TurneyZRG Chair Len Perna emphasized that Rutgers is “focused on candidates ‘with a commercial background’” in its ongoing search for a new AD, according to Steve Politi of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. Rutgers “needs many things from the person it hires” to replace Patrick Hobbs as the new AD before it “starts to think about setting trends.” But Perna said the school is “pioneering the new phase of what athletic directors will look like.” He added, “Rutgers is thinking about this in a really refreshing new way, and is pioneering a new profile and a new structure inside the department of athletics.” Politi noted Rutgers’ search is “almost exclusively centered on candidates with business resumes.” Perna indicated that this was an “institutional decision.” Perna said, “I spend my whole day talking to people who are either running professional sports teams or work in professional sports leagues, and people who are directors of college athletics or presidents of universities. Those two worlds used to be very separate.” He added, “Now, when I’m having those conversations, there is a lot of commonality. … You need a lot of sports administration capabilities in your department of athletics, but what you now need on top of that is the ability to resource it.” Perna said that he will work with Rutgers to “place an experienced team around whoever gets the job,” and that is “likely to include a strong No. 2 who has a background running a successful athletic department.” Politi noted TurneyZRG has “helped place 10 of the current ADs” in the Big Ten “and the league commissioner” (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 6/8).
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