#robert barchi

Rutgers could have hired Sergio Garcia. Or Amanda Bynes. Or Steven Miller. Anyone but Julie Hermann as athletic director would have been a better choice. For a school still dealing with the repercussions of an abuse scandal, there are millions of reasons why hiring an athletic director with an abusive past is a bad idea. Apparently, Rutgers’ president Robert Barchi looked right past all of those.

It’s not that Julie Hermann is unqualified--heck, she could be the Babe Ruth of ADs (which she is not. Hermann has never been AD before: at Louisville, she was the Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director, whatever that is.), and this still wouldn’t be OK--, and it’s not that people don’t deserve second chances. It’s the lack of judgment at Rutgers. Whether or not it’s said out loud, the goal of Rutgers’ new AD is to do some serious image fixing. Any high schooler considering playing a sport at Rutgers would have thought twice about attending the school after the Mike Rice scandal even if Gandhi was the new AD (for those unaware, a videotape was discovered of basketball coach Mike Rice hitting players, calling them homophobic slurs, and beaming them with basketballs at point-blank range. Rice was fired along with Tim Pernetti, the athletic director. Barchi stayed at Rutgers although everyone agreed he should have fired Rice when the tape was first brought to the president’s attention.). Now, a former Tennessee Volunteer volleyball coach, who called her entire 15-player team “whores, alcoholics, and learning disabled,” is the most powerful person in the athletic department. Rutgers and Julie Hermann are a match made in hell.

When Hermann coached women’s volleyball at Tennessee in the ‘90s, she reportedly called members of her team whores alcoholics, and learning disabled. A former player also accused her coach of punching her mid-game. Players had enough, confronted the coach, and Hermann resigned. Her last words to the team after hearing their complaints were simply, "I choose not to coach you guys.”

Hermann’s past was revealed through detailed episodes by Craig Wolff of the Star Ledger who Hermann tried to soften her past record. “This was not an abusive environment. Was it challenging? Yes,” she said. “It was incredibly challenging.”

It was incredibly challenging.

It was challenging when all 15 of Hermann’s players squeezed into Hermann’s office to confront her.

It was challenging when Hermann hit a player in the gut during a game.

It was so challenging that no players from the 1995-6 team have made contact with their coach since.

It has been incredibly challenging for Hermann to deny it 18 years later.

The most horrendous part of Hermann’s hiring is the hypocrisy it displays. Look at the first sentence of Rutger’s Code of Conduct: “All members of the Rutgers University community are expected to behave in an ethical and moral fashion, respecting the human dignity of all members of the community and resisting behavior that may cause danger or harm to others through violence, theft, or bigotry.” Notice the phrase ‘all members of the Rutgers University community.” Not just students. Not just athletes. Everyone. Julie Hermann hasn’t displayed ethical behavior, she hasn’t respected human dignity, nor has she resisted behavior that may cause danger or harm to others. Just read what Abbey Watkins, a member of the 1995-6 Tennessee team, coached by Hermann, had to say about her former coach: “I pray that each of my teammates are happy and well despite what we went through. […]She had made me hate the game I loved.”

Pretty harsh, huh?

President Barchi should have been fired when it became clear that he knew of Mike Rice’s unacceptable actions. Now, with this latest fumble, Barchi needs to go ASAP. He showed everyone that he cannot control his employees, and apparently he can’t choose suitable employees either. For Rutgers to move forward, they must clean the slate. They have to own up to their mistakes. They have to move on.

As former New Jersey Governor Dick Codey told the AP, "[Tim Pernetti’s] successor is someone who is an obvious liar, a flat-out liar. She shouldn't be the AD anywhere, whether it's Rutgers or anywhere else. She should stay in Louisville and not come back to the state, and Barchi should go to Louisville himself, because he is not a leader. It's dumb and dumber."

 Julie Hermann, your hiring at Rutgers will bring unneeded attention to the school and yourself. Step down. Rutgers only has room for a carry-on. You have too many oversized bags with you.

Own it.

Robert Barchi, your past 6 months at Rutgers have been the worst that any college has ever seen. Step down. Allow the school to move forward. There is no possible way that Hermann was the best of 63 candidates for the job, frankly, you botched another one.

  Own it.

  Chris Christie, your state controls the university.

Written by: O'Cephus Starks - Vidette blogger & ISU student

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