Rutgers has retained a search firm and formed an advisory committee to finally begin the process of hiring a new athletic director, the university announced on Tuesday.
The university has retained TurnkeyZRG, one of the most prominent search firms, to lead the process. Rutgers has been without a permanent athletic director since Patrick Hobbs resigned this summer before an investigation into an inappropriate, consensual relationship with one of the school’s coaches.
Ryan Pisarri has led the department on an interim basis since then. Pisarri, who has guided the Scarlet Knights through a crucial moment in college athletics as the era of pay-for-play takes hold, told NJ Advance Media this winter that he “hopes to be part of the process” when Rutgers began looking for candidates to fill the role full time.
The process to hire an AD has been slowed by university president Jonathan Holloway’s decision to step down on July 1, and the search to replace him is believed to be nearing a resolution.
“Athletics often serves 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,” Holloway said in a statement. “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.”
TurnkeyZRG has conducted many recent athletics director searches, including for Iowa, Texas Christian, Pittsburgh, and Northwestern. 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.
A search advisory committee will “provide institutional guidance and insight to the firm throughout the process,” according to a press release. That committee will include:
• Marco Battaglia (SMLR ’18); Senior Advisor to the Rutgers University Foundation President
• Arthur Certosimo (RC ’77); Professor and Chair, Board of Advisors, Rutgers Business School
• Meredith Civico; Field Hockey Head Coach
• Hollis Copeland (RC ’78); Rutgers Board of Governors
• Robert H. Friedman (RC ’74, NLAW ’83); Rutgers Board of Trustees
• Ann Gould; Academic Athletics Oversight Committee Faculty Representative and Dean of Academic Programs, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
• Gary B. Taffet (RC ’88); Rutgers Board of Governors
• Brian Ballentine; Senior Vice President for Strategy and Chief of Staff
• J. Michael Gower; Executive Vice President – Chief Financial Officer
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.
Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com.