NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Former Rutgers football player Tim Pernetti, executive vice president of CBS College Sports Network and familiar to Rutgers fans for his radio commentary, was named director of intercollegiate athletics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, at today’s meeting of the Rutgers Board of Governors. The appointment, following a national search, is effective April 1.
Pernetti will oversee 24 men’s and women’s intercollegiate teams in New Brunswick, a larger number than fielded at most of the university’s peer institutions. The Division of Intercollegiate Athletics has 212 employees and an annual budget of approximately $56 million, roughly 3 percent of the university’s total $1.8 billion budget.
“We are delighted that Tim Pernetti is returning to the Rutgers community and is ready to work with our coaches and athletics and academic support staffs to further the tradition of excellence established by our student-athletes on the field and in the classroom,” said Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick.
A resident of Oakland, N.J., Pernetti received a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass media from Rutgers in 1993, and a master’s degree in communication in 1995. As an undergraduate, he was a tight end on the Rutgers football team from 1989 to 1993. From 1994 to 2003, Pernetti worked in various programming positions at ABC Sports and ABC Enhanced TV. In 2003, he became vice president of programming for College Sports Television, the first national television network devoted entirely to collegiate athletics. College Sports Television became CSTV Networks Inc. in 2004, and was purchased by CBS in 2006. Pernetti has been executive vice president at CBS College Sports Network since the acquisition.
Pernetti has been color commentator for the Rutgers Football Radio Network for eight seasons and is the host of the Greg Schiano Show on WCTC 1450-AM and WOR 710-AM.
Pernetti, who will report directly to President McCormick, will receive an annual base salary of $410,000, an annual performance bonus of up to $50,000 and an annual automobile stipend of $12,000.
Established in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Serving more than 50,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers offers more than 280 bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and professional degree programs. The university is home to 27 degree-granting schools and colleges, and more than 150 specialized centers and institutes. Rutgers is also a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, a highly selective organization comprising the 62 leading research universities in North America.