It is hardly breaking news that college sports are becoming more professionalized. Will Rutgers hire an athletics director with a background in pro sports or business to steer the Scarlet Knights through this challenging new era?
As the search for a new AD finally nears the finish line, that looks like a strong possibility. Multiple sources familiar with the search who were granted anonymity so they could speak freely on the process said Rutgers has focused on “non-traditional” candidates as it moves closer to picking an athletics leader.
They caution that the search is still ongoing and new university president William F. Tate — who is expected to begin meeting with candidates next week — might steer it in another direction as he takes a bigger role in the process. But they believe the hire is more likely to come from the sports business world than another athletic department.
If that’s the case, Rutgers will be following a national trend in this fast-changing industry.
Maryland recently hired Jim Smith, the senior vice president of business strategy for the Atlanta Braves, to take over as its athletics director. That comes on the heels of Notre Dame picking a television executive — Pete Bevacqua of NBC Sports — to lead its sports teams. Even the current Big Ten commissioner, Tony Petitti, has a background in TV and pro sports.
Given that universities are on the cusp of the pay-for-play era in college sports, this isn’t surprising. The most successful programs have been the ones that figured out how to thrive in a world of name, image and likeness payments, and the gulf between those teams that have the resources to pay athletes and those that do not will only widen in coming years.
MORE: Here are the biggest priorities for the new Rutgers AD
“Given the realities of NIL compensation packages, and the seemingly constant threat of conference realignment, large universities realize they need business builders in those (athletic director) chairs,” John Ourand, the sports business reporter for Puck, wrote last week.
Rutgers has lagged behind its Big Ten rivals in NIL funding since the NCAA, facing pressure on multiple fronts, allowed its athletes to capitalize on their personal brands through deals with corporations or booster collectives. The next AD will inherit that problem as athletic departments shift toward something far closer to fully professional operations than the quaint notion of “student-athletes” from the past.
Rutgers has not had a permanent AD since last August, when Patrick Hobbs resigned as the university launched an investigation into his improper affair with former gymnastics coach Umme Salim-Beasley. Ryan Pisarri has led the department on an interim basis since then, but he is not believed to be a candidate for the permanent job.
The university announced last month that it had hired TurnkeyZRG to lead the search for Hobbs’ replacement. It also appointed a nine-person advisory board to “provide institutional guidance and insight to the firm throughout the process,” but it is unclear what role, if any, that board will have in making the hire.
The announcement that Tate would become the 22nd university president on May 19 was believed to be the last obstacle to selecting the new athletic director. Tate, who held the same position at sports powerhouse LSU, has a background that should make the AD job more attractive to candidates.
“I didn’t grow up in this participation trophy world. You come in second place, you put it in your pocket, go home, and work on being first,” Tate said soon after he was introduced as Rutgers president.
Tate did not hire an athletic director during his four-year tenure at LSU, inheriting Scott Woodward, but he was involved in the process to bring football coach Brian Kelly to Baton Rouge from Notre Dame. Rutgers went months without an AD to ensure that the new president to have a role in making this important decision — and now, it appears, that moment has arrived.
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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com.