The “improper, consensual” relationship that ended Pat Hobbs’ nine years as Rutgers’ athletic director featured a nearly $1 million contract and a rather awkward “love” comment.
Hobbs shockingly resigned as the Scarlet Knights’ athletic director in August citing health concerns, but Rutgers had been investigating a relationship between Hobbs and gymnastics coach Umme Salim-Beasley that the two did not make much of an effort to conceal, according to NJ Advance Media.
“It was an open secret,” one former employee told the outlet.
Hobbs hired Salim-Beasley to guide the women’s gymnastics team on May 11, 2018, and the two eventually began what the outlet labeled as an “improper” and “consensual relationship.”
The athletic director reportedly spent more time around the gymnastics program than is usually allotted at major Division I programs, traveling at least five times to the same location as Salim-Beasley during an 11-month period beginning last summer, per NJ Advance Media’s report.
Both Hobbs and Salim-Beasley are married with children, with the coach tying the knot with former Jets cornerback Aaron Beasley.
One particular interaction between the two stood out to those who witnessed the scene.
Hobbs participated in a tarot card reading during a social event for the athletic department last winter and was asked about the most important thing in life, as two gymnasts recalled to the outlet.
The former athletic director looked at Salim-Beasley and said “love.”
“It was so weird,” one gymnast told the publication. “It’s really hard 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 my teammates looked at each other with the weirdest look like, ‘What is going on here?’”
Hobbs and Salim-Beasley seemingly did not take discrete measures to hide their relationship, with Hobbs being described as a “fixture at the team’s practice and meets.”
He attended the team’s Fish MLK Jr. Invitational in January of this year, and the two laughed after passing a heart-shaped sign that read, “Love You, Pat,” per the report.
“We were like, ‘That’s really weird,’” one gymnast told the outlet.
Rutgers’ discrimination and harassment policy states that romantic relationships involving supervisors — Hobbs was Salim-Beasley’s boss — present “special problems” and declares that the university “strongly discourages romantic, dating, intimate and/or sexual relationships between University employees where there is an imbalance of power because one individual is in a position to make decisions which may affect the educational opportunities, employment or career of the other.”
Hobbs had the power to make decisions that affected the coach’s career, with her first three contracts stating that “year-to-year increases in base salary shall be paid solely upon a determination by the Director of Athletics,” according to NJ Advance Media.
Salim-Beasley’s contract boosted from $95,000 in her first season in 2019 to $165,000 this season and will reach $195,000 in the last year of her contract in 2028, per the report.
She signed a five-year, $995,000 deal on Feb. 24, 2023, and is tied for the third-highest salary in the conference this year excluding Penn State, according to the publication.
Meanwhile, Mike Rowe, the coach of Big Ten champion Michigan State, has a 2024 salary of just $141,500, the outlet reported.
Salim-Beasley’s Rutgers biography touts record-breaking performances during her tenure, but the team is 4-50 in Big Ten dual meets over the last six years and just 55-100 overall.
The program’s 2-43 Big Ten record over the last five years is the university’s lowest among any sports team in that span, according to the report.
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.
A pair of gymnasts wondered about whether Hobbs handled their complaints with the proper respect in light of the relationship coming to the surface.
“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. “He goes ‘What are you talking about? Personal relationship? That’s not true.’ If you’re getting defensive, that makes it seem true.”
Another said: “At first, he said that he did not have a personal relationship with Umme, but then he said that he had a personal relationship with all the head coaches. So which one is it, buddy?”
Hobbs had actually been pitching Rutgers on a raise from his roughly $1.1 million annual salary in June when former Rutgers Board of Governors chairman Mark Angelson informed the 64-year-old of the investigation and that the university would not upping his salary, per the report.
Two months later, Hobbs officially received notification from a firm about a pending investigation and the need to turn over his electronic devices.
Hobbs then resigned on Aug. 16, citing health concerns.
“After meeting with my cardiac team this week and having just been apprised of the results of my latest round of testing, it is clear that I can not continue to serve as Athletic Director given the requirements of the position,” Hobbs told school president Jonathan Holloway in an email. “I recognize this is not the ideal timeframe to depart, however other factors need to take precedence.”
