Former Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti has been targeted by the American Athletic Conference to be its next commissioner, according to multiple reports on Tuesday evening.
Pernetti, a former Rutgers football player who featured at tight end from 1989 to 1993, led the school’s athletic department between 2009 and 2013. He was instrumental in the school earning an invitation into the Big Ten, one of the two major powers in modern college athletics alongside the Southeastern Conference.
Pernetti has also served as the President of IMG Academy and IMG College, an Executive Vice President at talent agency Endeavor and as the Chief Business Officer of Major League Soccer club New York City FC from its inception.
Pernetti’s tenure at Rutgers came to an end in 2013, when he was forced to resign in the wake of the Mike Rice scandal that rocked the school and its men’s basketball program. The decision came days after a series of videos that showed Rice screaming at players, throwing balls at them, cursing them in vile terms and using homophobic slurs on the court were broadcast on ESPN.
In his letter to then-University President Robert Barchi, Pernetti — who hired Rice as the head coach of the program in 2010 — acknowledged it was in the best interests of the school that he step down.
“I do so reluctantly because I always have and always will love Rutgers,” he said. “My continued tenure as athletic director is no longer sustainable for the university which I attended and where a piece of me will always remain.”
The highlight of Pernetti’s tenure at Rutgers came in 2012, when the school accepted an invitation to the Big Ten. Pernetti played a big part in making it happen, fostering a relationship with then-commissioner Jim Delaney and working diligently for three years to make it happen.
A decade later, Pernetti is on the verge of being named the commissioner of the AAC, the conference Rutgers left for the Big Ten.
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Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.