Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany yesterday said that the recent issues at Rutgers Univ. around naming Julie Hermann the incoming AD "would not prevent the school from its scheduled entrance" into the conference in '14, according to Matthew Stanmyre of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. Delany said, "Rutgers is coming in. You should rest assure that Rutgers will be a member of the Big Ten, on-time, in-place and will make fabulous contributions, not withstanding any personnel issues last month, this month or next month." He called the situation at Rutgers "a 'local' matter and said it’s not his place to intervene" (NJ.com, 6/3). In New Jersey, Tara Sullivan writes of Delany, "There is no way he could have been happy about how much time is being spent talking about what's wrong with Rutgers rather than what's right." Delany said, "I don’t have any sort of public characterizations or comments other than to support the institution. It’s a great institution, with a great alumni base, great faculty, great students. I absolutely recognize it’s a story. It’s appropriate for you to ask questions. It’s appropriate for me to stay above the fray at this point." But sources said that Delany "strongly supported" Wisconsin Deputy AD Sean Frazier for the Rutgers job, believing in Frazier's "work at current Big Ten member Wisconsin and his New York area ties as the perfect match to lead Rutgers' transition into the biggest level of the big-time college sports world" (Bergen RECORD, 6/4).
ROUGH PATCH: In N.Y., Lenn Robbins writes the "public embarrassment in which Rutgers is mired is not what the Big Ten had in mind last November when it invited the university to become a member." Delany said, "You would wish that the coverage would be about integration, about the successful integration. Not about personnel matters. I think that’s an obvious situation. But there are personnel issues of high interest." He added, "It eventually will calm down. It’s not calmed down. I don’t have the magic wand to make it calm, and to be honest with you, issues of personnel decisions made by selection committees in the context of executive committees -- those are not conference matters" (N.Y. POST, 6/4). Delany: "(Rutgers) will make it through. They will make their decisions and the Big Ten will be as supportive as we always are with our members." Delany said that he will "be at Rutgers on Thursday and Friday, when he is expected to meet with Hermann and Rutgers officials" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/4).
