Julie Hermann Still Can't Get Out Of Her Own Way

((HT: NJ.com/Politi))

Let's just recap for starters...

Julie Hermann was a women's volleyball coach and an assistant AD at the University of Louisville, BUT...
((HT:CNN))


Here's her presser from Rutgers in full when she was hired...
((HT: RVision))


Then, she gave a press conference on June 5th of 2013 after the initial furor- where she took no questions and just flat-out talked for the entirety of the "opportunity..."


How the Media Relations Department still hadn't clamped down in any way was somewhat surprising, and she almost made it ten months without making more headlines. But she was speaking in a Media Ethics and Law class at Rutgers where a student transcribed her remarks in an article on the muckgers.com website.

Hermann is credited as saying about the Newark Star-Ledger newspaper:

“That’d be great [if the Star Ledger died]. I’m going to do all I can to not to give them a headline to keep them alive because I think I got them through the summer.”

“I’ve got one guy over at the Ledger – he has one mission. That’s to get any [athletic director] at Rutgers fired. That’s his hobby,” Hermann said.

Well, Steve Politi over at the Star-Ledger may just be that guy... but there's a big issue over at the newspaper...

The Star-Ledger laid off 167 people last week, the latest round of devastating cuts in a struggling industry. They were advertising execs and business writers, clerks and copy editors. Some had worked at the newspaper for decades. Most have families and mortgages.

It was, for anyone who works here – or, for that matter, anyone with an ounce of compassion – an awful couple days.

Clearly, it wasn’t for Julie Hermann. She must have been tickled, because this is the same woman who stood up in front of a class of journalism students a few weeks ago and said it would be “great” if the newspaper died.

And that's just his opening three paragraphs...it's a great read...

How the Media Relations Department still hadn't clamped down in any way was somewhat surprising...
(The HQ feels that we've already written that caveat before...)

And how Hermann is still an Athletics Director is beyond us...

Julie Hermann Faces Uphill Battle At "Rut-kers..."

((HT: nj.com))

Rutgers prospective Athletics Director Julie Hermann held an outdoor press conference where she looked incredibly uncomfortable and could not wait to leave the dais...

Here it is in its entirety...
Hermann is supposed to start on June 17th, and in all reality, this press conference above was (more than anything) just a tepid attempt to get her face in public to make it look like she was answering questions when, really, all she was doing was getting out in front of cameras to stall long enough to make it look like she was answering questions until her Information Department staff thought enough was enough... Which was, about, 10 minutes... Steve Politi was there for the Newark Star-Ledger and knows Hermann has some making up to do- and it won't be easy within the Rutgers community: Hermann will meet about 20 of the most prominent donors during an invitation-only session in New Brunswick on Thursday night, according to one of the invitees, and the response from those deep-pocketed alums will be telling. So will the give-and-take Friday at an annual Rutgers athletics golf outing. In that setting, she won't be able to fall back on the well-crafted talking points. She'll need to be transparent. She'll need to get these alums to like and trust her, because most aren't just giving their money to an institution, they're giving it to a person.
The HQ thinks this tenure may be one of the shortest on record...
But, that's just us...

Ex-Player: Former Vols Coach/Current Rutgers AD Called Us "Whores" (UPDATED: Plus More Fun At Louisville)

((HT: CNN/AC360))

As of right now, current Rutgers Athletics Director Julie Hermann still has her job...

President Robert Barchi said: "Looking at Julie’s entire record of accomplishment, which is stellar, we remain confident that we have selected an individual who will work in the best interests of all of our student athletes, our athletics teams, and the university."

“If you look at my 25-year career in athletics, I believe the record shows I am a steadfast advocate for student athletes,” Hermann said in a statement. “I intend to take that passion and hard-earned experience into my leadership role as athletic director of Rutgers University.”

Hermann was accused of calling her volleyball players in Knoxville as whores, alcoholics, and learning disabled by her players.

Craig Wolfe's piece in the Newark Star-Ledger details the conversations her former players had when they found out she was named AD at Rutgers after her long tenure at Louisville as an assistant AD...

Kelly Hanlon Dow was on the team Hermann coached in Knoxville and was interviewed by Anderson Cooper

For Hermann to "not remember" the letter composed by her players in Knoxville was a shock to them.

From Wolfe:
"I never heard any of this, never name-calling them or anything like that whatsoever." 
The word "whore," she said, is "not part of my vernacular. Not then, not now, not ever."

When asked at her introductory press conference at Rutgers about disparaging remarks that led to a settlement by one of her assistants of $150,000 at Ginger Hineline's wedding, Hermann couldn't remember being at a wedding or there being a video tape where she said what she said... ((HT: nj.com))

11 players went on the record for Wolfe's report and it is required reading- even as Hermann doesn't seem to remember much of the time that she angered her players at UTK...

PM UPDATE: The New York Times' Steve Eder is now reporting that Hermann was part in a sex discrimination suit at U of L back in 2008.

An assistant track and field coach, Mary Banker, said she went to Hermann to complain of what she said was sexist behavior and “discriminatory treatment” by the head track and field coach. Within three weeks of going to HR, Banker was fired.

The Banker case went up the legal chain in the state of Kentucky, but was eventually turned aside in appeals court. Her lawyer's are looking for the state supreme court to look at the decision.