NEW BRUNSWICK—It was a sack that took out the key players of a football program which had collapsed not only on the field, but off it as well.
After days of mounting speculation, Rutgers University President Robert Barchi on Sunday fired his athletic director and head football coach, saying it was time for a "fresh start."
Barchi said with the university's entry into the Big Ten Conference, Rutgers needed to be competitive. "There is a lot of pressure in this league and we have to succeed," he said.
In a conference call with reporters several hours after terminating the contracts of coach Kyle Flood and athletic director Julie Hermann—and after meeting privately for 20 minutes with the football team earlier in the afternoon—Barchi said the move to shake up the athletic department was not due to any single fact.