Tim Pernetti is ready for his next challenge
The man who got Rutgers into the Big Ten is looking to re-shape the American Athletic Conference during a time of rapid change in college sports.
To understand how one Jersey guy hopes to make an impact as a new commissioner amid a time of uncertainty, perhaps we should go back to what another Jersey guy said while on the doorstep of history.
Dan Hurley was asked Sunday if his UConn program could do what it was about to do — win back-to-back national titles — had the Huskies not left the American Athletic Conference for the Big East in 2020.
“Oh, yeah, absolutely. We were well on our way,” Hurley, a Jersey City native, said the day before UConn beat Purdue. He added: “We were recruiting at a very, very high level. We would be where we were regardless. I got the best staff in the country. Got one of the biggest brands in college basketball. It has certainly helped. But we've also had a big impact on the Big East, as well.”
Enter Tim Pernetti, the Oakland, N.J., product who was announced as the next AAC commissioner on April 3 and was formally introduced on Thursday.
Pernetti has been in leadership roles with IMG since 2015. Two years ago, he was a finalist for the Big 12 commissioner job, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation. In his last strictly college role, he served as the athletic director at Rutgers, where he had seemingly willed his alma mater out of the then-floundering Big East and into the Big Ten.
The man who had just taken over the Big East at that time?
Mike Aresco, who oversaw the league’s transformation into the AAC and is now the man whom Pernetti is succeeding as commissioner.
This isn’t Pernetti’s first rodeo. Not even close. He was an executive at CSTV in a previous life, when the network was bought by CBS, with Aresco then serving as one of the CBS executives who helped close the deal.
Another CBS exec at that time? Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, who had also worked with Pernetti at ABC in Pernetti’s first job out of college.
Petitti, Pernetti. ABC, CBS. Tomato, tomahto.
Big Ten … AAC?
Maybe that’s a financial stretch. Then again, why put a limit on what Pernetti’s new employer can accomplish? The man did secure Rutgers’ future with the Big Ten move, after all, a move that at times has looked even more miraculous in hindsight than it appeared at the time.