Yet Another Rutgers Bombshell.

[UConnCat]

The latest:

• Rutgers Pres Barchi continues to support Julie Hermann
• Julie Hermann has not considered resigning
• Two former Tenn Volleyball players have spoken out publicly about their experiences playing for Hermann, the letter they signed (which Hermann claims not to recall) and the players' meeting with Hermann and a Tenn administrator. Interesting that the Tenn administrator who was Hermann's boss and was also present at the meeting is former Tenn Women's AD Joan "body of work" Cronan.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/27/former-player-hermann-called-us-whores/?hpt=ac_t3
http://espn.go.com/new-york/college...ghts-ad-julie-hermann-job-safe-president-says

 

[meyers7]

Oh from the title of the post, I thought you meant this:

Yea, I was trying to think of the first bombshell.......still trying.

 

[msf22b]

Whomever opts to back or oppose Hermann does so at his or her peril until it can be unequivocally determined if the allegations she called players “whores, alcoholics and learning disabled’’ can be determined.

Lenn Robbins: New York Post
_______________


An ominous little twist, threaten the nay-sayers.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I personally believe we have 2 such opposing stories about Tennessee that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

A copy of the letter is on-line, the copy isn't signed, so anyone can say they signed it or didn't and that it was presented or not.

What makes the stories so diametrically opposite is that there are other players from that team who are facebook friends with her; not where I would expect to find someone who presented that sort of letter to her.

Her record since Tennessee speaks for itself, if this hadn't come out I suspect she would have been a fine AD. With this issue on her back, I have no hope.

If you read Barchi's letter, it isn't that he really says anything wrong - we are focusing on something from "early in her career" - but because of what it was, it invalidates (in my opinion) not her ability to be an AD somewhere, but her ability to be AD at RU.

 

[huskymedic]

The latest:

• 
  [ ]Rutgers Pres Barchi continues to support Julie Hermann
  [ ]Julie Hermann has not considered resigning
  [ ]Two former Tenn Volleyball players have spoken out publicly about their experiences playing for Hermann, the letter they signed (which Hermann claims not to recall) and the players' meeting with Hermann and a Tenn administrator. Interesting that the Tenn administrator who was Hermann's boss and was also present at the meeting is former Tenn Women's AD Joan "body of work" Cronan.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/27/former-player-hermann-called-us-whores/?hpt=ac_t3

http://espn.go.com/new-york/college...ghts-ad-julie-hermann-job-safe-president-says

Nah... This is the latest: New Rutgers Athletic Director Was at Center of Sex Discrimination Suit (while @ Louisville).

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/s...was-at-center-of-sex-discrimination-suit.html

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Rutgers needs Better Vetters.

 

[Sargassoc]

Rutgers needs Better Vetters.

(As someone said on Espn.com, and I paraphrase): not even vetters. How about even Googling the people they hire?

 

[Zorro]

Great post, Nan. I had seen all those quotes before, but it is always good to see them again, especially the Kara quote, which just about sums it all up.

 

[Aluminny69]

NO POLITICS!!!!

Not sure why I have to keep repeating myself...

Maybe because it's a little fuzzy what constitutes "politics." Does it mean we can't reference ANY Politician because that would be politics? How about the poster with the signature "Hey Obama, We're back!" Isn't that a political reference. Bottom line, both UConn and Rutgers are State run schools. There will always be some degree of politics involved with these schools. Can't get away from it.

 

[UConn990411]

Maybe because it's a little fuzzy what constitutes "politics." Does it mean we can't reference ANY Politician because that would be politics? How about the poster with the signature "Hey Obama, We're back!" Isn't that a political reference. Bottom line, both UConn and Rutgers are State run schools. There will always be some degree of politics involved with these schools. Can't get away from it.

No, YOU can't get away from it.

The rest of us can keep politics entirely separate when we're talking about sports.

 

[Jimdish255]

What makes the stories so diametrically opposite is that there are other players from that team who are facebook friends with her; not where I would expect to find someone who presented that sort of letter to her.

I don't think that damages the credibility of 15-20 (that we know of) players who would publicly come out as adults to corroborate these allegations. They do so at no benefit to themselves except to retrieve some measure of respect from someone who they feel has abused them in the past, and is essentially calling them liars now.

 

[pap49cba]

And the plot thickens.....

LINK

 

[ThisJustIn]

I'm rather fond of this opening:

After the incriminating videos of former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice surfaced, the enraged reactions boiled down to two simple questions:
Who treats people like that? How could this happen?
Now at least we can answer the second.
It can happen if it happens at Rutgers, where the administration has the cognitive awareness of a piece of Tupperware, where the vetting process is done by Inspector Clouseau and where the leadership motto is best summarized by the only other entity to trash the reputation of New Jersey better than the state university:
"I'm not a phenomenon. I'm a train wreck," Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, of "Jersey Shore" infamy, who could be speaking on behalf of Rutgers president Robert Barchi.

 

[UcMiami]

Just seems like a complete cock-up by Rutgers - to have 20+ people involved in the interview process and not one of them asking questions related to a lawsuit that was lost based on actions of your candidate (who was deemed to be untruthful by a jury.) And none of them asking about a move from HC to lame administrator which is not typical anywhere! Long time ago, but this is not hiring a busboy - this is the face of a multimillion dollar enterprise.
And how she was added to the pool and what appears to be rushed through after not being part of the initial group is probably another story. Rutgers probably spent $100K on the head-hunters and one suspects they maybe did a better vetting job than ____?
As for the TN AD at the time ... she is involved in her own lawsuit against TN so one suspects she is going to be pretty forgetful about anything that shows her in less than a good light. If in fact there is nothing in the employee file about the letter/player revolt, then that is a sign of incompetence on her part - and if Louisville relied on her recommendations when they hired and she was silent on problems then that is also really bad form.

 

[UConnCat]

Based on the article linked by pap and specifically the comments by the Governor, it looks like Rutgers is going to dig in its heels and ride this out. It's been reported that Pres Barchi, a physician, was hired to oversee the merger of Rutgers and the NJ medical and dental schools and that merger isn't completed yet. Barchi and Hermann are joined at the hip; one isn't going to survive this without the other. So, the Governor comes out in support of Barchi and Hermann, going so far as to say that former Tenn Women's AD Cronan says she never received the letter, which isn't exactly what she said, and that the letter wasn't signed by the former volleyball players as if this were a court of law and we're talking admissibility in to evidence. Cronan squared her account of what happened with Hermann's: She said she doesn't remember the letter, although does concede "frustration" by the former players which led to Hermann being reassigned.

My guess is that Barchi will resign after the merger is completed (he's made few friends in NJ unrelated to this fiasco) and Hermann will remain as AD unless this mess continues to divide the alumni and adversely affects fundraising.

 

[msf22b]

Unfortunately, the largest numbers of New Jersey politicians commenting negatively on the hiring appear to be of the opposition party from the Governor, who seems to be digging in his heals..

Just Reporting, hopefully not breaking rules.

The process has now moved to a series of E-mails between members of the search committee, some (2, at least) voicing some discomfort with regard the thoroughness of the process.

Stay tuned

 

[Sargassoc]

And the background check they ran apparently cost 70K. (I could've done as good a job for half that!) LINK

 

[Kibitzer]

My guess is that Barchi will resign after the merger is completed (he's made few friends in NJ unrelated to this fiasco) and Hermann will remain as AD unless this mess continues to divide the alumni and adversely affects fundraising.

I have highlighted the decisive factor, where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. "Money talks. . . .[you surely know the rest of this line]"

 

[OneTrickPony]

You could also warp back to 1972 and find doctors saying autism is attributed to the mother. It was a completely different time.

Also, Asian culture regarding perceived authority is COMPLETELY different than ours. A professor of one of my gradate courses once told our class a story about her conducting a research experiment about foreign accents and their intelligibility. She met with a bunch of Asian TAs at UConn and discussed the study. At the end of the discussion, she suggested that everyone meet up at a nearby venue to plan the experiment. Everyone nodded in agreement. When the time for the meeting came and my professor was there waiting for everyone, nobody showed up. So, she scheduled another meeting on campus where she made it abundantly clear where, when, and why they would meet the next day. Again, everyone nodded in apparent agreement. Again, nobody showed up. In many Asian cultures, you simply do not say "no" to persons of assumed authority, even if you have no real intention on following up on anything.

Needless to say, what that that piece of pulled would ever fly here in the West.

Just saying.

The nodding in apparent agreement by the Chinese is a matter of politeness apparently. I found that out working at Bechtel in the early 1970's in San Francisco. I went to a Taiwan emigre stress analyst to secure permission to make some attachments to a pressure vessel...when my boss reviewed it he told me that the Stress Group wouldn't approve it...I said they already had. He asked if the engineer in question had actually said yes, or had just nodded affirmatively and smiled. I went back to double check and went through the same explanation of what I wanted to do, and he sat there nodding affirmatively and smiled...then I said, "OK, so I can to it then...?" and he shook his head negatively and said, "Oh no!"

 

[pap49cba]

One of the team members speaks out.... lots of quotes.

The reason I have chosen now to speak up is that the blatant denial from so many of the key people involved, people who were handed the letter, people who were in that meeting, is shocking. Even New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is questioning our credibility. I am not commenting on the other baffling memory lapses, just on the one that affects me. My teammates who shared their painful experiences and who went on the record are essentially being called liars and I can’t stand by and let that happen. Not when I have the platform to make a statement of support. To hear our credibility and our motivation called into question is infuriating. For the past few days, we’ve been fielding nonstop calls and emails and facebook (sic) requests from producers and writers all over the country. Many of us (myself definitely included) do not want to go on TV. We got dragged into this and we want it to end. We want to get back to our lives. But that doesn’t mean we don’t stand by what we did 16 years ago and the comments we’ve made over the past few days.

LINK

 

[DobbsRover2]

That was a real classic by state senator Richard Codey about the Rutgers' vetting committee's ineptitude and ignorance, "They couldn't find Lindsay Lohan in a night club," and then his scoffing at a certain usually micromanaging governor and his statement that the gov has "absolute confidence" in the way Rutgers and its president have been handling this business. But right, that's all politics, and even though Rutgers is a state-run school, sports and politics can never possibly mix or have any effect on the well-being of the school and the way the powerbrokers in this scandal act.

This has been assured by wise posters here who know that sports and politics do not ever hang out together. And whatever stuff Julie Hermann takes to wipe out inconvenient memories, she can make a killing if she comes out with her own brand, the My-Bads Hermannator.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Another splash for Rutgers with the front page article on the NY Times about the Hermann mess. At least you can say that RU is adept at keeping itself in the news, and as Hermann said after her hiring, it's a "new day" (and fortunately I just can't remember what happened in any of the old ones). As reported, a rushed and railroaded selection process in a leaderless morass of non-administration at a state institution. Those of us who pay considerable taxes to NJ are thrilled to see our money so well used to elevate someone so nicely equipped to restore "respect and dignity."

 

[msf22b]

The Newark Star Ledger, not giving up on the story has an excellent, new slant news piece and a penetrating column.

A rather unified gaggle of former governors of the state; Kean, Byrne, Florio, Whitman and McGreevey, brought together to discuss the merger of the University with the Medical and Dental schools, seemed largely in synch that the the problems in the hiring of Hermann had become over-politicized and subject to the 24-hour news cycle and that all should lay off and let the competent Prez, whom they admire run the University.

But a column by Steve Politi notes the dismay and low morale of senior members of the athletic and coaching dept. (none of whom would allow the use of their names for fear of retribution or firing). Politi notes that this mood is not unanimous but widespread. Some expect Hermann to be virtually powerless and ineffective in fundraising and leadership.

 

[huskymedic]

A rather unified gaggle of former governors of the state; Kean, Byrne, Florio, Whitman and McGreevey, brought together to discuss the merger of the University with the Medical and Dental schools, seemed largely in synch that the the problems in the hiring of Hermann had become over-politicized and subject to the 24-hour news cycle and that all should lay off and let the competent Prez, whom they admire run the University.

A quote from the NY Post story:

"The five former governors said Barchi’s mission to complete the $1 billion merger between Rutgers and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey dwarfs whatever missteps occurred in the vetting and hiring of Hermann"

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/...:"38048_1370019925_882715869","pt":"twitter"}

 

[msf22b]

Rutgers officials have postponed a series of on-campus meetings that incoming athletic director Julie Hermann was scheduled to be a part of next week, according to The Newark-Star Ledger.

The twisting in the wind stage has begun