Embattled Rutgers AD Robert Mulcahy Fired Amid Recent Trouble
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Mulcahy Declines Rutgers'
Plea To Submit Resignation |
Rutgers Univ. (RU) AD Robert Mulcahy yesterday was fired "amid revelations of unchecked spending and secret deals," according to Margolin & Sherman in a front-page piece for the Newark STAR-LEDGER. The firing comes three weeks after a "special review committee issued a sharp rebuke to Rutgers for allowing the athletics department to operate without oversight -- answerable to no one -- in the drive to bring big-time college football" to the school. RU President Richard McCormick in an e-mail last night to the school's BOG and trustees said that he had "asked Mulcahy to leave his position by the end of the year." McCormick in the e-mail said, "Recent events have convinced me, with reluctance, that this is the right course of action." Mulcahy, who started in the position in '98, in a statement said, "I was asked to resign. I have not offered my resignation." The special review committee's report found "no wrongdoing, but it is not the last examination of the school's athletics program," as the New Jersey state comptroller has "sought hundreds of documents" from RU. Margolin & Sherman note the controversy surrounding the athletic department "seemed far from over." The RU BOG will meet tomorrow to "address what is to be done" about the football stadium renovation project, which is stalled due to a lack of funding, as well as "issues raised by the university's own inquiry." McCormick said that he "wanted to move quickly with a national search to replace Mulcahy" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 12/11).
PICKING UP THE PIECES: McCormick in a statement said that Mulcahy will leave his position, effective December 31, which is two days after the RU football team faces North Carolina State in the Papajohns.com Bowl. McCormick: "Bob Mulcahy has provided outstanding leadership for the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics at Rutgers for a decade" (AP, 12/10). In New Jersey, Aditi Kinkhabwala cites sources who say that the $102M expansion of Rutgers Stadium, in the short term, is "not at risk." New Jersey State Senate President Richard Codey said that the expansion, "half completed, with bids still due for the remaining addition of 13,000 seats," will be "finished within Mulcahy's budget." Codey: "Everybody agrees you can't leave a hole in the ground" (Bergen RECORD, 12/11). In Newark, Tom Luicci writes Mulcahy's successor will "inherit plenty of problems -- foremost being the $30[M] shortfall to finish the ongoing construction of an additional 13,000 end-zone seats at Rutgers -- but he will also take over an established football program that has gained national prominence on the field and in the classroom" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 12/11).
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Hiring Of Football Coach Greg Schiano Seen As
Mulcahy's Most Important, Best Decision As AD |
A MIXED LEGACY: In Newark, Steve Politi writes Mulcahy leaves the RU athletic program "better than he found it, but not nearly as good as it could be." Mulcahy will leave a "mixed legacy at Rutgers," but his "most important decision was his best," hiring football coach Greg Schiano. Mulcahy "inherited a program that nobody cared about and leaves one that is a source of pride for alumni," but he also "leaves behind so many loose ends." Mulcahy is "guilty of arrogance and deceit," as he "pushed a grand vision for the athletic department before it was ready to take many of those big steps, and he did it the wrong way, outside the full view of the taxpayers who were largely financing his program." Politi writes McCormick will "keep his job into the new year, but he is as much to blame for what happened inside the athletic department as Mulcahy" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 12/11). Former RU BOG member David Harris said Mulcahy, who earned more than $400,000 annually in base salary and bonuses on a deal set to expire after the 2009-10 school year, is "basically the fall guy for McCormick." Harris: "They were going to throw him under the bus as the water rose under McCormick's neck." RU BOG member George Zoffinger, who in the past has been critical of Mulcahy, last night said, "Over the past few years he did a good job bringing Rutgers to the forefront, particularly in football and women's basketball, and the next is men's basketball. In the major revenue sports he hired three fantastic coaches." But Zoffinger said that Mulcahy's "major mistake was the elimination of six sports," and Zoffinger noted that he will "continue to seek their reinstatement" (HOME NEWS TRIBUNE, 12/11).
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