Kyle Flood off suspension at Rutgers, starts with apology

PISCATAWAY Kyle Flood was apologetic and accountable Monday in his return to the public spotlight, but a lot of specific questions still loom regarding the Rutgers football coach's actions that led to a three-game suspension and a $50,000 fine.

"I've had the opportunity to apologize for this situation to the team, to my family, and I want to take the opportunity now to apologize to the entire Rutgers community," Flood said. "To the students, to the alumni and especially to the faculty — a faculty that I have a tremendous respect for."

Flood met the media for the first time since Sept. 16, when Rutgers president Robert Barchi issued the penalty after a thorough investigation revealed that he initiated impermissible contact with a faculty member regarding the grade of a student-athlete he was told would be academically ineligible.

The biggest question out there was the contradiction between Flood saying he did not know the school rule and his covert actions such as using his personal email account and wearing non-nondescript clothing to an in-person meeting with the team, both of which give the public appearance he was going to lengths to hide something.

In other words, did he knowingly break a rule?

"Ultimately, what's important is I'm responsible to know the rule," Flood said. "As the head football coach, I'm responsible to know every rule.

"I understand why when looked at out of context, people might feel that way. The issue with the private email was really just to protect the student-athlete — a student-athlete whose academic record had already been, to some degree, on public display when it shouldn't have been.

"The meeting with the professor was in on open courtyard in broad daylight. The comment about not having Rutgers gear on was a very small-talkish type comment. But it's one of the things I've learned in this process, is that things like that when you're the head football coach, they can be taken out of context."

As he did privately with Rutgers president Robert Barchi, Flood vowed publicly that he has done "nothing of this context before" in his admitted many interactions with faculty and that "certainly not in the future" would anything similar arise.

Barchi admitted that any possible resolution, including termination, was on the table depending on the results of the investigation.

So is he on thin ice?

"I've never felt that way," Flood said. "I feel like I have an excellent relationship with Dr. Barchi. I'll leave his comments to him. But I feel fully supported."

Flood also was pressed on issues that have come up with his program in his absence, such as the program's drug-testing policy, the reinstatement of star player Leonte Carroo and governing fraternization between his players and recruits and the female Rutgers athletics recruiting ambassadors.

Rutgers has hired outside counsel to investigate the program for NCAA violations, and Flood said his program will be transparent.

Flood continued to stress that those who know him personally know his intentions, though he declined to address his specific motivations other than to say he makes decisions in the best interest of his players.

"I try to make them in the best interest of the student-athlete," Flood said, "and going forward, I need to make sure that not only do I make them in the best interest of the student-athlete, that I make them within the rules."

Part of Flood's job is disciplining student-athletes — and he has had to do it plenty of lately. Seven players have been arrested in the past two months, with six dismissed from the program; while Carroo, who was suspended for two games, is back with the team after his charge was dismissed.

Flood is confident that his suspension doesn't undermine his authority.

"I made a mistake, there are consequences to those actions, and those consequences have been fulfilled," Flood said, "and now we move forward just like we would with a player."

Critics of Flood and college athletics are sure to cite his actions as an example of a coach who would stop at nothing to get his top cornerback eligible.

"I don't know that I can completely control perception," Flood said. "What I know is this: The people that know me personally, the families of our players, the families of the recruits we're currently involved in, that issue doesn't exist. For the people maybe who don't know me as intimately as those groups of people do, I think the healing is going to take time, and I understand that, and I'm fully committed to making sure that that happens."

Flood also said he is committed to again being a respected representative of the school at large, a mission Barchi acknowledged would take some hard work.

"Since becoming the head coach in 2012, it's never been my goal to just be the head football coach at Rutgers," Flood said. "My goal has always been to be a bigger part of the community here at Rutgers, a bigger part of the community in New Jersey, and I've worked very hard to make that happen.

"If this situation in any way has hindered or slowed that progress toward that goal, I'd just like to say that I'm fully committed as I go forward to making sure that that happens once again."