Kyle Flood finally knows his fate and he’s probably breathing a sigh of relief.
The Newark Star-Ledger is reporting that the Rutgers head football coach has been suspended three games and fined $50,000. This comes after a recently concluded university investigation that discovered Flood contacted a professor about the academic status of one of his student-athletes. The player in question, cornerback Nadir Barnwell, had been ruled academically ineligible in the spring.
BREAKING: Rutgers coach Kyle Flood suspended 3 games for contact over academic status http://t.co/7YWPoAsUot pic.twitter.com/H5hQ4DlZY8
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) September 16, 2015
Flood’s actions were violations of university policy. The school prohibits communication between the coaching staff and faculty members over their players’ academic standing.
According to the investigation, Flood initially made contact with a Rutgers professor from his personal e-mail account. After being admonished by academic advisors not to do so, he continued to pursue communication and even set up an in-person meeting. There are also reports that Flood made changes to a paper Barnwell submitted to the professor in question.
Rutgers president Robert Barchi detailed his reasons for handing down the punishments he did in a statement Wednesday afternoon following their announcement.
“It is clear to me that Coach Flood had inappropriate communications with the faculty member in violation of an established policy,” Barchi stated. “The policy is well-known among staff in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Coach Flood is specifically tasked with knowing both NCAA and our institutional policies regarding these issues.”
Flood accepted responsibility for his actions in his own statement released after this news was made public.
Here is Kyle Flood's statement on today's suspension and fine.
Read more –> http://t.co/xOyIWm8A08 pic.twitter.com/Qu9JwuaBUo
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 16, 2015
Not only has Flood been under fire for his handling of this specific incident, but numerous Rutgers players have been involved in negative on-field incidents, calling into question his control over the program. Barnwell himself was arrested on September 3rd along with five other players after an alleged assault. All the players involved, including Barnwell, were dismissed from the team the following Saturday ahead of the Scarlet Knights’ season opener against Norfolk State.
Then, no more than a week later, the team’s leading wide receiver Leonte Carroo was indefinitely suspended after being arrested for domestic violence. The incident reportedly occurred after Rutgers’ 37-34 loss to Washington State. He’s the seventh current or former player associated with the program to have been in trouble with the law over the past month.
Flood will miss his team’s Big Ten opener this weekend at Penn State, in addition to home games against Kansas and Michigan State. He won’t be eligible to return until October 17th when Rutgers travels to face Indiana.
After calls in some circles for his termination over the confluence of all these issues surrounding the Rutgers program, Flood will ideally look to move on and be content that he’s still calling the shots in Piscataway.
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