As Rutgers University sinks deeper into a scandal involving the University president and the athletic department New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has said that he will not intervene and will let the university handle things, reports USA Today.
The scandal began after ESPN released video depicting Mike Rice, coach of the men's basketball team, berating players, kicking players and throwing balls at them. Rice would be fired and shortly thereafter the Tim Bernetti, the athletic director, would resign. Many have called for the president of Rutgers, Robert Barchi, to resign as well, according to Sports Illustrated.
Now the turmoil in Piscataway has deepened as reports have come out that the new Athletic Director, Julie Hermann, was accused of abusive behavior toward players as a coach at Tennessee. In addition, The New York Times is reporting that Hermann is being sued for her role in the firing of an assistant track coach at Louisville after a sexual harassment complaint had been filed by the coach.
The hiring of new men's basketball coach Eddie Jordan has also been a source of some controversy. When the hiring of Jordan was announced Rutgers made note that Jordan was not only a star player for the university but that he also graduated from Rutgers. Jordan never graduated from Rutgers, as reported by Deadspin.
Speaking during his "Ask the Governor" radio show on New Jersey 101.5 FM Christie expressed that he had "absolute confidence" in the job that Barchi is doing at Rutgers, according to Sports Illustrated. On the radio show Christie went on to explain why he would not intervene in the scandal.
"My job is not to run Rutgers," Christie said. "These are their decisions. They decided to hire Eddie Jordan. They decided to hire Julie Hermann. And now they have to deal with the questions that are being raised. And as the governor, I'm not going to micromanage every hire at Rutgers University. If I did that, I'd have no time to do the job as governor."
New Jersey State Senator Barbara Buono, who also happens to be Christie's opponent in the upcoming gubernatorial election, blasted Christie and Rutgers leadership in a statement released to the press.
"Each day that passes with the situation at Rutgers remaining unresolved is simply unacceptable," the statement read. "Governor Christie is showing an appalling lack of leadership with this latest failure to address the clear problems wafting down from President Barchi's office. As an alumnus, and as a New Jersey taxpayer, I have lost all confidence in President Barchi's ability to effectively guide our state university. If the Board of Governors will not take action, then Governor Christie has a responsibility to take the appropriate action to ensure that this taxpayer funded institution does not fall even further off course."
Richard Codey, a former governor of New Jersey and current state Senator, demanded the ouster of both Hermann and Barchi in an interview with the Associated Press.
"She shouldn't be the AD anywhere, whether it's Rutgers or anywhere else," Codey said. "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."
Still speaking on his radio show Christie reiterated that he would not be stepping in to fix the situation and that he feels that Barchi is perfectly capable of righting the ship on his own.
"I have absolute confidence in Bob Barchi," Christie said. "I think he's the right man for the job and he has my complete confidence and support. Past mistakes by Rutgers have led to this intense media attention and I understand that and I don't argue with it. But I'm also not going to become the super-president or super-chairman at Rutgers."
