Rutgers and Fred Hill Continue Their Game of Chicken

Fred Hill was supposed to be gone from Rutgers last Friday. It was simply a matter of negotiating how much he would receive from Rutgers to go away. Nothing in sports today, is ever that simple. Especially with money.

Hill's contract with Rutgers was supposed to pay him at least $1.8 million over the next three years. Rutgers offered him $600,000 to resign. The alternative was that they would fire him with cause and he would get nothing. That would not really be the end of it. It would merely lead to a lawsuit over the contract and whether Hill was actually fired for "cause" under the terms of the contract.

Instead Hill has not agreed to anything and Rutger. He has even been showing up for work and acting as if nothing was happening. Essentially pulling a George Costanza. if Rutgers wants to use the terms of the contract to fire Hill without paying him all of his money, they have to follow the terms of the contract.

According to section 9E of Hill's contract, [Rutgers athletic director Tim] Pernetti had to present Hill with written notification of the alleged contract violations and, if determined feasible, then allow him 30 days to "cure the breaches." During that 30-day period, which began with Monday's notification by Pernetti, Hill would have the chance to answer the allegations.

The contract, however, also gives Pernetti the option to suspend Hill with pay, if he determines that is "in the best interest of the university."

That would be the next logical step if Rutgers goes forward with plans of firing Hill with cause -- an attempt by the school to avoid paying Hill any of the money left on his contract. If dismissed, Hill also would have an additional 14-day window to appeal to Rutgers president Richard McCormick under the terms of his contract.

Failing that, Hill's only recourse to recover his money would be to sue Rutgers.

The written notification of the contract violations were apparently given to Hill by Pernetti during a brief meeting on Monday. That is all well and good, if this were a simple employment issue and not involving the head basketball coach of a (supposedly) major conference program. As it stands, Fred Hill can keep Rutgers tied up until the end of May.

Rutgers cannot move forward with hiring a new coach, go out and recruit and deal with the issue of top players looking to transfer while the entire program is in limbo over who is in charge of the basketball program. The fact is, the longer this drags out, the worse it is for the Rutgers basketball program.

Who ever they hire will be taking a roster that couldn't compete in the Big East, one of the better players leaving and another good recruit seeking to get out of his NLI. On top of that, they would be getting a later and later start in recruiting to try and build something out of all of this mess. So that means who ever Rutgers would hire, would want more money to try and do something with what could be a career killing job.

Rutgers might eventually win the legal battle with Hill, but the further damage to Rutgers basketball could more than offset the financial savings they could claim. This will either end with Hill getting more money or an inevitable lawsuit. One way or another, Rutgers is going to pay either Hill or their lawyers a good deal of money.