Report Finds Lack of Oversight in Rutgers Athletics During Rice Scandal

An independent review of the events surrounding the dismissal of former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice over allegations of harassment, a scandal that also resulted in the resignation of athletic director Tim Pernetti, found that the university administration has for years had a problematic lack of oversight of the athletics program.

The international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP was commissioned by the university on May 8 to undertake the eight-week review, based on employee interviews as well internal correspondence and reports. Their 38-page report, released Monday, details the university’s actions and presents recommendations for averting such scandal in the future.

In July 2012, according to the report, former director of player development Eric Murdock filed written allegations of Rice’s harassment of the Division I basketball team, along with an Open Public Records Act request for video footage of practices run by the coach since his appointment.

John Wolf, then the university’s chief counsel, streamlined the handling of the request, instructing the university secretary’s office to limit discussion of the allegations and the video request only with Pernetti and Janine Purcaro, the athletic department’s human resources person.

After Rice assured Pernetti that no issues would be discovered in the practice footage, the university released 219 DVDs of practice sessions “with no internal review,” according to the report.

Murdock and his attorneys used the footage to compile a 30-minute video of Rice apparently abusing his players which aired in portions on ESPN April 2, plunging the university and its athletics program into a national controversy.

The report says that Pernetti had discussed options with HR for disciplining Rice in Dec. 2012, months before the video was made public, but that the athletic director had believed it would be legally challenging to fire Rice for cause due to contractual obligations.

Pernetti instead proposed a ten-game suspension, which was reduced to three games after a discussion with Rice, whose discipline also included mandatory anger management training and probation.

Though at the time Pernetti had summarized the content of the video to Rutgers President Robert Barchi, who “endorsed” the athletic department’s handling of Rice, top university officials saw it themselves only after it was televised, the report says. The university announced Rice’s dismissal the day after the videos aired on ESPN.

According to the report, the university’s HR department “had limited involvement in this entire process,” and the independent review of events reveals that only a handful of people outside the athletics department had knowledge or input on handling Rice until video footage of the coach became a public relations controversy, causing harm to the university's reputation.

The report recommended that the university undergo a risk management assessment that includes accounting for areas where more oversight is needed, as well as increasing coordination between human resources officers in what is now a loosely structured HR department.

It also concluded that the university’s administration is insufficiently informed of developments in the athletic department. The report echoed an older, 2008 Athletics Review Committee report that warned there were “inadequate internal controls” in the department.

The recommendations, supported in public statements by administrators after the report's release, come as the school prepares to edge further into the national spotlight with a move to the Big Ten Conference in 2014.

“This report helps us better understand the issues that emerged in connection with the basketball program,” said Gerald Harvey, chair of the school’s board of governors. “This has been a difficult period. But the review and this report ill help us learn from these events and move forward, guided by the lessons it outlines.”