Rutgers reportedly fires Kyle Flood and AD Julie Hermann

Share

There appears to be sweeping change coming to Rutgers.

According to multiple reports Sunday, Rutgers fired both athletics director Julie Hermann and head football coach Kyle Flood after an extremely turbulent year for the football program and a rocky overall tenure for Hermann.

The Scarlet Knights finished their season at 4-8 Saturday, blowing a big lead in a loss to Maryland. It was the latest poor showing on the field, but it was all the news the team made off the field this season that generated the biggest headlines, all of them negative.

Most notably, Flood was suspended for three games for knowingly violating university rules in contacting and meeting with a professor to secretly attempt to influence the grade of one of his players. An investigation into the situation revealed Flood sent emails to the professor from his personal email account as to avoid any public scrutiny and had a conversation with an academic adviser in which he tried to keep the situation under wraps.

Also this season, five Rutgers players were arrested on the same day, four charged with assault and another charged in connection with a home invasion and burglary. All five players were dismissed moments before the season's first game. Ironically, one of those players was Nadir Barnwell, the player at the center of Flood's scandal.

Later in the season, a walk-on player was arrested and dismissed. Additionally, star wide receiver Leonte Carroo was arrested and charged with simple assault, though that charge was eventually dropped.

All that is important because this was only Flood's first sub-.500 finish to a regular season in his four years at Rutgers. He posted a 27-24 record in those four seasons. He led the Knights to bowl games in 2012, 2013 and 2014, each season playing in a different conference.

Hermann, meanwhile, made multiple public-relations blunders during her tenure, which was just in its third year. Shortly after she was hired, she was involved in a scandal dating back to her time as a volleyball coach at Tennessee, where she was alleged to have mistreated players and assistant coaches. She also infamously told a Rutgers journalism class that it would be great if the Newark Star-Ledger newspaper went out of business.

She can't be judged by the typical standards of failed athletics directors, as she did not hire either of the head coaches who helmed the two major programs under her watch: Flood and men's basketball coach Eddie Jordan. Though wins for those two programs has been in short supply.

Rutgers is in the middle of its second year as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

Contact Us