Rutgers Fires Athletics Director, Football Coach Kyle Flood

The axe has come down on the Rutgers football program.

Rutgers announced Sunday it has fired athletic director Julie Hermann and head football coach Kyle Flood.

The Asbury Park Press reports the decision came after a meeting at the home of Rutgers president Robert Barchi. Rutgers-New Brunswick Chancellor Dick Edwards was present at the meeting where Hermann was fired. The decision to fire Flood came minutes later, the Press reports.

According to NJ.com, Barchi fired Flood by phone shortly before noon Sunday.

Rutgers also lost in dramatic fashion Saturday, blowing a 21-point lead to Maryland. The program also ran into problems after several players were suspended and arrested for their off-the-field behavior.

Four Rutgers University students and two former students were charged in September in connection with an unprovoked assault on a group of people in New Brunswick, including a student whose jaw was broken, authorities said.

Four of those defendants are football players at the school, according to NJ.com. The two former students are also former Rutgers football players, NBC News New York said.

One of the former students charged in that case, along with four other current students, were facing charges in separate home invasion cases, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. In those cases, students’ homes were targeted for drugs and cash. One of those defendants is also a Rutgers player, NJ.com said.

Rutgers University’s head football coach already faced a suspension or firing because of “impermissible” contact with a university faculty member regarding the status of one of his players, according to media reports.

The university’s Office of General Counsel was investigating an email Flood allegedly sent from a personal account to a faculty member at the university’s Mason Gross School of Arts regarding the status of Nadir Barnwell, who is reportedly in danger of being deemed academically ineligible, according to NJ Advance media.

If Flood created an “impermissible” benefit to a student-athlete in his program, he was to face discipline including a public reprimand, suspension or termination from his contract, according to the report.

Rutgers prohibits coaches from having direct contact with instructors of student-athletes, but there is no word whether the NCAA or Big Ten have taken a look to see what is happening, according to NBC Sports.