Julie Hermann isn’t going anywhere.
The soon-to-be Rutgers AD said in a conference call Monday that she has no plans to step down in the face of the school’s latest PR nightmare. Hermann, who was named Rutgers AD on May 15 and was set to take over on June 17, has been accused of mentally abusing players when she was coach of the Tennessee women’s volleyball team in 90’s.
“I never considered withdrawing because I feel very qualified to lead Rutgers into the future and into the transition of the Big Ten,” Hermann said on the 10-minute call, according to NJ.com. “And I do feel the support of the Rutgers community.”
Rutgers President Robert Barchi released a statement backing Hermann and his decision to hire her.
“Rutgers was deliberative at every stage of this process,” Barchi said. “Over the course of the search, Julie’s record established her as a proven leader in athletics administration with a strong commitment to academic success as well as athletic excellence, and a strong commitment to the well-being of student athletes. Since the announcement of her selection, some media reports have focused on complaints about aspects of her early career. Looking at Julie’s entire record of accomplishment, which is stellar, we remain confident that we have selected an individual who will work in the best interests of all of our student athletes, our athletics teams, and the university.”
But others have called for her ouster, including New Jersey politicians. Governor Chris Christie said on Sunday he planned to look into the situation at the state university.
Hermann stepped down as coach, according to the NJ.com report, after her players submitted a letter to Tennessee administrators in the spring of 1997 saying she had called them “whores, alcoholics and learning disabled.” The letter summarized: “The mental cruelty that we as a team have suffered is unbearable.”
In addition, the report revealed a jury awarded $150,000 in a 1997 discrimination suit to one of Hermann’s former assistant coaches, who said Hermann fired her because she became pregnant. Cited as evidence was a 1994 wedding video in which Hermann jokingly tells the assistant coach not to come back from the honeymoon pregnant.
“I don’t know what their motivation is 17 years later,” Hermann said.
“Am I an intense coach? I’m absolutely an intense coach as many coaches are. But there is a big canyon between being super-intense and abuse. And this was not an abusive environment for these women.
Hermann was brought in from Louisville, where she was the assistant AD, to clean up the Mike Rice mess. The men’s basketball coach was fired in April after a video was released showing him verbally and physically abusing players. Then AD Tim Pernetti resigned after he faced pressure for only suspending Rice three games after he viewed the video in December.
with Brian Lewis