Kyle Flood has been suspended as Rutgers football coach after a university investigation.
PISCATAWAY -- Kyle Flood has been suspended for three games as Rutgers football coach and fined $50,000 following a university-led investigation into rules violations and amid a recent string of off-field transgressions involving players on his team, university president Robert Barchi told NJ Advance Media.
Barchi spoke to NJ Advance Media only 15 minutes after notifying Flood of the suspension and fine, he said. The suspension is effective immediately.
Barchi said players had not yet been notified. Associate head coach Norries Wilson will take over game-day responsibilities, athletic director Julie Hermann said.
READ: President Barchi's letter suspending Kyle Flood
"This suspension is the result of the very detailed extensive investigation that we carried out over the past several weeks regarding the allegations that the football coach had an inappropriate contact with a faculty member who was the instructor of one of our football players, a contact that is in violation of the university policy,'' Barchi told NJ Advance Media. "That is what it's about. That is what it's in response to.''
A NJ Advance Media reporter approached Flood as he exited Barchi's office building on the Old Queen campus, and Flood ignored requests for comment.
Asked how Flood accepted the suspension, Barchi said: "I think that Kyle accepted responsibility fully. I think he's been fully cooperative, I think he's devastated by what he feels is a loss of trust in him or the feeling that people may think differently about his own ethics and morals.
"And he's committed to make sure that he accepts responsibility, that he moves forward, that it never happens again, and he rebuilds that trust.''
The suspension comes three days before the Scarlet Knights are set to play Penn State in the Scarlet Knights' Big Ten opener this Saturday. Flood will miss home games against Kansas (Sept. 26) and Michigan State (Oct. 10).
MORE: Read the full Rutgers report on Kyle Flood here
Three weeks ago, NJ Advance Media first reported that the university's office of ethics and compliance, with help from outside counsel, was investigating an email Flood sent from a personal account to a Mason Gross faculty member regarding the status of Nadir Barnwell, a junior cornerback whose academic eligibility had been in doubt since May.
In a letter to the Rutgers community on Wednesday, Barchi outlined the critical findings:
- Flood met with the professor off-campus, and contacted the professor through subsequent emails, after he was told by a member of the academic support staff "that he is not to have contact with any faculty member regarding a student's academic standing."
- When the faculty member agreed to "review an additional paper" to possibly help Barnwell's standing in the class, Flood helped Barnwell by providing "grammatical and minor editorial suggestions to the submitted paper."
Practice ended at 11:55 a.m. on Wednesday, and Flood was seen walking down the steps five minutes later. He hugged a longtime high school coach in the parking lot before walking to the front of the Hale Center.
Before the entrance he met with associate head coach Norries Wilson and they walked into the football headquarters together.
The 15-member Rutgers Board of Governors met last Friday, addressing "athletics matters and anticipated or pending litigation." Citing the legal issues involved, Barchi declined to address the specifics of the meeting, but Board member Martin Perez said the discussion centered on "very serious issues'' involving the football program.
Flood faced suspension or termination if he were found to have acted contrary to institutional policy by initiating contact with a faculty member with regards to a player's academic standing.
Flood's program also has been besieged by off-field problems recently.
Six players have been kicked off the team in the past two weeks as the result of arrests. Two players, cornerback Dre Boggs and fullback Lloyd Terry, have been charged in home invasions. The other four players -- Barnwell, cornerback Ruhann Peele, safety Delon Stephenson and fullback Razohnn Gross -- face assault charges.
On Sunday, Flood suspended star wide receiver Leonte Carroo indefinitely as a result of an incident that took place following Saturday night's loss to Washington State outside the team's football headquarters. Carroo was arrested by Rutgers University police and charged with simple assault in a domestic violence incident. Carroo pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.
As per the terms of his contract, Rutgers "may suspend Flood without pay pending the outcome of a compliance investigation.''
PLUS: Flood discusses circumstances surrounding Carroo's suspension
University policy dictates: "All contact with faculty members or instructional staff, if necessary, should be handled by the Academic Support staff'' and doesn't permit "coach-initiated contact of any type (e.g., oral, written, etc.) ... between any member of the coaching staff and any Rutgers faculty member or associated instructional staff (teaching assistant, co-adjutant, part-time lecturer, etc.) with respect to any student-athlete.''
The document -- labeled on the school's website under the heading: "Contacting Faculty and Academic Officials'' -- dictates that staff members, including coaches, "must strictly abide'' by the policy and "must make prudent judgments regarding their level of involvement in a student-athlete's academic life so as to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.''
In addition, coaches are given explicit instructions at annual compliance meetings not to directly engage with professors over any academic issue related to their student-athletes, two people familiar with Rutgers athletics operating procedures told NJ Advance Media.
Flood has said that he has relationships with university professors, saying "our faculty are part of our program'' and adding that he welcomes "interactions'' with faculty members.
"I have a lot of communication with teachers,'' Flood said on Aug. 25 after NJ Advance Media broke the news that he was being investigated by the university. "We're all part of the same university. We all want the same things for our student-athletes.''
Flood was subject to discipline without pay if he was found to be "violation of university regulations, policies (or) procedures,'' according to the terms of the contract he signed when he became Rutgers head coach on Jan. 31, 2012. The compliance provisions of his contract dictate that he "shall be subject to all university regulations, policies and procedures, and legal requirements'' applicable to Rutgers employees, "including ethical standards and conflict of interest requirements.''
ALSO: Flood addresses questions as university confirms investigation
Hired on the eve of the February recruiting signing day following Greg Schiano's abrupt departure to the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012, Flood led the Scarlet Knights to a 9-4 record and a share of the program's first Big East title in his first season.
The Scarlet Knights have appeared in bowl games in all three of his seasons, including an inaugural Big Ten campaign last year that resulted in an 8-5 record and Quick Lane Bowl triumph.
Flood, who was set to earn $1.25 million this season, had the distinction of owning the fifth-best career winning percentage (23-16 record, .590) among Big Ten coaches behind Ohio State's Urban Meyer (.845), Michigan's Jim Harbaugh (.682), Michigan State's Mark Dantonio (.660) and Penn State's James Franklin (.596) heading into the 2015 season.
Flood, who is the lowest-paid head coach in the Big Ten, signed a two-year contract extension through the 2018 season on Sept. 11, 2014, that resulted in a guaranteed increase of $3.4 million for the lifetime of the contract.
As part of the extension, Rutgers agreed to pay Flood a $1.4 million buyout if he is terminated without cause at any point through Feb. 28, 2019.
"Coach Flood exemplifies our university's standards and values both on and off the field,'' Rutgers President Robert Barchi said last September after executing the extension. "He has put together a strong coaching staff that supports our mission to compete well both in the classroom and on the field.''
Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.