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Former Rutgers University Athletic Director Tim Pernetti, seen on Friday talking to media, said he was willing to give Mike Rice a second chance, confidential meeting minutes show.

(Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger)

By Ted Sherman and Kelly Heyboer/The Star-Ledger

The day after Rutgers University suspended its basketball coach last December for manhandling and verbally assaulting his players, athletic director Tim Pernetti sat in a closed-door meeting, being praised by top campus officials.

According to confidential minutes of the meeting obtained by The Star-Ledger, Pernetti told them he was willing to give coach Mike Rice a second chance instead of firing him because he thought he could change — a decision that would later come back to haunt the state university.

Pernetti, according to the minutes, said "if he did not think Coach Rice could rectify his behavior, he would not be giving him this chance."

Rutgers President Robert Barchi commended Pernetti and his department for handling the matter "appropriately," according to the minutes.

More than 20 Rutgers officials, trustees and board members also attended the Dec. 14 meeting in Camden, where the athletics committee of the university’s Board of Governors discussed the allegations Rice had shoved and kicked players and used homophobic slurs during practices. No one in the room questioned whether Rice should have been fired or asked to view the video of the coach’s abuses themselves.

Records also show no one bothered to mention the discussion of the Rice punishment at a public meeting of the full Rutgers Board of Governors later that same day.

The minutes summarizing the December meeting, coupled with interviews with key Rutgers officials, provide a glimpse into a university seemingly content late last year with how it handled the allegations that its basketball coach was out of control, before the situation escalated well beyond its control last week.

University officials had no comment.

The nearly two-hour Dec. 14 meeting was chaired by board member Mark Hershhorn, who has also come under fire after it was disclosed he had seen videos of Rice’s abusive behavior and did not bring it to the attention of the board.

According to the minutes, Hershhorn — remarking on the stories of the suspension that had appeared that morning in The Star-Ledger and other newspapers — did not argue that Rice should be fired. He only asked Pernetti to explain the circumstances of the suspension.

Much of the meeting, in fact, did not even focus on Rice. Among the issues on the table were discussions about the university’s entrance into the Big Ten Conference and concerns over the revenues being generated through Rutgers’ outside marketing firm, Nelligan Sports Marketing. According to the minutes, the university put the firm on notice for underperforming.

And in a dramatic development, university sources today confirmed Nelligan was bought out of its long-running contract for $7 million.

The buyout ended the 13-year relationship between the school and the firm that had been brokered by former Athletic Director Robert Mulcahy. The school is expected to put out a request for bids for a new marketing deal, with the idea that Rutgers could make up to $10 million up front.

The Dec. 14 meeting in Camden came as news of Rice’s punishment was splashed across that morning’s newspapers. Rutgers, citing his behavior, at the time had announced they were suspending the coach for three games and hitting him with a $50,000 fine.

While what happened in practice was detailed, the actual videos of the practices were not released to the public and few at the meeting, other than Pernetti and Hershhorn, had actually seen them.

At the meeting, Pernetti had told board officials he thought suspending the coach was a "proactive, strong disciplinary action sends a clear message that Rutgers will not tolerate such inappropriate behavior," according to the minutes, or summary, of the meeting prepared by the university secretary’s office.

Forced to resign himself last week, Pernetti last night could not be reached for comment.

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Those in attendance included Board of Governors Vice Chair Gerald Harvey and members Kenneth Schmidt and Daniel Schulman. Also attending in person or by phone were eight members of the Rutgers Board of Trustees — the university’s less powerful governing board — who also serve on the committee overseeing the athletics department. Barchi was accompanied by nine members of his administration, including Wolf and Pernetti.

Less than four months later, Rutgers is now mired in controversy and hand wringing as campus officials try to figure out how they allowed Rice to remain in his job when nearly everyone who saw the video of his practices said their first instinct was to terminate him.

The Board of Governors is scheduled to meet today in New Brunswick for the first time since the controversy erupted and announce plans to hire an independent investigator to study the case and tell the university where it went wrong.

The scandal, which broke open after a DVD showing clips of Rice at practices was leaked to ESPN, has so far cost the jobs of four people. Barchi fired Rice immediately after seeing it.

Assistant coach Jimmy Martelli, also seen shoving players on the tapes, also resigned. Pernetti was pushed out and John Wolf, the university’s top lawyer, stepped down from his senior vice president post and returned to his previous job as a Rutgers attorney. There are also calls for Barchi to resign, along with Hershhorn.