While preparing for the first day at school, office or college, people usually tend to put their best foot forward to make a great impression. However, for Julie Hermann, the next new Athletic Director (AD) at Rutgers University, it is more about regaining lost impression and leading the university into the Big Ten Conference in 2014.
She succeeds Tim Pernetti, who was forced to resign in April, a couple of days after the head basketball coach, Mike Rice, was fired for verbally and physically abusing his players. Hermann, 49, a former associate athletic director at the University of Louisville, confirmed a five-year deal with Rutgers that is estimated to be over $2.25 million to become the first woman to head its athletics department. She started tenure at the university on Monday.
Hermann issued an open letter to the student-athletes, late Monday afternoon:
".....Another of my goals is to make the most of our extraordinary opportunity to join the prestigious Big Ten Conference," Hermann wrote. "Being a member of the Big Ten will provide exciting new possibilities, not only for Rutgers as an institution, but also for you, as a student-athlete. I look forward to conducting a comprehensive strategic review of all aspects of Rutgers Athletics as we prepare to compete against the best in the nation."
"I've already rolled up my sleeves, and I can't wait to get to work with you, your coaches and the athletic department staff to move Rutgers Athletics forward," Hermann wrote. "We will take the lessons of the past and learn from them. We will take the successes of the past and build on them. And, together, we will take Rutgers to new heights. Our work toward tomorrow begins today."
Hermann seems to have successfully scraped through a turbulent three-week period, wherein campus community members and the alumni questioned Robert L. Barchi, the president of Rutgers University, for hiring Herman as the next AD despite learning about the charges she faced during her stint as coach of the women's volleyball team at the University of Tennessee.
Hermann, who was initially hired on May 15, 2013, was subsequently pressurized to quit from the post even before she began serving at Rutgers. State Sen. Ray Lesniak called for both Barchi's and Hermann's resignations, when the allegations surfaced late last month.
Some are still skeptical about Hermann and her capabilities.
"She says she's up to it, the [Rutgers governing] board thinks she's up for it, and now it's time to produce," said Lesniak, D-Union. "I still have serious doubts about the leadership at Rutgers, but the proof will be in the pudding."
Tom Lynaugh, an alumnus and longtime Rutgers football fan from Tenafly, is unsure of Hermann's capability to lead the athletic department."I'm not sure she can be taken seriously in that position," Lynaugh said. "A lot of us feel she's unqualified."
Early this month, in an attempt to salvage her lost confidence and secure her position at the university, Hermann met the university's top 20 donors in a meet-and-greet event.
"I went in there with a negative attitude, but I came out with an open mind," said Don Musso, the president of a financial consulting firm. "I'm going to give her a chance."
