15 Years vs. 3 Months: What Double Standard?

Brian Sokolowski, fan blogger By Brian Sokolowski, fan blogger
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on May 27, 2013 at 6:12 PM, updated May 28, 2013 at 11:34 PM

Let's get this straight.

I wanted Tim Pernetti to be fired from being athletic director at Rutgers.  I wanted that because Pernetti showed a lack of control over how to publicly handle situations at Rutgers.  I knew, eventually, that it would burn him because he'd make an error and think that he could get away with it.  Individuals who are darlings of the media always fail to comprehend that the story is always allegedly bigger than the person.

Meanwhile, he was doing the most fundamental flaw of failing the make the tough decision a manager must make.  That decision is when to discipline, when not to discipline, and how to do it.  Any manager who has hired and fired someone has to make those decisions and they aren't always cut and dry and black and white.  Of the four main things an Athletic Director must do, managing expectations and image is #1 in this state. 

There's a little feeling in your stomach that you get, or should get, when you feel you are doing something or saying something wrong.  That feeling may not always be agreed with by your higher ups, but if you are the person in control you have to make the call.  So because Pernetti failed to manage a person he hired and chose to try and make the situation go away, he deserved to no longer have his job.

Is the punishment harsh?  Yes, but that's what happens when you are at a high level position in the eye of the media and you make a big time error.

Julie Hermann, on the other hand, is a different story.  If Hermann has lied on her resume or failed to disclose anything she was required to disclose prior to her hiring, then she deserves to no longer be considered as AD at Rutgers.  If there was something that was not provided by any of her former employers that needed to be brought up, then so be it and the situation needs to be handled.  Of course, all this is alleged.

However, if all that happened here is an event that has now come to light 15 years later is clouding everything, then that is now good enough.  For individuals to allege that Hermann abused them and for the various media outlets to allegedly propagate these allegations is quite interesting.  After all, it was 15 - 20 years ago.

15 years is a very, very long time in our recent world of change.  15 years ago, I was 20 years old and moving all of my stuff into 78 College Avenue.  15 years ago there wasn't a Family Guy.  15 years ago Rutgers was in the middle of a lawsuit against Kevin Bannon for making Earl Johnson and Josh Sankes run "naked sprints" (though they weren't naked) for missing foul shots in practice.  15 years ago I recall that hazing was a big issue that was just starting to be combated heavily within colleges.  15 years ago Rutgers sport's only hope was a women's basketball team that was fresh off of a Final Four appearance.

15 years ago we noticed a big change was about to happen with the people coming to college.  Many of the new kids that were coming to college were expecting to be handed everything on a silver platter.  It was a cultural change between generations that we didn't quite understand.  And to culminate that thought, September 11, 2001 didn't even happen 15 years ago, an event that forever changed our culture, area, and how we look at our lives and surroundings.

To hold someone accountable for something that happened at a job they performed 15 years ago is almost being the judge and jury all in one.  Comparing that to what Pernetti did no more than a few months ago is saying that America is a country that cannot be reformed and no one deserves a second chance.

A famous basketball coach got fired from a program for abusing a student in September of 2000.  ESPN hired him no more than a few months after his retirement from coaching Texas Tech and he was allowed to redefine who he is in the media.  The same was said about Bob Ryan, a journalist from Boston, who told the world Jason Kidd's wife needs to be slapped in 2003.  After serving a suspension, ESPN brought him right back to keep commenting on items.  And how about in 2007 when Don Imus said that Rutgers had "nappy headed hoes" on our basketball team. 

It's amazing all of those people were even allowed to work anymore.  By the standard that's been set with all of the coverage of Rutgers, they should be shunned to Antarctica and never be allowed to work again.  I guess we are all forced to make our own decision on this situation, but there is one more point to make.

All of those other 4 famed issues have happened within the past 15 years and Julie Hermann's happened before that time frame.  One would hope that it's been long enough for everyone to move past allegations that have just arisen.