SPORTS N STUFF

Rutgers named one of its former football players on Thursday to head an athletic department that has been the subject of recent investigations into its financial oversight, particularly in the football program.

The university’s board of governors unanimously approved the hiring of Tim Pernetti, who played tight end for the Scarlet Knights in the early 1990s and recently worked as executive vice president for content at CBS College Sports Network.

Pernetti, 38, replaces longtime athletic director Robert E. Mulcahy, who was fired at the end of last year, and will become the youngest athletic director in the Big East Conference. He has never served as an AD or college administrator.

“I was not interested in doing this kind of job anywhere but here,” Pernetti said Thursday.

Pernetti immediately faced questions about his ability to make decisions in light of his relationship with football coach Greg Schiano. Pernetti did not play under Schiano at Rutgers, but played a year under him at northern New Jersey’s Ramapo High School and has served as a radio game analyst for Rutgers football for the past eight years.

“Because so much has been built around football because it’s the big revenue-producing sport, my relationship with Greg is a positive,” Pernetti said. “There will be tough decisions, but knowing him the way I know him and he knows me, that will be very productive over time for the university.”

Schiano called Pernetti “a very seasoned businessman, and in this day and age that will be a real asset for the university.”

Schiano’s contract, which pays him about $1.6 million annually, was the focus of attention last year after a newspaper report revealed that a sports marketing firm had a separate deal that paid Schiano an additional $250,000 per year, with the payment guaranteed by Rutgers if sponsorships didn’t cover it.

As Schiano has transformed Rutgers’ football team from lightly regarded to one with four bowl appearances in the past four years, scrutiny of the program has increased, spurred by reports of off-the-books spending and other financial irregularities.

Within the past eight months, Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick announced the creation of a committee to review the athletic department’s internal controls, and the state comptroller’s office ordered an audit of the university’s contracting processes and an inquiry into an ongoing $102 million expansion of Rutgers Stadium.

Last fall, McCormick hired former Delaware State athletic director Richard J. Costello to fill the newly created position of deputy director of athletics-finance and administration.

Pernetti pledged to make the athletic department’s financial dealings more transparent.

“Nothing is more important to me,” he said. “Rutgers is a public institution, and a public institution needs to deliver on the front of transparency and communication of information. There will be financial accountability; we’ll be able to explain the why and the where.”

Pernetti beat out finalists Kelly Mehrtens, athletic director at UNC-Wilmington; and Akron athletic director Mack Rhoades.

“We were impressed by Tim’s commitment to academics, by his philosophy about the department’s relationship with the greater Rutgers community, his plans for expanding the revenues of the department and managing its finances, as well as his focus on strategic planning,” McCormick said.

Rutgers coach Greg Schiano is giving up his defensive coordinator duties.

Schiano announced Tuesday that he is promoting two assistants to share the defensive coordinator role. He also made two other assistants co-offensive coordinators.

Bob Fraser, who has been linebackers coach, and Ed Pinkham, who handled the secondary, will be co-defensive coordinators.

Kirk Ciarrocca, who was wide receivers coach, and Kyle Flood, who was offensive line coach, were named offensive co-coordinators.

Ciarrocca will also coach the quarterbacks and Flood will continue as assistant head coach.

Schiano had served as defensive coordinator since 2005.

Rutgers, which started last season 1-5, closed with seven straight wins, including a bowl victory over North Carolina State.

Southern Mississippi running back Damion Fletcher, the school’s all-time leading rusher, is charged with firing at least one gunshot while at an apartment complex, and another player faces a marijuana possession charge.

Hattiesburg Police Department spokesman Synarus Green told The Associated Press on Monday that Fletcher was charged with discharging a firearm at the apartment complex in Hattiesburg. He was arrested Sunday night, following reports of gunfire.

Green said Brennan Houston was booked on a marijuana possession charge, stemming from the same incident. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Houston, a 22-year-old senior, is a Southern Miss offensive lineman. Fletcher, a 21-year-old senior, has 4,287 career rushing yards. He ran for 1,313 and 10 TDs this past season.

“I have been made aware of the situation and am gathering all the facts. After all the facts are in, I then will make my decision pending the legal process on any action that I feel appropriate,” Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora said in a written statement.

Green said no one was hurt in the incident, and it appears the weapon was fired into the air.

Fletcher became Southern Miss’ leading career rusher in less than 2 1/2 seasons, breaking Ben Garry’s 31-year-old record of 3,595 yards. He won the Conerly Trophy in 2007, which is given annually to Mississippi’s top college football player.

Former Miami of Ohio head coach Shane Montgomery has taken the offensive coordinator job at Akron under Zips head coach J D Brookhart, Rivals com has learned.

Montgomery compiled a 17-31 record from 2005-08 at Miami. He led the RedHawks to MAC East Division Championships in 2005 and 2007 but failed to take the school to a bowl. Prior to ascending to the head coaching spot, Montgomery was offensive coordinator for the RedHawks under Terry Hoeppner, helping develop Ben Roethlisberger.

Montgomery, a star quarterback at N.C. State from 1987-89, replaces Joe Moorhead, who took the offensive coordinator job.

The NCAA penalized Eastern Washington’s football program Wednesday for numerous violations under former coach Paul Wulff, now the coach at Washington State.

Among the violations announced were allowing ineligible athletes to practice, having too many assistant coaches and failure to properly monitor the team.

Eastern Washington was put on three years’ probation and is banned from postseason play next season. It also was penalized two scholarships and had limits placed on recruiting and coaching.

In addition, Wulff cannot have any contact with the Washington State football team during the first three days of practice this season.

Late Wednesday night, Wulff told reporters that the violations were secondary infractions that did not provide a competitive advantage, and those kinds of violations occur when a program is too cash-strapped to afford full-time compliance officers.

“There are so many rules, things slip through the cracks,” Wulff said in a conference call, adding he took full responsibility for the violations.

Some of the penalties were self-imposed and accepted by the committee.

Eastern Washington, a Football Championship Subdivision team in the Big Sky Conference reported the violations to the NCAA in February 2007.

“We accept the NCAA’s findings and want to show, through our actions, that we embrace a culture of compliance,” acting president John Mason said, adding the school has implemented new monitoring systems since the violations occurred.

“We are, however, disappointed with the decision to levy a postseason ban and will be assessing our appeal options.”

Paul Dee, chair of the NCAA committee on infractions, said it’s unavoidable that current players suffer when a program is punished for past violations.

“The people who live with the penalties on institutions are those who are present when the penalties are applied,” Dee said.

Wulff was coach at Eastern Washington from 2000-07, making the playoffs in 2004, 2005 and 2007. He just completed his first season at WSU.

Wulff said Washington State has “excellent compliance support” and “I am confident situations such as these will never happen again.”

Jim Sterk, Washington State athletic director, said his school was aware of the investigation when it hired Wulff a year ago.

“We feel now, as we did then, that this was an institutional issue with Eastern Washington University, which is supported with today’s NCAA release regarding the situation,” Sterk said.

“During Paul’s hiring process he was straightforward about these allegations,” said Sterk. “We take these issues very seriously and believe Paul is a man of tremendous integrity and the situation derived more from a lack of institutional control at Eastern Washington.”

Oklahoma State wide receiver Bo Bowling was suspended from the team Wednesday after he was arrested on felony drug charges.

Bowling was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court documents.

Court documents indicate the controlled substance was alprozolam, an antidepressant commonly known as Xanax.

The senior-to-be from Tonkawa pleaded not guilty in Payne County District Court on Tuesday. He is free on $2,500 bond and due back in court March 2 for a preliminary hearing.

“Bo Bowling has been suspended from team activities,” Oklahoma State athletic department spokesman Kevin Klintworth said in a statement. “His permanent status with the team will be re-evaluated at a later date, but probably not before the legal process has been completed.”

Bowling caught 10 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns last season as Oklahoma State finished 9-4.

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti wants college football to have tougher penalties against unsportsmanlike conduct and dangerous hits.

Now it’s time to find out whether his coaching colleagues agree with his suggestions.

Bellotti, the NCAA football rules committee chairman, said Wednesday officials should eject more players for flagrant personal fouls, and agreed to seek input on whether some celebration penalties should be live-ball penalties, which could result in losing points.

While the ejections will be a point of emphasis next season, the celebration recommendation is not even a formal proposal yet.

“We’re going to poll the coaches and see if they support that (celebration change),” Bellotti said. “They may not.”

Bellotti said the change was not likely to take affect for at least two years, and even if approved would likely apply only to players who begin taunting opponents before crossing the goal line. The penalty would be assessed from the spot of the foul, like offensive holding calls in college football.

Teams would not be penalized, Bellotti said, for a group celebration after the score because the NCAA wants to emphasize the team concept, not individuals.

Then again, the committee may not have to do anything.

“That would be a huge change, so we want to give it time to soak out there,” said Rogers Redding, the SEC coordinator of officials. “We may change behaviors just because we’re talking about it.”

Other proposals include a revised statement on sportsmanship that could lead to harsher penalties.

The edited version would make coaches responsible for player behavior before, during and after games. If there are repeated infractions, a coach and school could be disciplined by conference officials.

None of the proposals will become official until they are passed by the oversight committee next month.

Bellotti also wants officials to have more leeway in ejecting players for flagrant personal fouls. Those calls would also trigger an automatic review by conference officials.

“We believe, in some cases, that players must be penalized more severely when the contact is clearly flagrant and dangerous,” Bellotti said.

Another change would limit the protective area for punters.

That is a reaction to the trendy rugby style kicks, a tactic in which punters move several steps before kicking the ball on the run. If adopted, opponents could not be called for roughing or running into the kicker if the punter is outside the tackle box.

Game clock and time issues that have dominated rules meetings in recent years were not major topics this week.

“There was consensus approval by coaches on all levels on the clock discussions,” Bellotti said. “I think the clock rules worked out as we thought they would. It may have cost teams four or five plays per game, but that’s what we were expecting.”

The committee also approved a provision allowing both teams to wear colored jerseys in games when there is a clear contrast in color and only if both teams agrees. The agreement is also subject to conference approval.

If there is not an agreement, the visiting team would wear white jerseys.

University of Texas System regents on Wednesday unanimously approved the new contract for Longhorn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, who is in line to take over for head coach Mack Brown when he decides to retire.

The deal pays Muschamp $900,000 a year as defensive coordinator and at least $2 million a year as head coach if he takes over the Texas program as soon as 2010.

The head-coaching salary would increase every year after that and if he is not head coach by January 2013, that portion of the contract would be renegotiated at a figure higher than $2.5 million.

The deal to make Muschamp the Texas head coach-designate was announced in November. Many of the contract details were already known, but any contract that pays $1 million or more must be formally approved by the university regents. The $900,000 salary portion kicked in Jan. 1.

Brown still has several years left on his contract, which has a base salary of $2.9 million.

Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly says defensive coordinator Joe Tresey will not return for next season.

Kelly made the announcement Monday. He says Tresey was an integral part of the Bearcats’ 2008 Big East championship but that he and Tresey “differ philosophically over where we want to go defensively in the future.”

Cincinnati finished 31st in the nation in total defense with 321.9 yards per game and 19th in run defense, with 115 yards.

Tresey also has coached at Central Michigan, Georgia Southern, Akron, VMI, and Otterbein. He was a high school coach for 10 years at several schools in Ohio.

Louisville football coach Steve Kragthorpe is going back to his offensive roots in an effort to jump-start his struggling program.

After two disappointing seasons with a combined record of 11-13, Kragthorpe will take over the play calling duties for the Cardinals next season.

Former offensive coordinator Jeff Brohm has been hired at Florida Atlantic, where he will work as an assistant focusing on quarterbacks, under Howard Schnellenberger, according to the program’s Web site.

So Kragthorpe, who last did all the play calling at Texas A&M from 1998-2000, gets to lead from the front and practice what he’s been preaching to his players since taking over for Bobby Petrino two years ago.

“We have a saying in our program, it’s ‘Show me,”‘ Kragthorpe said. “That’s how I’ve always been. I always told the guys at Texas A&M, when I was offensive coordinator there and I was calling the plays, ‘Hey, if you want the ball, show me. Show me during the week of practice that you’re the guy that deserves to have the ball when we tee this thing on game day.”‘

Now, Kragthorpe knows he will have to answer directly for everything on the offensive side of the ball. That’s the way he wanted it.

“I want to be the guy that’s scrutinized,” he said. “I want to be the guy that’s the point guy. I’m fully comfortable in that role. I’m fully aware of what that role entails, and so there will be no gray area in terms of that.”

Kragthorpe would not blame Brohm or last season’s starting quarterback Hunter Cantwell for Louisville’s offensive problems, insteady saying the program just needed some changes.

“Jeff’s been a great quarterback here and has done a good job in terms of the coaching part of it,” Kragthorpe said. “I just wanted to go a different direction and that’s just one of the things I felt like I needed to do.”

Kragthorpe knew he risked making a lot of people angry by replacing Brohm, knowing the family’s connection with the community and the university.

Brohm has been a member of the Cardinals’ coaching staff for six years and still is near the top in several career passing categories after starting at quarterback for the Cardinals for three years, including being named team MVP in 1992 and 1993. Brohm’s brothers Greg and Brian, and father Oscar also played for Louisville, and Greg is the program’s director of football operations.

“Certainly, I understand the magnitude of this decision, simply because of the Brohm family,” Kragthorpe said. “It’s something I was very cognizant of – the negative backlash, if you will.”

Kragthorpe also announced the hiring of wide receivers coach Jeff Lewis and quarterbacks coach and passing coordinator Matt Wells.

Kragthorpe and Wells previously worked together at Tulsa. Wells was tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator from 2002-06 while Kragthorpe was head coach there.

Kragthorpe says Brohm had the option of staying with the program, but not in a coaching capacity.

As for Kragthorpe, he’s used to his own job being on the line.

“I think your future’s in doubt every year as a football coach,” Kragthorpe said. “I think you’re being scrutinized every year. I think you’re being judged every year and I don’t look at this year different than any other year.”