Rutgers AD resigns amid controversy

Rutgers’ coaching scandal spiraled deeper Friday, bringing down the athletic director and a school vice president while donors threatened to cut off their contributions to New Jersey’s largest public university.

The day of mounting troubles for the school began with athletic director Tim Pernetti resigning over his failure to immediately fire coach Mike Rice, who was caught on video hitting, kicking and taunting players with anti-gay slurs at practice.

The video was shown Tuesday on ESPN, prompting outrage nationwide and on campus.

Pernetti fired Rice on Wednesday, but the AD immediately came under criticism for only suspending and fining the coach after the video was brought to his attention four months ago. Pernetti said Friday he wanted to fire Rice on the spot but did not because the consensus among school officials at the time was that it didn’t warrant dismissal.

Rutgers president Robert Barchi came under harsh questioning from reporters at a news conference Friday over what he knew about the video months ago.

Barchi, who took office in September 2012, said he first saw the video this week but was aware it existed in late November when Pernetti gave him a summary of what was on it at the time.

“This was a failure of process. I regret that I did not ask to see this video when Tim first told me of its existence,” Barchi said.

■ MARCH MADNESS — Christian Laettner will occasionally see a replay of his famous buzzer beater against Kentucky — and he tries not to look too excited about it.

“If I’m in a bar or restaurant and there’s people around kind of seeing how I react to it, I’ll purposely not look at it, so they don’t run around saying, ‘Laettner loved to watch himself on TV,’ ” Laettner said. “But if I’m in the privacy of my home with my family, I know it’s coming on, I’ll definitely take a peek at it.”

Laettner’s shot that gave Duke an overtime win in a 1992 regional final was picked as the top moment from March Madness, part of a celebration of the NCAA Tournament’s 75th anniversary. Indiana’s undefeated team from 1976 also was honored, along with 15 of the tournament’s greatest players — a group that includes Laettner.

The best moment and best team were picked by fan voting. The top players were selected based on votes by fans and NCAA experts.

The other 14 players selected were UCLA’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Indiana State’s Larry Bird, Princeton’s Bill Bradley, Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing, Duke’s Grant Hill, Michigan State’s Magic Johnson, North Carolina’s Michael Jordan, Ohio State’s Jerry Lucas, Kansas’ Danny Manning, Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon, Cincinnati’s Oscar Robertson, San Francisco’s Bill Russell, UCLA’s Bill Walton and West Virginia’s Jerry West.

■ OHIO STATE — Forward Deshaun Thomas will forgo his final season of eligibility and enter the NBA Draft. He averaged 19.8 points and 5.9 rebounds this season as the Buckeyes went 29-8 and reached the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

■ UNR — Starting forward Kevin Panzer became the third Wolf Pack player to announce plans to transfer, joining forward Devonte Elliott and guard Jordan Burris. All three would have been seniors next season. Panzer started all but one game this season, averaging 4.8 points and 4.3 rebounds.

■ NORTH CAROLINA STATE — Freshman Rodney Purvis said he will transfer to Connecticut. Purvis averaged 8.3 points and started 23 of the first 25 games, but he scored a total of 12 points and averaged just 12.8 minutes in his final four games.

■ ALL-STAR GAME — James Ennis of Long Beach State scored 13 points, Kansas State’s Rodney McGruder hit four free throws in the closing seconds and the East team defeated the West 87-81 in the college all-star game at the Final Four in Atlanta.

■ COLLEGE BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL — Former Foothill High School player Evan Roquemore scored 19 points as Santa Clara defeated George Mason 80-77 to win the College Basketball Invitational title in Fairfax, Va., in three games.