Multiple high-ranking New Jersey state officials are demanding the ousters of Rutgers president Robert L. Barchi and newly hired athletic director Julie Hermann, and Gov. Chris Christie said he wants answers from the school in the wake of a report alleging Hermann — brought in to clean up the school’s sports reputation after the abuse scandal involving former basketball coach Mike Rice — herself abused players when she coached the Tennessee women’s volleyball team 16 years ago.
Hermann stepped down as coach, according to the Newark Star-Ledger 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.
Gov. Christie’s spokesman Michael Drewniak told the AP the governor is aware of the report and plans to talk to Rutgers officials but wants more information before commenting. State senators Ray J. Lesniak and Richard Codey went ahead and called for the removal of Barchi and Hermann, who was hired May 15 and is set to take over June 17.
Lesniak (D-Union) said Hermann’s alleged actions are comparable to the verbal and physical abuses by Rice that led to the firing of the basketball coach and athletic director Tim Pernetti and set off a string of humiliating episodes for the state university of New Jersey.
“The initial mistake was made getting rid of [Pernetti] in the first place. They made him a scapegoat for following university procedure, which was inadequate for dealing with human (failures) not legal,’’
Lesniak told The Post. Then, with the hiring of the under-fire Hermann, “they compounded the mistake.”
“Barchi’s judgment regarding this Mike Rice saga has to be put in question. He might not be up to the job. First thing they need to do is man up and have the courage to say, ‘I made a mistake,’ bring Pernetti back and go from there.’’
Lesniak said he fired off an email to Gov. Christie, state senate president Steve Sweeney and assembly speaker Sheila Oliver, calling for Barchi’s resignation and Rutgers to hire back both Pernetti and former president Richard McCormick.
“Often when you make a mistake the next action is another mistake and that’s what happened,” Lesniak said. “What they need is to get credibility back. Looking at this now, the best person we have for athletic director was here in the first place.’’
Codey agreed, telling the Newark Star-Ledger, “This is becoming Comedy Central. It’s an embarrassment to the students and alumni of a great university and it’s time Mr. Barchi takes his show on the road.”
Hermann had no official comment last night. According to the Star-Ledger report, when the letter by Hermann’s former players was read to her, she replied, “Wow,” and said, “None of this is familiar to me.”
Neither Rutgers nor Louisville, where Hermann served as an assistant AD for the past 15 years, talked to Ginger Hineline, the assistant who won $150,000 in a 1997 pregnancy discrimination suit against Tennessee.
“I appreciate your interest, but I’m just trying not to give interviews,’’ Hineline told The Post. “I chose to talk to one reporter, but everything in that article is true, from what she said.’’
Allison Stricklin Harvey, who quit the Tennessee volleyball team because of Hermann, did not immediate return emails.
But Louisville AD Tom Jurich, who hired Hermann as a volleyball coach at Northern Arizona and again at Louisville, came to the defense of the 49-year-old.
“My question is where have they been the last 15 years?” Jurich told The Post. “I see her ex-players, they came back to Louisville all the time and sung her praises. I never heard about any of this.
“What I would tell her is just keep her chin up and be strong. She’s a great leader. She’s been through tough times before. She’s a bright one. I just hope the piling on stops, because that’s not fun for anybody. It’s not fun for her and it’s certainly not fun for Rutgers, their entire athletic family.’’
brian.lewis@nypost.com