basketballs at them from close range, kicking them and using derogatory slurs.
Assistant coach Jimmy Martelli, also accused of similar actions, resigned Thursday.
Pernetti came under fire in November after Rutgers suspended Rice for three games and fined him $50,000 fine after seeing the video. University preisdent Robert Barchi had approved the punishment.
A 1983 Rutgers graduate and a former tight end on the football team, Pernetti had worked as Rutgers athletic director since April 2009.
“This incident will continue to hang over Rutgers like a dark cloud for weeks, months and perhaps years to come,” Stephen Sweeney, the president of the New Jersey State Senate, said Thursday. “It seems pretty clear that things were not handled well from the start.”
After Rice was fired, several players expressed support for him. And Pernetti received a strong endorsement from former Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand, who was left paralyzed from injuries he suffered in a football game in 2010.
“When you’re in a situation like I have been for the past 2 1/2 years, you truly see the character of people,” LeGrand told the Newark Star-Ledger. “Tim Pernetti has shown me and Rutgers how great of a person he really is, and how much he really cares.”
