The revelations surrounding the sudden resignation of longtime Rutgers Athletic Director Pat Hobbs have sent shockwaves through the college sports world. After nine years at the helm of the Scarlet Knights’ athletics department, Hobbs stepped down in August, citing health concerns. However, a new report from NJ Advance Media has revealed the true reason for Hobbs’ abrupt departure—an “improper, consensual” relationship with the university’s women’s gymnastics coach, Umme Salim-Beasley.
According to the report, Hobbs and Salim-Beasley’s relationship was an “open secret” within the Rutgers athletic department, with the AD spending an inordinate amount of time around the gymnastics program and even attending the team’s meets and practices. One gymnast described a “weird” and “tense” interaction between the two during a tarot card reading, where Hobbs gazed into Salim-Beasley’s eyes and declared “love” as the most important thing in life.
“It was so weird,” the gymnast told NJ Advance Media. “It’s difficult to put into words, but they were staring each other in the eye, sitting right next to each other. You could feel some type of tension between them. All of my teammates exchanged a strange look, as if they were wondering what was going on.
The department appears to have kept the relationship between Hobbs and Salim-Beasley, a married woman with children like Hobbs, a secret, describing the AD as a “fixture at the team’s practice and meets.” The two even shared a laugh after passing a heart-shaped sign that read “Love You, Pat,” further fueling the suspicions of the gymnasts.
However, the scandal goes beyond just the inappropriate personal relationship. Hobbs also seems to have shown favoritism toward Salim-Beasley, with the gymnastics coach receiving a series of lucrative contract extensions and pay raises during Hobbs’ tenure.
Salim-Beasley’s initial contract in 2019 was for $95,000, but it has since grown to $165,000 this season, with the potential to reach $195,000 by the final year of the deal in 2028. This makes her one of the highest-paid gymnastics coaches in the Big Ten, even as the Rutgers team has struggled, posting a dismal 2-43 record in conference matches over the past five years.
“Making matters worse is that Rutgers launched an investigation into the program in September due to allegations of bullying, favoritism, and revenge, per the Associated Press,” the NJ Advance Media report noted.
The revelations have left many within the Rutgers community questioning Hobbs’ leadership and decision-making, especially when it comes to the gymnastics program. Some gymnasts have even expressed concerns about whether Hobbs properly handled their complaints about the team’s culture, given his apparent personal relationship with Salim-Beasley.
“The first thing I said to him was, ‘I need you to set any personal relationship you have with Umme aside and listen to me as your student-athlete,'” one gymnast told the outlet. “What are you talking about?” he asked. Personal relationship? That’s not true.’ If you’re defending yourself, it may appear true.
The university’s Board of Governors swiftly brought Hobbs down, informing him in mid-June that they would not approve a raise for his $1.1 million annual salary and that they had launched an investigation into his relationship with Salim-Beasley. Two months later, the university’s Board of Governors officially notified Hobbs of the investigation and ordered him to surrender all his electronic devices used for university business.
However, Hobbs never made it to that meeting, instead choosing to abruptly resign on the morning of August 16th, stunning his senior-level staff who had been in a planning session with him just two days earlier.
The saga has left Rutgers in a leadership void, with the university now tasked with finding a new athletic director to guide the Scarlet Knights’ programs forward. However, repairing the damage to the university’s reputation and the trust of its student-athletes will be significantly more challenging.
As the fallout from this scandal continues to reverberate, it serves as a stark reminder of the importance of maintaining the highest ethical standards in college athletics, where the power dynamics and potential for abuse can have far-reaching consequences. A scandal that has shaken the very foundations of the Scarlet Knights’ athletic department has tarnished the once promising tenure of Pat Hobbs for Rutgers and its loyal fans.