NEW BRUNSWICK - Rutgers has launched its search to replace athletics director Pat Hobbs, who resigned abruptly in August 2024, citing health issues.
The results of a subsequent university investigation released earlier this year revealed Hobbs was in a relationship with women’s gymnastics coach Umme Salim-Beasley that required him to “recuse himself from her supervision.”
The report also noted “multiple athletics officials and other university staff perceived that there appeared to be a relationship of some kind between Salim-Beasley and Hobbs,” causing issues that led to two high-ranking athletics department employees to confront Hobbs.
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Rutgers has retained TurnkeyZRG to assist in its national search.
The university has also created a nine-member search advisory committee whose ranks include university Executive Vice President and CFO J. Michael Gower, former Scarlet Knight football great Marco Battaglia, former Rutgers basketball star and Board of Governors member Hollis Copeland and Board of Governors member Gary Taffet.
“Athletics often serve as the front porch to a university, and it is essential that Rutgers partner with an established firm to identify a leader who continues to move the program forward during a period of transformational change,” President Jonathan Holloway said. “Rutgers is a Big Ten Conference institution in our nation’s largest media market, and we look forward to welcoming an athletics director who can leverage our many assets to build prideful results for our students, staff, faculty, alumni and fans.”
The position of athletics director at the Birthplace of College Football – where Rutgers beat Princeton on a dusty patch of New Brunswick terra firma Nov. 6, 1869 – has grown to become one of the most powerful at the university since it joined the Big Ten Conference.
One hopeful candidate for the job is Scott White, of Westfield, who graduated from Rutgers College in 1995 and is a staunch season ticket holder. Rarely, does he miss a football, basketball or wrestling event and sends out sports updates on virtually a daily basis to RU faithful on his email distribution list.
“This is a pivotal moment for Rutgers Athletics,” White told TAPinto New Brunswick. "The next leader must bring not just a love for the university, but the ability to navigate a rapidly changing college sports landscape—balancing student-athlete well-being, financial discipline, and bold innovation.
“As someone deeply connected to Rutgers and committed to its future, I’m excited about this moment in Rutgers history,” he added. “There’s a real opportunity to reimagine what success looks like—on and off the field—and to take Rutgers Athletics to the next level, where excellence, pride, and national recognition are the standard.”
Three percent ($168 million) of Rutgers’ $5.6 billion budget for the 2024-25 academic year goes to supporting more than 700 student-athletes among its 24 athletic teams across the New Brunswick and Newark campuses competing at the NCAA Division I level.
Hobbs’ resignation ended the longest continuous tenure of a Big Ten athletic director. Hobbs was hired as Rutgers athletic director in 2015, just a year after the Scarlet Knights joined the Big Ten.
In 2022, the Board of Governors approved a contract extension through June 30, 2028.
Although Hobbs’ tenure ended abruptly, there were many high points, not the least of which were the hiring of Steve Pikiell as men’s basketball coach in 2015, and bringing back Greg Schiano to coach the football team.
Pikiell led the Scarlet Knights to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances (2021-2022) for the first time since 1976.
Schiano has had mixed results in his second stint at Rutgers, but the Scarlet Knights beat Miami in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl in Dec. 2023 and lost a hard-fought battle with Kansas State in the Rate Bowl this past December.
Hobbs also oversaw several facilities upgrades, including the opening of the Gary and Barbara Rodkin Academic Success Center, the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center, the Brown Family Football Locker Room, the Marco Battaglia Football Practice Complex, the Fred Hill Training Complex, the Garutti Strength and Conditioning Center, the Druskin Strength and Conditioning Center and the Abe Suydam Men's Basketball Locker Room.
Additional facility improvements included new playing surfaces at Bainton Field and the Rutgers Softball Complex, as well as new locker room areas for the softball, field hockey, cross-country and track and field teams.
TurnkeyZRG has recently conducted athletics director searches at the University of Iowa, Texas Christian University, the University of Pittsburgh and Northwestern University. TurnkeyZRG also assisted with the search for the new Big Ten commissioner and has conducted the NCAA president search, as well as the Big 12 and American Athletic Conference commissioner searches.
The ad-hoc search committee also includes Arthur Certosimo (professor and chair for the Board of Advisors at Rutgers Business School), Meredith Civico (field hockey head coach), Robert H. Friedman (Rutgers Board of Trustees), Ann Gould (academic athletics oversight committee faculty representative and dean of academic programs at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences) and Brian Ballentine (senior vice president for strategy and chief of staff).
Officials did not reveal if Ryan Pisarri, the deputy athletic director for competitive excellence and chief of staff who has served as the interim athletic director, would be considered for the position.