Rutgers athletic director Patrick Hobbs said he made a mistake by taking a sip of beer at a Rutgers student tailgate before Saturday’s game vs. New Mexico State.
Per NJ.com, Hobbs got on stage to compliment the organization of the student tailgate and the security at the event that had become much larger than anticipated. Hobbs, clearly of age, then drank some beer. Or at least appeared to.
“My first concern is always for the safety and well-being of our students,” Hobbs said to NJ.com Tuesday afternoon after the video was tweeted by New Brunswick Today. “Anyone who was at the (student tailgate) Saturday knows that I was acting to ensure that.”
Rutgers police said they issued eight citations to four people at the tailgate and Hobbs said that he got to the tailgate as citations started to be handed out and, according to witnesses, helped calm the situation.
Hobbs said picking up the beer was “a mistake.”
“I regret that any action on my part can be interpreted as promoting the use of alcohol,” he said. “That was certainly not my intention.”
The student tailgates were started by the school in 2016 as a way to increase student attendance at home games. As many as an estimated 3,000 people attended Saturday’s tailgate, up from the hundreds that attended the first one of the year. However, there will be no more people at the tailgates the rest of the season. The tailgates are no more.
Regrettably, due to safety concerns, The Alley is no longer available— Rutgers Athletics (@RUAthletics) September 20, 2016
for student tailgating.
Hobbs took over as Rutgers’ AD from the ousted Julie Hermann in November 2015. And we can’t blame him for having a little bit of fun at a tailgate. As Rutgers is trying to get its students more engaged in sports, having a relatable and fun athletic director isn’t a detriment.
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