New Rutgers AD (former UofL employee) has history of abuse

 

 

“Oops.” – Julie Hermann

When you’ve recently fired your AD and basketball coach due to video evidence of player abuse, the next logical step is to hire a new AD who has experience with abuse. However, that step is not so logical if this new AD’s experience is as the perpetrator of such abuse.

In a developing story, it looks like the new Rutgers’ AD has a bit of a past – and not in a good way. While there’s no video evidence (yet), new Rutgers’ AD Julie Hermann is now facing allegations of abuse while at Tennessee. Hermann left her position as assistant AD at the University of Louisville recently to take over at Rutgers and clean up the mess left behind from the Mike Rice dodgeball situation. However, it seems she has a not-so-noble departure in her past.

The Newark Star Ledger is reporting that Hermann quit her job as the Tennessee women’s volleyball coach after her entire team submitted a letter to the coach complaining about Hermann’s emotional abuse, humiliation, and fear. The players wrote, “The mental cruelty that we as a team have suffered is unbearable. […] It has been unanimously decided that this is an irreconcilable issue.” They claim that Hermann called them “whores, alcoholics and learning disabled.”

The players presented Hermann this letter in person. She read their comments, and took the high road coward’s out, saying, “I choose not to coach you guys.”

While hard-headed and “aggressive” coaches permeate the entire sporting world in some fashion due to the nature of the beast, it’s hard to say where one can draw the line. I’ve had some great coaches who were terrifying at times, but I am sure Bobby Knight convinced a lot of his players that his tirades were worthwhile too.

Hermann’s case will be interesting. She was the AD protege of Tom Jurich at Louisville, as some have called her his ‘right hand woman.’ And wouldn’t you know it – Jurich has already stood up for her, as he does for all of his cronies who come under fire: “I’ve never seen anything but impeccable behavior. I knew things didn’t end well, but that happens to a lot of coaches at a lot of places.”

Even Governor Chris Christie has already chimed in: “Listen, I’m as curious as anybody and given my position, I get to ask questions more quickly than others. So I’ll be asking questions and we’ll see what happens.”

Stay tuned to see how Rutgers handles this situation, as player abuse has quickly become a hot topic.