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Rutgers Settlement: Tim Pernetti Gets $1.2 Million And More

Brianna Sacks |
April 8, 2013 | 8:56 p.m. PDT

Editor-at-Large

(Tim Pernetti/Wikimedia commons)
(Tim Pernetti/Wikimedia commons)
Former Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti is getting $1.2 million, an iPad, car allowance and more than two years of health insurance coverage in a settlement agreement over the Rutgers basketball scandal.

Pernetti resigned last week after a video surfaced of coach Mike Rice's abusive treatment of his players, showing Rice shouting homophobic slurs and hurling basketballs at his players. Pernetti had suspended the coach last December.

The Associated Press reported that it obtained details of the settlement Monday through an open records request with the university.

ALSO: Rutgers Basketball Coach Fired After Player Abuse Video Surfaces

Under the settlement, Pernetti will be paid his base salary of $453,000 through June 2014 and a one-time payment of $679,500 in the next month. Rutgers also agreed to represent the former Athletic Director in any lawsuits related to his job.

Rice, who was fired last week, agreed to $1 million--75 percent of his remaining salary--and a $100,000 bonus for working through the 2012-2013 season.

Pernetti faced increasing scrutiny leading up to, and after, Rice's firing because many believed he did not respond strongly enough when he first learned of the coach's abusive behavior, Slate reported. He suspended Rice for three games and fined him $50,000 after first seeing the footage, but fired the coach shortly after the footage went public.

New York Times reporter Steve Eder said the university had known about the misconduct for quite sometime, but did not decide to fire the coach until the footage went public. Rutgers board member Mark Hershhorn said he had seen the video months ago and urged for the "immediate termination of Coach Rice," according to the New Jersey Star Star-Ledger.

Rutgers says it will now review practice videos from every sports team.

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage on the Rutgers Scandal

Reach Editor-at-Large Brianna Sacks here




 

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