Tennessee official voices support for Hermann

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A high-ranking official at the University of Tennessee has voiced her support for Rutgers' incoming athletic director Julie Hermann, who is facing allegations she verbally abused players while she was the volleyball coach with the Volunteers.

In a statement released Tuesday, Joan Cronan, women's athletic director emeritus at Tennessee, said she holds Hermann in high regard, and that while the ex-coach's tenure in the 1990s "was a very frustrating time for everyone connected with the volleyball program, I do not recall it being an abusive situation."

Hermann said Monday she hasn't considered resigning following a report that, 16 years ago, she humiliated Tennessee players. She denied having knowledge of a letter players say they submitted to the school. The 49-year-old Hermann acknowledged she made mistakes, but says she has matured and believes she is qualified to lead Rutgers, an athletic program mired in scandal.

"I believe she is well-prepared for her new role at Rutgers University," Cronan wrote. "After Julie's sixth season as the head volleyball coach, I decided that a change was needed, and I moved Julie to a position in athletics administration.

"Clearly, I am disappointed that some of the players did not have a positive athletics experience at the University of Tennessee."

While Hermann got Cronan's support on Tuesday, athletic directors at two of the most prominent schools in the Big Ten Conference said the recent problems at Rutgers should not derail the university's entry into the league in 2014.

Michigan's Dave Brandon and Ohio State's Gene Smith each said that while there is some concern after seeing Rutgers fire men's basketball coach Mike Rice for physical and verbal abuse — then force former athletic director Tim Pernetti to resign only to step into the Hermann situation — they believe the state university of New Jersey shouldn't be judged solely on those problems.

"The decision by Big Ten presidents to accept Rutgers into the conference was a long-term decision — spanning decades," Brandon said in a telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. "While the recent distractions are unfortunate, I don't think they change the bigger picture or the reasons Rutgers was viewed as an appropriate member of the Big Ten conference."

Smith agreed.

"Obviously, this is a concern that we need to help them address, not knowing what some of the internal deals are," he told the AP. "We have to help them from the conference perspective. But, no, when you look at their long-term body of work and the things that ultimately they bring into the league, no, it's not something that causes me to say they should not be in the league."

Despite continued support from Rutgers President Robert Barchi, Hermann's future at the Scarlet Knights' next athletic director could be cloudy after former players on her 1996 volleyball team at Tennessee said she emotionally and verbally abused them.

While the Rutgers board of governors is the only group that can fire her, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie can easily influence a decision if he wants.

In the last two months, the university said the new basketball coach, Eddie Jordan, had a degree from Rutgers when he didn't. There was additional controversy when men's lacrosse coach Brian Brecht was suspended for verbally abusing his players following a university-wide investigation into all Scarlet Knights coaches. Brecht missed the final two games of the season.

Smith said the issue of Jordan, who was a star on Rutgers' Final Four team in 1976, was concerning.

"We do a thorough background check and sometimes you still miss things," Smith said of Ohio State's vetting of coaches. "You do a thorough background check as best you possibly can. We use our university human-resources office to facilitate that for us.

"There's a number of things that they check and that's one of them, is to ensure that a degree was obtained, to ensure that there's any criminal background issues that those things emerge. But there's a number of things that they check. It is an administrative responsibility and checklist that you have to have in place."

Hermann is scheduled to begin her new post June 17.