$1M contract and strange 'love' moment behind Rutgers AD death

The “inappropriate, consensual” relationship that ended Pat Hobbs' nine years as Rutgers' athletic director included a nearly $1 million contract and a rather unpleasant “love” comment.

Amazingly, Hobbs 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, which the two didn't particularly keep secret, according to NJ Advance Media.

“It was an open secret,” a former employee told the outlet.

Hobbs hired Salim-Beasley to lead the women's gymnastics team on May 11, 2018, and the two eventually began what the magazine described as an “inappropriate” and “consensual relationship.”

The athletic director reportedly spent more time with the gymnastics program than is typically allotted at major Division I programs, traveling to the same location as Salim-Beasley at least five times in an 11-month period since last summer, according to the NJ Advance Media report .

Both Hobbs and Salim-Beasley are married with children, with the coach tying the knot with former Jets cornerback Aaron Beasley.

Witnesses at the scene noticed a particular interaction between the two.

Hobbs attended a tarot card reading during an athletic department social event last winter and was asked about the most important thing in life, two gymnasts recalled at the outlet.

The former athletic director looked at Salim-Beasley and said, “Love.”

“It was so strange,” one gymnast told the publication. “It's really hard to put into words, but they were staring into each other's eyes and sitting right next to each other. You could feel some kind of tension between them. All my teammates looked at each other with the strangest looks: 'What's going on here?'”

Hobbs and Salim-Beasley appear to have taken no discreet measures to hide their relationship, with Hobbs described as an “integral part of the team's training and meetings”.

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,” the report said.

“We thought, 'This is really weird,'” one gymnast told the outlet.

Rutgers' discrimination and harassment policy says that romantic relationships with supervisors – Hobbs was Salim-Beasley's boss – pose “special problems” and states that the university “strongly opposes romantic, dating, intimate and/or sexual relationships between university employees, unless.” “There is an imbalance of power because one person is in a position to make decisions that may affect the other person's educational opportunities, employment, or career.”

According to NJ Advance Media, Hobbs had the power to make decisions that impacted the coach's career. Their first three contracts stated that “annual increases in base salary will be paid solely upon resolution of the Director of Athletics.”

According to the report, Salim-Beasley's contract increased from $95,000 in her first season in 2019 to $165,000 this season and will reach $195,000 in the final year of her contract in 2028.

She signed a five-year, $995,000 contract on February 24, 2023 and will receive the conference's third-highest salary this year (excluding Penn State), according to the release.

Meanwhile, Mike Rowe, the coach of Big Ten champion Michigan State, has a salary of just $141,500 in 2024, the outlet reported.

Salim-Beasley's Rutgers biography touts record-setting performances during her tenure, but the team has a 4-50 record in Big Ten dual meets over the past six years and just a 55-100 record overall.