New Rutgers athletic director Julie Hermann found herself in even more trouble Tuesday when The New York Times reported she was the subject of a sexual discrimination lawsuit filed in 2008. The lawsuit is still pending.

Hermann was a senior athletics administrator with Louisville — her employer before joining Rutgers — at the time.

The Times reported that assistant track and field coach Mary Banker complained to Hermann of sexist behavior by the head track and field coach. Banker was fired three weeks later.

The lawsuit filing shows emails from Hermann to Banker in which she says Banker “should not have gone to HR” with the complaints about the head coach.

It was just on Monday that Rutgers President Robert Barchi said the school had no plans to fire Hermann after it was reported over the weekend that Hermann had threatened and humiliated players as the volleyball coach at Tennessee. Hermann said she has no recollection of the meeting in which players brought the complaints against her for which she resigned.

She was also the subject of a lawsuit by a Tennessee assistant coach who claimed Hermann fired her for getting pregnant. The assistant won $150,000 from the school in the suit.

Hermann was hired in April. Previously, the school relieved Tim Pernetti for his mishandling of the firing of men’s basketball head coach Mike Rice for berating and abusing players.

Follow Metro New York Sports Editor Mark Osborne on Twitter @MetroNYSports

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Rutgers University is standing by its new athletic director in the wake of a newspaper report that she had been accused of abusing her volleyball team 16 years ago at another school, the New Jersey school’s president said on Monday.

The athletic director, Julie Hermann, had been hired earlier this month after her predecessor resigned under pressure for not firing Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice for abusive behavior toward his players.

The Newark Star-Ledger said in a report on Saturday that Hermann resigned in 1997 as women’s volleyball coach at the University of Tennessee after all 15 players on the team signed a letter accusing her of mental cruelty.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vowed over the weekend to investigate the report.

But on Monday, Rutgers President Robert Barchi said in a statement the school is standing by its decision to hire Hermann, who had been associate athletic director at the University of Louisville before coming to Rutgers, the state’s largest public university.

Barchi said Hermann had passed an extensive vetting process by an executive search firm and a background check by a leading U.S. private security firm.

“Since the announcement of her selection, some media reports have focused on complaints about aspects of her early career,” Barchi said in the statement. “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.”

Hermann’s predecessor, Tim Pernetti, resigned in early April after ESPN aired video showing Rice berating players with homophobic slurs and throwing basketballs at them during practice. Pernetti had originally decided to discipline Rice rather than fire him, but after the video became public, the coach was dismissed.

Christie’s spokesman said on Sunday that the governor was not involved in Hermann’s hiring.

The Star-Ledger reported that the letter signed by Hermann’s players said she ruled through humiliation, fear and emotional abuse and called her volleyball players “whores, alcoholics and learning disabled.”

Hermann said in a statement on Monday that she was never notified of the letter and called the allegations heartbreaking.

“I am truly sorry that some were disappointed during my tenure as coach,” Hermann said. “For sure I was an intense coach, but there is a vast difference between high intensity and abusive behavior.”

She added that Rutgers was aware of a lawsuit filed by a former assistant coach at Tennessee who accused Hermann of firing her because she was pregnant. A jury in 1997 awarded the former assistant $150,000.

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New Jersey state Sen. Ray Lesniak saw this coming.

In the latest scandal to hit Rutgers, reports surfaced alleging new athletic director Julie Hermann directed abuse toward players as head volleyball coach at Tennessee in the 1990s which caused her to resign. According to reports, Rutgers never vetted Hermann about this incident when they decided to hire her to replace Tim Pernetti as athletic director.

Pernetti was forced to resign April 6 after media scrutiny in the wake of firing head basketball coach Mike Rice. Pernetti chose to suspend Rice in December after a video of him berating players came to light as opposed to firing him. When ESPN aired the tape in April, Rice was fired.

“First of all [Pernetti] followed university procedures — human resource and legal procedures that were in place that were inadequate to deal with this situation. He was made the scapegoat rather than the institution taking responsibility,” Lesniak, who has represented New Jersey’s 20th district since 1984, told Metro yesterday. Lesniak graduated from Rutgers with a degree in economics and is a men’s basketball season ticket holder. “When you make someone a scapegoat like [Rutgers] President Rob Barchi did, bad things happen and bad things did happen with the hiring of an athletic director who has a very difficult past of abuse of players. The right thing to do is to correct this thing, admit you made a mistake, that it is wrong to make [someone] a scapegoat for an institutional problem and bring back Tim Pernetti and move on from there.”

Pernetti would not speak on the record, but a high-ranking source said the university was on board with Pernetti’s decision last December.

“Everyone was on board with the suspension, including the Committee for Athletics, which included several members of the Board of Governors, and the president of the university to the point that Pernetti was effusively praised in December board meetings for his handling of the situation by all parties,” the source said. “When the tape came out in April, although Pernetti shared in December that it would, they isolated Tim, and reacted to the media and the public outcry. Trenton had their hands in this too.”

In 2012, Rice was kicked out in the first half a Feb. 4 game with Louisville, livid after what he saw as a missed call by the officiating crew. In that game, Rice had to be restrained and then made a choking gesture towards the referees on his way off the court.

After that incident, the source said Pernetti met with Rice and essentially read him the riot act.

“There’s no behavior like this from that time until now,” the source said. “More than a year.”

Even away from the sidelines or the practice court, Rice was acting like a changed man — not the one seen in that video. One of Rice’s former players, a multi-year starter for the Scarlet Knights, told Metro he saw a change in Rice dating back to that game against Louisville.

“What I saw, me personally and only me personally, is someone who I think got it. He seemed changed after sort of getting called out,” the player said. “I never saw coach Rice as someone looking to hurt us by all that carrying on. I think he got lost in the wins and losses and maybe that got the better of him. But I don’t think he delighted in hurting us.

“And this year he seemed different. You could tell maybe he was processing things differently.”

The player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he wasn’t aware of any major outbursts within the past year like those seen on the video obtained by ESPN.

Rutgers is now embroiled in the center of another scandal that could have been avoided had Pernetti not been terminated.

“[Tim] certainly handled the situation under the procedures established by the Rutgers Department of Human Resources and their legal department,” Lesniak said. “When those procedures are followed and result in the correction in the behavior, to fire a person or demand that he resign or be fired, as President Barchi did, is a terrible injustice.”

Follow Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday vowed to investigate a report that the athletic director hired by Rutgers University after a basketball coach was fired for abusing players had herself been accused of similar abuse 16 years ago.

“I’ve got to talk to university officials and try to get the complete story. It would be irresponsible for me to comment at this point on it,” Christie told NBC News. “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.”

Rutgers, the largest public university in New Jersey, hired Julie Hermann as athletic director earlier this month in the wake of the furor caused by abusive behavior by Mike Rice, the men’s basketball coach, toward his players.

Herman’s predecessor, Tim Pernetti, resigned in early April after ESPN aired video showing Rice berating players with homophobic slurs and throwing basketballs at them during practice.

Pernetti at first decided to discipline Rice rather than fire him but after the video became public, the coach was dismissed.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger reported on Saturday that Hermann resigned as women’s volleyball coach at the University of Tennessee in 1997 after all 15 players on the team signed a letter accusing her of mental cruelty.

Julie Hermann talks to the media after being introduced as Rutgers University athletic director on May 15, 2013 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Schultz /Getty Images)

The letter said she ruled through humiliation, fear and emotional abuse and called them “whores, alcoholics and learning disabled,” the Star-Ledger said.

The newspaper quoted Hermann as saying that she did not remember the letter and that several players she coached had stayed in touch with her over the years. When a reporter read her the letter, she replied, “Wow,” the newspaper said.

Hermann had been senior executive athletic director at the University of Louisville when hired by Rutgers, where she became the first woman to hold that post at the university.

(Reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Bill Trott)

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Update: April 18, 12 p.m.

After haggling over the length of a contract for a few days, Eddie Jordan is reportedly the new head coach of Rutgers men’s basketball.

The deal is for five years. The Star-Ledger reported the deal will be for about $1 million per season.

Jordan, a Rutgers alum and current assistant with the NBA’s Lakers, will be tasked with cleaning up the program in the wake of former head coach Mike Rice’s much-publicized firing for abusing players during practices. Jordan apparently wanted a five-year deal for exactly that reason. He felt the program was in need of a major overhaul and wanted a long-term commitment from the school to do so.

Rutgers has lost much of their team in the wake of the Rice scandal. Guards Eli Carter and Mike Poole have requested a release to transfer this week, while guard Jerome Seagears has always been granted his release. Junior college forward Chris Griffin decommitted from Rutgers last week and will now attend Auburn.

Jordan will reportedly keep current assistants David Cox and Van Macon on his staff.

———————————————

Rutgers men’s basketball is reportedly close to hiring their greatest alum as the program’s savior.

Eddie Jordan, who played with the Scarlet Knights from 1973-77, is working on a deal with Rutgers to become its next head basketball coach, according to multiple reports. The deal could be finalized as early as Monday.

Jordan is currently serving as an assistant coach for the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers.

Not only would Jordan be a tremendously popular pick with fans of the university, he would also go a long way in helping to fix the reputation of the school in the wake of the firing of coach Mike Rice and athletic director Tim Pernetti. Rice was fired April 3 after video surfaced on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” of him throwing basketballs at players, cursing at them and making homophobic remarks during practices.

Pernetti’s ousting came days later. He was blamed for going too easy on Rice when the coach was suspended for just three games in December after he saw the video.

Jordan was head coach of the Sacramento Kings (1997-98), Washington Wizards (2004-08) and Philadelphia Sixers (2009-10). He has never been a head coach or assistant coach in college.

Jordan led Rutgers to the Final Four in 1976 and played in the NBA from 1977-84. He averaged 8.1 points and 3.8 assists per game, mostly in a reserve role, over his career. He was also a part of the 1982 NBA champion Lakers. He also spent three years of his career in New Jersey with the Nets.

Follow Metro New York Sports Editor Mark Osborne on Twitter @MetroNYSports.

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Tell us how you really feel, Anthony Davis.

Davis, the former Rutgers star, signed a $37.3 million contract extension three days ago to keep the right tackle with the 49ers for the next five years. But according to Davis, the highest draft pick in Rutgers history, his time in college with the Scarlet Knights under then head coach Greg Schiano did nothing to prepare him for the next level.

Davis blasted Schiano, now head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, several weeks ago while he attended Rutgers’ Pro Day to support his former teammates. Speaking to the NFL Draft Bible for their podcast, Davis didn’t exactly endorse Schiano, who has ruffled veterans in Tampa Bay with his no-nonsense personality and strict disciplinarian style on the practice field.

“Schiano didn’t do s—,” Davis told NFL Draft Bible. “He like, breaks your confidence down. That’s his idea of molding guys, by breaking their confidence down. But really, without confidence, you’ve got a s— team. And I feel like, what he’s doing, I thought it was because I was young and I just didn’t appreciate what he was doing, but now that I’m a little older, I just realize that his plan is not working. And I think he’s going to start finding that out soon enough.”

Schiano was recommended to Tampa Bay last year by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, himself notorious for his blunt demeanor.

On Friday after signing his extension with the 49ers, Davis tweeted a quote that seemed to be attributed to Schiano. Davis deleted the tweet just minutes after he posted it.

Despite his digs at Schiano, Davis had a reputation for underperforming at Rutgers, including a lackluster work ethic on the field and in the weight room. He struggled his rookie season, coming into rookie camp overweight and in poor shape.

In recent years, Rutgers has been relatively solid in terms of producing NFL products. Ray Rice, a second-round pick in 2008, has become a Pro Bowl running back with the Ravens. In addition, Titans cornerback Jason McCourty, twin brother Devin McCourty of the Patriots and wide receiver Mohamed Sanu of the Bengals have all developed into solid NFL players.

Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer for all your offseason news.

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The talent evaluation for the NFL draft for the Jets now includes two players with local ties.

A source tells Metro New York the Jets will have a private workout with Rutgers running back Jawan Jamison in addition to wide receiver Mark Harrison. Both players were part of the Scarlet Knights team that went 9-4 last season, won a share of the Big East title and lost to Virginia Tech in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

Jamison was a big chunk of the Rutgers offense last season, rushing for 1,075 yards despite suffering an ankle injury in early November that limited him to just 41 carries and 122 rushing yards over the final four games of the year. He is considered a good pass-catching running back and is projected anywhere between the third and fifth rounds. He declared for the draft with two years of eligibility left.

Despite not being as strong of a runner, Jamison has drawn comparisons to former Rutgers and current Ravens running back Ray Rice for his willingness to run between the tackles.

Despite still being raw as a wide receiver, Harrison has a tremendous amount of upside at the next level. A former standout high school basketball player in Connecticut, Harrison led Rutgers with 44 catches for 583 yards and six touchdowns last season, using his 6-foot-3 frame as a red-zone threat. His 4.37 second 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine impressed scouts as a viable downfield option. He is projected as a late-round selection or a possible undrafted free agent.

The Scarlet Knights have sent several players to the local NFL teams over the past few seasons. The Jets had linebacker Jamaal Westerman on the roster for the first three seasons under head coach Rex Ryan in addition to linebacker Brandon Renkhart for a brief spell. Across town, the Giants have signed former Rutgers players in fullback Joe Martinek and cornerback Brandon Bing in recent years.

Metro New York has also learned that the Jets have interest in Texas A&M running back Christine Michael. The source said the Jets were impressed with Michael at the East-West Shrine Game and will have a workout with the powerfully built back.

At the NFL Combine, Michael showed good burst with a 4.54-second time in the 40-yard dash, perhaps enough to erase doubts about his comeback from an ACL injury last November in a game against Oklahoma.

Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer for all your offseason news leading up to the draft.

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“Saturday Night Live” was particularly sports-heavy last night, with a spoof of the Rutgers scandal leading the way.

Host Melissa McCarthy (remembered fondly by most from “Bridesmaids,” but by me from “Gilmore Girls”) played fictional women’s basketball coach Sheila Kelly in an episode of “Outside the Lines.” Of course she was a take off on Rutgers head coach Mike Rice, who was fired for berating players, cursing them and literally kick their asses.

It’s above, just watch it.

“SNL” was really on its game with this one. I’m going with McCarthy throwing a toaster at her player as the highlight.

But the Rutgers and Mike Rice skit wasn’t the only one to feature a sports slant. Weekend Update tackled Charles Barkley’s complete lack of knowledge about the NCAA tournament and his gambling addiction.

The best line was about underdog (and Final Four loser) Wichita State.

“Wichita State? I didn’t even know Wichita was a state?” Barkley said. “Did you know Wichita State didn’t have no witches in it? It cost me 50 grand.”

I’m surprised “SNL” went in that direction since the “Barkley is clueless” slant is very insider sports. It was great stuff for a sports fan.

The “Michael Jordan is the Michael Jordan of gambling” line was also excellent though it fell a little flat without a sports-oriented audience. Still, great night of sports humor from “Saturday Night Live.”

Follow Metro New York Sports Editor Mark Osborne on Twitter @MetroNYSports. Great cameo by Jay Pharaoh as an Eric Murdock clone too.

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Sorry, Rutgers, but the termination of Rutgers men’s basketball head coach Mike Rice is too little, too late.

We are now five months from the time when the school suspended him in December when his abuse of players and coaches was first learned. That suspension and his termination are summed up by ESPN’s expose on Tuesday of a head coach who pushed, cursed and taunted his way to mediocrity at Rutgers. Now, the university is left to wonder where they went wrong with their tyrant of an ex-head coach.

To start with, they should have fired Rice in December.

It was seen last summer at Penn State, where sordid detail after sordid detail painted a picture of an athletic department and a university involved in a cover-up to protect its powerhouse football program. Here at Rutgers, Rice’s intolerable actions of physical and emotional abuse of student-athletes was covered up in the hopes that the master recruiter could turn the program into a winner.

Everything that caused Rutgers to fire their head coach on Wednesday they knew five months before. The travesty here is that it took the program this long to do something so obviously right.

It knew that Rice was throwing basketballs at players and demeaning them and using slurs. He might be a changed man now but the actions of maniacal oppressor bent on dishing out pain to achieve wins should never be tolerated in a place where education and enlightenment should be at the forefront.

To all with a conscience, Rice should have been fired when the administration first learned of his behavior. Instead, Rutgers tried to sweep this under the rug. They avoided the situation and insisted on therapy for their coach. What they got was a prescription on how not to run a basketball program. They chose to run away from the problem rather than do what was right.

In doing the right thing on Wednesday, Rutgers said in a statement that their decision to terminate Rice was “Based upon recently revealed information and a review of previously discovered issues, Rutgers has terminated the contract of Mike Rice.” The information may have been “revealed” yesterday but Rutgers was aware of these tapes to the point that Rice was disciplined in December. What changed between now and five months ago?

It was only because these tapes came to light and created a media firestorm that Rutgers is now caving in on peer pressure to fire a coach whose Top-10 recruiting classes from the past couple of seasons are coming of age. The hope surely was that Rice’s coaching style could be altered and that the issues seen on tape would never come to light. Rather, ESPN documented his behavior to the nation and Rutgers was left to play the spin game and fire Rice as if the revelation was new to them.

But that isn’t the truth and it took the Scarlet Knights as an athletic department and Rutgers as a university five months to finally do the right thing.

Shame on Rutgers for taking this long to do what should have been obvious.

Follow Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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With the Final Four taking place in Atlanta in just a few days, one would think that the sport of basketball is being celebrated. Quite the contrary.

Money grabs and shady dealings are all the rage this week when it comes to hoop talk.

WFAN sports radio reported this morning that Erick Murdoch (the guy with all the dirt on now-fired Rutgers head coach Mike Rice) tried to blackmail Rutgers for $1 million to not release the tapes of Rice abusing his players and that Rutgers may have countered with a $200,000 offer at some point.

You think this type of behavior could land Rutgers in some hot water with the NCAA? If they even engaged in those type of talks it’s a guarantee that Rutgers basketball won’t see the NCAA tournament until about 2078 (lame joke alert: the same would have been true even without this Mike Rice stuff).

Elsewhere in “Basketball & Benjamin Franklins” drama, we had the Pac-12’s referee boss Ed Rush “joking” around with his officials that if they gave Arizona head coach Sean Miller a technical in the Pac-12 tournament, he would give them $5,000 or a free trip to Cancun. Of course, there was a controversial technical foul given to Miller in the Pac-12 tournament (one that made Miller a SportsCenter star for a day due to his postgame press conference tirade about the call) … nothing to see here! Still, Pac-12 commish Larry Scott believes that Rush is doing a fine job and that he did nothing to warrant a firing.

Finally, we turn to the pros where the Los Angeles Lakers (the NBA’s marquee franchise and biggest money maker) are battling out West for the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference. There is a strange trend happening in which the Lakers are getting most EVERY call from the stripes down the stretch, so much so that someone was kind enough to make the following, brilliant YouTube video about it.

Take it sleazy!

• 
  View Video

  Basketball & Money: Lakers 2013 playoff conspiracy video

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Rice should be fired, effective immediately.

The recent furor against Rice (and by extension against the entire athletic department at Rutgers) stems from an ESPN expose that aired Tuesday which showed the head coach throwing basketballs at his players, screaming obscenities, shoving and pushing his players like rag dolls and even once using a homophobic slur. When he learned of a video showing the mistreatment of players and assistant coaches on the team, Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti suspended Rice for three games in December along with a hefty fine.

But that was before the tapes went public. The punishment handed down five months ago comes nowhere near to fitting the crime.

Even if Rice had the success of Bobby Knight, the former Indiana head coach famous for his tirades who once choked a player, the level of abuse shown in the ESPN piece was over the top. In a day and age where the Supreme Court is weighing the issue of gay marriage and where Title IX has made equal opportunity more than just a dream, Rice’s boorish behavior crosses the line to sadism. It just isn’t right.

Pernetti is likely bulletproof after managing the school into the recent Big 10 expansion, even as his handling of this situation was underwhelming. But Rice forgot, or perhaps never understood, what his role at Rutgers should be. Instead, he corrupted the very meaning of his job and his team.

What it boils down to is we are not talking about the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, an athletic program, but Rutgers University, a place to educate young men and women. These are student-athletes after all, not mercenaries. Rutgers needs to remember this when assessing Rice’s future with the university. Many on the team are just teenagers, away from home for the first time and learning how to be men. Their prime role model in all of this, Rice, is a poor example of what being a man is all about.

And if Rutgers wants to be a university and not a football or basketball factory, then it must cut ties with Rice. Even if his successor finds even less success on the court, Rice can’t be what Rutgers is all about.

It should be about graduation and young people coming of age, without the fear of an authority figure ripping apart their psyche. There is a fine line between tough love and downright degradation, a line Rice didn’t blur but downright annihilated. This should cause the athletic department and the university as a whole to decide what their core values will be moving forward.

No slur, cursing tirade or physical intimidation ever made a player better on the court. It also never made any student-athlete more apt in the classroom. Rice forgot what Rutgers should be about as he pursued something far more trivial on the basketball court.

Like an abused child, the players must learn to heal and seek their own answers from this situation. More than anything, may they grow up to never be like him.

Follow Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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The star witness, identified as M.B., was one of the last people to see Clementi, 18, who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after posting about his suicide plan to Facebook on September 22, 2010, just days after learning his roommate Dharun Ravi, now 20, covertly watched them and others to do so too.

M.B., a man in his 20s or 30s who is not a Rutgers student, said he met Clementi in an online chat room for gay men and then visited him in the dorm room he shared with Ravi. The men had three dates before Clementi committed suicide.

According to The New York Times, M.B. learned that his encounter with Clementi had been recorded two weeks after his death when prosecutors came to his home. However, M.B. said he had felt “uneasy” during his visit to Clementi’s dorm room after noticing a camera lens.

“I had just glanced over my shoulder and I had noticed there was a webcam that was faced toward the direction of the bed, and I just thought it was kind of strange. Just being in a compromising position and seeing a camera lens — I guess it just stuck out to me that if you were sitting at a desk using the computer, that camera wouldn’t be facing that direction, it would be facing the person at the computer,” M.B. said during his testimony, according to The Times.

M.B. has been the most anticipated witness in the trial. His identity has been closely guarded because he is considered a victim himself. Efforts to protect M.B.’s identity were requested by his lawyer, Richard Pompelio.

Ravi is not charged in Clementi’s suicide, which was widely portrayed as a tragic example of bullying and the toll it too often takes on gay teenagers. He is, however, charged with 15 counts of invasion of privacy, witness and evidence tampering and bias intimidation, which is a hate crime. If convicted, he faces the possibility of 10 years in prison.

Students who lived in the same college dorm and have been called as witnesses in the trial described M.B. as about 30-years o-d and “sketchy.” Ravi’s lawyer maintains he set up the webcam because he was afraid that the man would steal his valuable computer equipment.

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According to Sweeney’s statement, a major public university would create better educational opportunities for South Jersey residents. Although 30 percent of the state’s population lives in South Jersey, only 12.5 percent of the state’s undergraduate slots are there.

There would be financial benefits as well. Currently only about 55 percent of the money Rutgers Camden collects in tuition is used on this campus; the rest goes into the general fund in New Brunswick. “A recent $1.5 billion-plus list of proposed capital expenditures from Rutgers University showed that less than 10 percent of the funds were to be dedicated to its Camden campus,” said Senator Donald Norcross, whose district includes the Rutgers Camden campus.

A separately organized and funded university would mean that South Jersey would get its fair share of higher education resources — benefiting not only the universities, but the region’s economy as a whole.

The Rutgers response

Rutgers Camden had staged numerous protests against the proposed merger, fearing the loss of the Rutgers name. Sweeney addressed that issue, saying “the history, degrees, accreditation and identities of both Rutgers and Rowan should be respected.”
   
Rutgers Camden chancellor Wendell Pritchett responded positively to Sweeney’s statement: “Expanding on the core principles in the statement could help us to increase resources to higher education in southern New Jersey while respecting the strengths, programs and names of both Rutgers Camden and Rowan.”

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Recruits talked about jumping ship, but as the faxes began pouring in to the team’s facilities on national signing day yesterday, it was clear that the tide had turned again.

Head coach Kyle Flood, who had officially been on the job less than 48 hours secured the commitment of three top recruits. Five-star defensive end Darius Hamilton of Don Bosco Prep announced his commitment Tuesday on live TV while three-star athlete Jevon Tyree of South Brunswick and Maryland three-star wide receiver Ian Thomas were surprise decisions on yesterday morning.

“Every year we’ve been able to — more and more — build that wall around the ‘State of Rutgers,’ so that the players in our area are coming to play for us — the top players,” Flood said.

“And when a guy like Darius Hamilton does that on TV, what it does is it gives more validity to what we tell the people in this local area. Nineteen of our 20 signees in this class are from the ‘State of Rutgers.’”

It was a masterful job of recruiting by Flood, to not only keep together the program’s best ever recruiting class — losing just one recruit — but to in fact build on in it with the additions of Hamilton and others. Rutgers closed out national signing day with a 3.26-star ranking according to Rivals.com, good for No. 21 in the nation. The strong finish was good enough to end up just three slots behind LSU and ahead of perennially ranked programs such as South Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin in the recruiting rankings.

“The first [thing] that we sell at Rutgers football isn’t Kyle Flood. The first thing that we sell is Rutgers football. The second thing that we sell is Rutgers University. Both of those are made up of people and I am one of those people,” Flood said.

Local recruits

» Erasmus Hall cornerback Wayne Morgan out of Brooklyn committed to Syracuse. Ranked No. 5 in the state according to Rivals.com, Morgan also had offers from Penn State and Boston College. A number of schools cooled in their interest after poor showings in combines exposed a lack of vertical speed.

» Devon Fuller, whose Old Tappan team fell just short in the New Jersey state sectional championship, committed to UCLA on Wednesday. The athlete was told he’d be given a shot at quarterback with the Bruins, despite impressing at wide receiver at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Fuller was a strong Rutgers lean until Schiano left for the NFL and the fact that his uncle is the comedian Sinbad perhaps played a role in his move to Los Angeles.

» Underrated New York offensive lineman Sean Karl of Manorville on Long Island committed to play for Virginia.

Follow Rutgers beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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Rutgers announced yesterday that Kyle Flood will shed the interim head coach label and take over the team.

Flood replaces Greg Schiano, who departed to become head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has been with the program since 2005, serving as both run-game coordinator and offensive line coach.

“I think consistency is the most important thing in any program.  Consistency of relationships in recruiting has allowed us to advance our recruiting every year,” Flood said during his introductory press conference. “As we go forward, consistency in coaching is going to allow our players to be trained in the same manner year after year.”

The vision of Rutgers football —  offense, defense, special teams — goes forward as it is today. That doesn’t mean it stays the same. It gets better. But what the players are doing and the vision of it will be the same.”

The hiring of Flood comes after the much publicized pursuit of Mario Cristobal, the Florida International coach who spent three years on staff with Schiano and was the first choice of athletic director Tim Pernetti in the coaching search. But a deal fell through between the two sides and Pernetti was forced into a corner, needing to sign a head coach before national signing day today to preserve the program’s best recruiting class ever.

Flood served as Schiano’s assistant head coach the past four years and is highly regarded by area high school coaches. He will be called upon to build on the success of the past, including five bowl wins in the past seven years.

“I’m not here to try to be Greg Schiano, nor is my personality the same as Greg Schiano’s. So going forward, they’ll see the differences,” Flood said.

“Like I said to the team the first day, the vision is the same, and the vision is constant and consistent.  That’s not going to change. Will there be certain personality things that change? Absolutely. What they are, I’ll experience them as I go through this process. But it’s not about trying to change something on purpose that’s not broken.”

While Schiano built up a program from being a doormat to one that is now respected and generates national coverage, he never won a conference title during his 11 years at Rutgers and never took the team to a BCS bowl game. That responsibility now falls on Flood.

“I don’t think it is Kyle Flood as opposed to Greg Schiano,” Flood said. “I think the time is right for Rutgers to win championships.”

Follow Rutgers beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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You aren’t the only one who is confused.

In the end, the Scarlet Knights have hired Kyle Flood as their permanent head coach, elevating him from interim coach. Several players confirmed the news on their Facebook profiles. But it looked for a time like the Knights would have FIU head coach Cristobal as their future leader.

Multiple outlets, including the Newark Star-Ledger, reported that Cristobal had been offered the head coaching position and accepted it. All that was left were negotiations on a contract. He apparently had second thoughts, however, and decided to stay in south Florida at the program he built from among the worst in the country. Cristobal, who has taken Florida International to bowl games in each of the last two seasons, is considered a rising star in the coaching world. He has strong recruiting ties in the talent-rich Miami area and spent three seasons at Rutgers as an offensive line and tight ends coach.

Flood, 41, was the assistant head coach and offensive line coach under Greg Schiano and was promoted to interim head coach once Schiano accepted the head coaching position with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Flood has been with the team since 2005.

Flood has spent the last week trying to hold onto a touted recruiting class ranked No. 1 in the Big East by Rivals.com.

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In addition to the Star-Ledger and New Jersey Press Media multiple other sources ran with the story. But before the deal could get done, Cristobal decided to stay in Miami.

Now Rutgers is back at square one with just two days before national signing day. The school was likely rushing to sign Cristobal in order to rescue a class that has been ranked No. 1 in the conference by Rivals.com. The New York Times’s Pete Thamel reported interim coach Kyle Flood and Arizona Cardinals wide receiver coach John McNulty appear to be the leading candidates with Cristobal pulling out.

McNulty was previously an assistant at Rutgers. It was reported last week that McNulty was blocked from interviewing with Tampa Bay, the job Greg Schiano eventually took. The Cardinals denied that.

Cristobal took over a winless program in 2007 and immediately set about turning around the program. He was 9-27 in his first three years, but took the team to the Little Casaer’s Pizza Bowl in 2010 following a 6-6 season. They defeated Toledo, 34-32, in their first ever bowl appearance. They finished 8-4 this past season and lost in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, 20-10, to Marshall.

Cristobal, the first-ever Cuban-American football coach in FBS history, is just 41 years old and considered one of the rising stars in coaching. His south Florida roots have also made him a recruiting star in the talent-rich Miami area.

Cristobal played offensive tackle for the University of Miami from 1989 to 1992. He won national titles in 1989 and 1991.

Like the coach he’s replacing at Rutgers, Cristobal coached at Miami. He was a graduate assistant from 1998 to 2000. He then went to Rutgers with Schiano to serve as offensive line coach from 2001 to 2003. He took the same position at Miami from 2004 to 2006 before taking over at FIU.

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Schiano, head coach at Rutgers, will be hired as the new coach of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The move came as a surprise, with Schiano’s name only emerging recently. Tampa came close to hiring Oregon coach Chip Kelly last week, but Kelly decided at the last moment to return to Eugene. The Bucs had apparently interviewed former Packers and Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman twice.

Schefter also reported that Schiano had been considered for the Rams’ coaching job this offseason.

Schiano had repeatedly been mentioned for larger college jobs, including replacing Joe Paterno at Penn State multiple times. Schiano was a graduate assistant and defensive backs coach for the Nittany Lions from 1990-1995. He also was an option at Miami, where he was offensive coordinator before taking over at Rutgers.

Schiano’s only previous NFL coaching experience came with the Chicago Bears from 1996-1998 as a defensive backs coach.

He has been at Rutgers as head coach since 2001.

Schiano took a miserable program back to relevance over his 11 years with the program. They went to six bowl games, with a 5-1 record, after not appearing in one since 1978. He also reached the top 25 in 2006 and were as high as No. 6 in the BCS standings after a program-defining win over Louisville.

His career record was 68-67.

Schiano’s star had faded slightly since 2006, as the program couldn’t seem to get over the hump and into an elite program as he desired. The team never made a BCS bowl in a very winnable Big East Conference. The team was just 8-13 in the conference over the past three seasons.

There is no question Schiano has groomed plenty of NFL talent, however. Ravens running back Ray Rice is likely the most prominent, but Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt, Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty and Colts linebacker Gary Brackett have all had success in the pros.

Follow Metro New York sports editor Mark Osborne on Twitter @MetroNYSports.

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The junior wideout led the Scarlet Knights and the entire Big East in receiving with 1,206 yards. He also set a conference record with 115 catches this season.

“It was a tough decision. Definitely, I was thinking about coming back,” Sanu said during his announcement conference yesterday on campus. “I love Rutgers so much and being around my teammates all the time. I’m going to miss that aspect of it. I’m going to miss the family and the cohesiveness of being around everybody every day.”

ESPN’s Mel Kiper has him ranked as the fifth-best junior receiver and as high as a second-round draft pick. 

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In 2006, Rutgers had the chance to win the Big East  conference outright in their final game of the regular season in Morgantown, W.Va. Instead, the Scarlet Knights lost a triple-overtime thriller rather than booking their ticket to a BCS bowl. The Scarlet Knights were sent to Houston for the Texas Bowl. Now as they ready themselves for Saturday, Rutgers can take a step forward in capturing their first-ever conference title with a win over Cincinnati.

Cincinnati is currently atop the Big East with a 3-1 record but a win over the Bearcats would give Rutgers, currently 3-2, the tiebreaker advantage if things came down to a head-to-head tie. While things would still need to break Rutgers’ way, a victory over Cincinnati would be tremendous for the program.

“This is the most balanced, competitive league in the country, and I think that makes it exciting. 
Some people, traditionalists, like a team that runs away and hides,” head coach Greg Schiano said.
“You’re not going to get that in the Big East conference.  For the fans who follow Big East football, you never know. It’s like the NFL; every week is an adventure.”

The Scarlet Knights were badly beaten, 69-38, at Nippert Stadium last year.  While this is a different Rutgers team, including the nation’s 11th best scoring defense, there are still painful lessons from last year’s display.

“We didn’t execute,” Schiano said. “I think emotionally I don’t know where we were.”

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In Saturday night’s comeback win over South Florida, Huggins suffered a knee injury and will miss the final three games of the season, though he could return for a bowl game.

“I mean, we’re going to miss Savon, for sure.  But that’s why you have a program. You have some depth and you keep playing,” Schiano said. “We’ve just got to make sure we’ve got plans if another guy goes down, how we’ll attack it and all those things.”

The 6-foot, 200-pound running back has yet to start a game, but he’s already beginning to make an impact in scarlet. Huggins, who’s second on the team in carries, has 146 rushing yards and has become a red-zone threat, leading the team with five touchdowns.

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The game will go a long way in helping defog a cloudy and muddled Big East.

Rutgers, whose only two losses have come on the road, has lost both games this year by a combined four points. But against the Mountaineers, the only ranked Big East team, the challenge is going to be steep.

“I don’t know [why we’ve struggled against West Virginia]. I mean, they’ve been one of the best teams in the league throughout that time, at least in the new Big East, so,” head coach Greg Schiano said. “But I don’t know why.”

Despite the fact that West Virginia also limps into the game after a 49-23 loss at Syracuse last week, Schiano is wary of the spread offense he will face on Saturday. The Mountaineers are dangerous on offense, led by quarterback Geno Smith, and Schiano is counting on the speed he’s brought into the program to help counter their big play ability.

“That’s kind of the philosophy that I’ve adopted as a defensive coach is that you build it on speed.  You’d like to have speed that has size, but until you can get the size with the speed, then we choose speed. We’re getting bigger and remaining fast,” Schiano said. “But the wide outs we’re playing against Saturday, they’re fast. Fast-fast. So the challenge is there.”

Rutgers is also going to get a boost pregame when Eric LeGrand leads the team’s charge onto the field. Having been paralyzed last fall in a tragic play during a win over Army, the former Rutgers defensive lineman will be the first person out the tunnel on Saturday.

LeGrand said Schiano offered him the chance to lead the team out for a game of his choosing, but there was never any doubt which game he wanted.

“I just wanted to do it this game, we haven’t beaten them in years and I want to be there for my team,” LeGrand said. “Those are my guys and this is a huge game, so this is the game to do it.”

Follow Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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Last season, it was hard to tell how good the Rutgers defense was on a 4-8 team with problems on offense. With the offense often folding after a three-and-out, the Rutgers defense was seemingly always on the field. But with a more balanced offense this year, the defense is being asked to simply keep the team in games. Just keeping Rutgers in the game is the request this Saturday as a defense built on speed will face a challenge in stopping a Navy offense that is among the best in the nation running the ball.

“Looking forward to Navy now, a unique set of challenges. They’re running the football better than anybody else in America,” head coach Greg Schiano said. “It’s a huge challenge because it’s a unique offense and one we don’t see very much.”

The Navy offense is among the most difficult to prepare for in the nation.

The triple-option is utilized by just a handful of teams in college football and is dangerous because an athletic and speedy quarterback can stretch the field vertically, attract attention and then hit a flanker with a pitch. Then when a defense spreads out to cover wide and limit the space along the line, the quarterback can throw over the top for a big play. It is pick your poison for a defensive coordinator, because there is no way to defend against the run while limiting the big play over the top.

“They do throw the ball. One of the things that’s lost in this triple-option offense, is Navy counts on hitting in two of those big plays, so we have to make sure we cover. And the hard thing is it’s all off these run actions,” Schiano said. “Very rarely do they just drop back and throw it. So you’re having trouble stopping that run, stopping that run, and all of a sudden they pop a receiver.”

Rutgers has blossomed into one of the top defenses in the Big East, as evidenced by their 34-10 win over Pittsburgh last Saturday.  Rutgers has the No.-2 defense in the conference — allowing a league-low 15.2 points per game. A revamped defense built on speed has Rutgers 2-0 in conference and Scarlet Knights fans remembering the 2006 team that was among the best defenses in the nation. The defense has been a big part in Rutgers’ 4-1 start to the season, their best start since 2006.

Rutgers finished second in the Big East that year and earned the program’s first ever bowl victory over Kansas State in the Texas Bowl. It also propelled the Scarlet Knights to their first ever national ranking to finish a season.

Follow Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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There were no ankle-breaking moments, no opposing defenders sprawled in the running back’s dust and no gaudy stats. Just a Rutgers win.

And from the looks of things, with Huggins in the  backfield, that might be enough. Huggins had the game’s first two touchdowns in Rutgers’ 48-0 win over North Carolina Central. Against a team picked to finish sixth in the MEAC, in a conference with names like Coppin State and Florida A&M, it took the Scarlet Knights nearly a full quarter to score and take control of the game, but when they did, it was Huggins who carried them there.

Huggins finished third on the Scarlet Knights rushing totals on Thursday night with 33 yards on 10 carries, but the positives were there.

On a night where much of the 18-to-25-year-old set was glued to MTV watching a new installment of “The Jersey Shore,” it was Huggins and his Rutgers teammates in front of a crowd of 40,061 who were “Jersey Sure.” The freshman running back, the consensus top high school player in the state last fall, showed sparks of why he was a national recruit and the biggest talent to ever land at Rutgers.

Anyone expecting Huggins to be an instant savior and to produce SportsCenter quality plays was disappointed by his debut on the night. There wasn’t a signature moment from the freshman, who came in for his first carry on Rutgers’ third possession of the night. Instead, it was slow, methodical running between the tackles from Huggins — the highest-ranked commitment in the history of the program and the No. 2 player in the nation according to recruiting analyst Tom Lemming.

Huggins decided to stay in New Jersey when the likes of Alabama, Florida and Notre Dame were all offering the Under Armour All-American a chance to feature on their star-laden squads. He did so to help turn around the program’s recently soured fortunes.

“I wanted to stay home. I felt we had a really good squad; I couldn’t wait to unleash them,” Huggins said. “That’s why I stayed home.”

It was progress measured rarely by double-digit gains. Instead, it was hard-running between the tackles with tenacity reminiscent of Ray Rice, a sacred name on the banks of the Raritan. Before he left Rutgers in his junior year for the NFL, Rice was the catalyst of the Scarlet Knights’ offense, including running for 1,100 yards in his freshman year.

But in his debut, a Sept. 3, 2005 game against Illinois, Rice’s numbers were better when compared to Huggins’ debut, getting 12 carries for 55 yards. And while there is an obvious differential in the Big 10 talent Rice faced six years ago and Huggins on Thursday night, there is no denying that there are good vibes from Huggins’s debut.
 
“It was really good to see how much burst he has,” head coach Greg Schiano said. “You can see he had some pop.”

Huggins has the making of a workhorse, but he was the third running back used by Schiano on the night — after De’Antwann Williams and Jawan Jamison. He didn’t get his first touch until Rutgers’ 11th play on offense, a three-yard carry up the middle. He then carried for plays No. 12, No. 13 and No. 14. Huggins had a play off as quarterback Chas Dodd connected with Mohamed Sanu for a 20-yard pass play, and then Huggins had the next three carries. He capped those off when he hit up the left side of the line for a one-yard touchdown run where his legs never stopped churning.

It was vintage Rice-type running but comparisons to Rice, now a top running back in the NFL.

“I feel it’s an honor to be compared to him but I just go out there and play my game, do what I have to do,” Huggins said. “Don’t try to be a superhero, don’t try to do this and that. Just go out there and play the game.”

Follow Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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By the end of the year, Rutgers had finished 4-8 and for the first time in five seasons, missed a bowl game. Savage, a former U.S. Army All-American, had transferred to Arizona and the specter of Eric Legrand’s devastating spinal injury left the football program in a daze. The offensive line was a wreck, the defense had lost its hard-hitting identity and Rutgers games felt eerily like the losing program from a decade ago.

Head coach Greg Schiano certainly had his work cut out for him.

But after a solid spring season, including the signing of a top-30 recruiting class highlighted by St. Peter’s Prep running back Savon Huggins (listed by famed recruiting analyst Tom Lemming as the second-best player in the nation), there is a sense that Rutgers has turned the corner.

Winning the Big East — something Rutgers has never done — might be a bit much for this year’s group, but can Rutgers flip last year’s record and be a winner once again?

Rutgers Will Make a Bowl Game If

1. The Chas Is On

Not much was expected of Dodd last year, as the incoming freshman was supposed to redshirt behind Savage and be slowly developed. As Rutgers was the only college to officially offer Dodd out of high school, the perhaps generously listed 6-foot-1 Dodd was seen as a project. He starred for perennial powerhouse Byrnes out of Duncan, S.C. and Dodd carried that into his freshman year. He wrestled the starting role from an inconsistent Savage and threw for 1,637 yards and 11 touchdowns. If Dodd can adjust to the new pro-style offense implemented this spring — and the style should fit his quick release well — then Rutgers can flip last season’s record and start a new bowl streak.

2. The D-Line Steps Up

The only known quantity along the defensive line is Scott Vallone, the powerful and long tackle who was a four-star recruit out of high school and has definite NFL potential. But the defensive line is young right now, with up and comers like Michael Larrow, a redshirt sophomore, looking to get worked into the mix and linebacker Manny Abreu being converted to an end. There is a 2006 feel to the front four — reminiscent of the season when Schiano used a smaller line and lots of movement and blitzes to overcome their size disadvantage. It worked then — producing an 11-2 season and the program’s first ever bowl win. But the shifty line only works if there is speed coming off the edge, which Rutgers may not have this time around. If they can’t get that bit of explosiveness then the line could get pushed around, which could lead to field days for rushers like Pitt’s Raymond Graham.

3. The New Coaches Work

In the winter of 2005, Rutgers capitalized on Syracuse’s firing of Paul Pasqualoni to swoop in and get a commitment from a recruit out of New Rochelle, N.Y. named Ray Rice. Three years after he signed that letter of intent, Rice left Rutgers for the NFL with two bowl wins and the program firmly established in the Big East. Now, after a disappointing if not dismal 2010 season, Schiano and company capitalized on Pitt firing Dave Wannstedt this past January to grab several recruits and a new offensive coordinator in Frank Cignetti and secondary coach in Jeff Halfey. The offense was horrible a season ago and led the nation in sacks conceded, relying mainly on gimmicks out of the Wildcat to move the ball. Cignetti’s use of the tight end and a talented receiving corps should revive the offense. Hafley is a bit of a project as a coach, but is a master recruiter and helped shore up last year’s crop of incoming freshmen. He has helped shape this year’s commits into a potential top-25 class.

Follow Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.

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LeGrand was coming to Rutgers as a three-star linebacker out of Colonia, N.J. and one of the vocal leaders of his recruiting class.

Now, nearly one year after a terrible collision during a special teams play in the third quarter of a game against Army left him paralyzed, LeGrand remains an inspiration to Rutgers and now, to the Jets.

On Thursday afternoon, Westerman arranged for LeGrand to get the VIP treatment as he toured the Jets facility and watched practice.

“I was in the locker room and out by the weight room,” LeGrand said. “I didn’t go through the whole thing yet because of practice.”

During the first few weeks after LeGrand’s injury, Westerman visited his former teammate three times a week, just sitting next to his bedside and keeping him company. Those were scary days for LeGrand, filled with uncertainty about whether he would ever have feeling in his lower body, let alone walk.

Recently, LeGrand reported that he stood upright for 45 minutes, a milestone in his drive to walk again.

“I just have to keep on standing up for at least a half-an-hour, so I can get my body on this locomotive training mat. It serves as a treadmill that they put these stems on,” LeGrand said. “A therapist is behind you and you’re in a harness and they just basically retrain your legs how to walk again.” 

And walk again is something that Westerman believes LeGrand will definitely do again one day soon.

“We all believe that he’s going to walk one day and lead us out of the tunnel. With life comes adversity, ups and downs,” Westerman said.”But it’s how you handle it and he handles it with a smile every day even though it’s not easy. I know that he handled his rehab with a smile and is working hard at it. One day he’s going to walk.”

The Jets are doing their part to help LeGrand achieve those goals. Not only did they host him for yesterday’s practice, but linebacker Bart Scott is giving the proceeds from the launch of his “Can’t Wait” t-shirt line to support LeGrand’s recovery efforts.

Scott estimates that 95 percent of the first wave of shirts supporting LeGrand are sold out.

“Inspirational,” Scott said. “I think that he’s embraced it and he took the challenge on. I think he should be an inspiration to a lot of people.”

Follow Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer for all your news out of Jets camp.

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Dharun Ravi, 19, of Plainsboro, New Jersey was indicted for invasion of privacy and bias by a grand jury in Middlesex County Court in New Jersey, according to a statement released by the Middlesex County prosecutor’s office.

Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi, 18, leaped off the George Washington Bridge last fall after his roommate and another student used a webcam in their dormitory room to spy on him during a romantic encounter with a man. They streamed the video live online.

The 15-count indictment came in the wake of calls from the Clementi family for a criminal investigation of the case to deliver the message it was not merely a college prank.

"The grand jury indictment spells out cold and calculated acts against our son Tyler by his former college roommate," the Clementi family said in a statement released after the indictment was returned.

"If these facts are true, as they appear to be, then it is important for our criminal justice system to establish clear accountability under the law. We are eager to have the process move forward for justice in this case and to reinforce the standards of acceptable conduct in our society," the Clementi family said.

Ravi and Molly Wei, another student allegedly involved in the incident, withdrew from Rutgers.

The indictment did not address Wei.

Ravi’s attorney was not immediately available for comment.

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Rutgers University broke with long-standing tradition earlier this month when it announced that, for the first time, it would pay for a commencement speaker, in this case Nobel- and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. Her fee: $30,000.

Last night, Rutgers played host to a speaker of a different sort: Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi of the reality show "Jersey Shore." At the request of the Rutgers University Programming Association, Polizzi appeared at two Q&As with the university’s student body, during which she led a lesson in fist-pumping and advised students to "study hard, but party harder." Her fee: $32,000.

The disparity has created a scandal of minor embarrassment at New Jersey’s public university. "Such a waste of my money. If I want to listen to someone talk, they should have something intelligent to say," freshman Dan Oliveto told The Star-Ledger.

Though Rutgers students may shy from the attention that comes from fulfilling negative stereotypes about New Jersey, Metro advises them instead to go all the way with it. Why not start offering courses in the ethics of obnoxious accessorizing, the physics of hair gel, and the linguistics behind "Boardwalk Patois"? (via The Star-Ledger)

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“We dodged a bullet,” coach Steve Lavin understated after St. John’s 65-63 escape act against Rutgers in the second round of the Big East tournament. “But they did enough things over the course of the game to dodge the bullet.”

The missed call was so blatant the Big East released a statement, acknowledging that Brownlee traveled and went out of bounds. And since neither error was reviewable, St. John’s was allowed to exhale and joke about it afterward.

“I don’t know what he was thinking,” forward Justin Burrell said. “I don’t know what going through his mind.”

It was not just Brownlee’s unnoticed miscue the Red Storm escaped. Just 12 seconds earlier, Dwight Hardy, who had a rough 5-of-17 shooting day, let Brownlee’s inbound pass slip through his hands and off his shoulder.

“Moving on is all about getting wins,” Hardy said after leading St. John’s with 17 points. “It doesn’t matter how you get them – as long as you get them.”

To advance, St. John’s needed other breaks, and perhaps the biggest one occurred moments before those frantic and chaotic final 20 seconds. That was with 19 left when Sean Evans stepped in the low post and intercepted a pass from Dane Miller.

Then two seconds later, the 55 percent foul shooter was the picture of serenity, shrugging his shoulders before making two free throws that enabled St. John’s to follow the credo of March – survive and move on.

“It was very chaotic, players falling down like bowling pins,” Lavin said. “We’re at the stage where we don’t grade the victories.”

Syracuse has been Grade-A at the Garden, the only team this season to beat St. John’s at the world’s most famous arena. Today, the Red Storm try to avenge a 76-59 loss to the Orange in January. Syracuse’s 2-3 zone held St. John’s to 37 percent shooting and Hardy to 4-of-15 shooting.

“They’re long, they’re big, we got to find ways to get the ball in the middle and space them out and for driving lanes and short corner passes to our bigs,” Hardy said.

As for the extra help they received so far in the tournament: “Sometimes you need that little something extra,” Lavin said.

And after four years of painful mediocrity for the 10 Red Storm seniors, it’s about time something finally went their way. The fact it arrived in March just makes it sweeter.

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Now Teel, who was selected by the Seahawks in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL draft, will watch another passer from Bosco attempt to rewrite those record books at Rutgers.

Two weeks ago, coveted quarterback Gary Nova verbally committed to Rutgers, a decision he later said came after a long discussion with his parents. Nova had reopened his recruitment in December, following the removal of Dave Wannstedt as Pittsburgh’s head coach. The highly regarded three-star recruit had committed to the Panthers in late May, turning down a hard-pressed charge from Rutgers and head coach Greg Schiano.

Today, when Nova  signs his Letter of Intent, Rutgers will get their quarterback of the future. One that fits perfectly into a pro-style offense.

“Gary and I have developed a relationship over the past few years and we talk regularly,” Teel told Metro. “I’ve always tried to reach out to him to offer help and advice because I’ve been through it all, everything he is going through I’ve gone through. I never tried to push him to Rutgers though because he needed to make up his own mind and come to his own conclusion. With that being said, I’m pleased with the decision he made.”

The irony is that Nova will be called on to replace another player whom Teel has grown tight with, Tom Savage.

It was Savage who committed to the program just days before the annual spring game in 2008, a four-star recruit who would wind up being just the second ever Rutgers commit to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. In January, Savage transferred from the program after a 4-8 season where he lost the starting spot to true freshman Chas Dodd, a player whose only FBS offer came from Rutgers during his recruitment.

Teel says that he talked with Savage regularly over the past difficult year as he tried to help the former Rutgers quarterback through trying times.

“I don’t know what led Tom to leave Rutgers, probably a bunch of different things and I’m sure it will be things we will never know or understand. He had to make the decision that was right for him,” Teel said.

“And I do know that wherever he goes, Tom Savage will be a success. He’s a great kid.”

Savage is rumored to be looking seriously only at FBS programs and has been linked to Tennessee, Miami and Vanderbilt among others. While Savage had hinted at a possible transfer late this season, his decision to leave a program he eagerly embraced and had become the face of before even matriculating was still a shock move. Doubling the head-scratcher behind the move was the announcement late last week that Rutgers had hired former Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti for the same position at the Jersey school. The pro-style offense Cignetti favors would have seemed to be a good fit for Savage, who struggled in Rutgers current offensive mess.

But it all works out well for Nova who might be able to challenge for a starting position almost instantly at Rutgers. The quarterback, who turned down offers from the likes of Boston College, Colorado and Vanderbilt while recently drawing strong interest from Al Golden at Miami, has outstanding footwork and a polished game. As a junior, Nova led Don Bosco to a national championship and the team was 24-0 with him as a starter.

Teel, who redshirted his first year at Rutgers, sees Nova as a player who could potentially start immediately.

“Probably a bit more polished then Chas,” Teel said. “But he has a lot of work to do.”

Some of that “work” for Nova included the recruiting trail, where his defection to Rutgers has led several prized recruits to follow him to Piscataway. In addition, Bosco has a deep and talented junior class which is already starting to pull in offers from major BCS programs. The hope for Schiano and Rutgers is that the class of 2012 will follow Nova to Rutgers.

The fact that Teel was the last major Bosco commit to Rutgers doesn’t speak of a bias against the state school, the quarterback says. Teel vehemently states that Bosco head coach Greg Toal is a man of character and would never let any personal feelings – and Teel says there is no hatred from his former coach against Schiano or Rutgers – from getting in the way of what is best for a player.
Which means Nova might be ready for an impact on the field as a possible starter, but also off of it as a recruiter.

“That’s coach Schiano’s best asset right now, Gary Nova,” Teel said. “Gary will recruit those Bosco guys. Coaches can say a lot of things to try and get a player to come to a school but when a teammate, a guy who was in your locker room says those things, it carries more weight. And Gary will say those things to those guys.”

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