Tim Pernetti is the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Rutgers University.[1] His appointment became effective on April 1, 2009.
Tim Pernetti was born on November 2, 1970, at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey, one of three sons of Antoinette and Thomas Pernetti. Pernetti grew up in Wyckoff, New Jersey and went to Sicomac School for K-6 and Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School for 7th and 8th grades. He then attended Ramapo High School where he played one season for Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano as a senior. Pernetti played football and basketball at Ramapo and captained the basketball team in 1989. He was inducted into the Ramapo High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Pernetti is an alumnus of Rutgers University and earned a full scholarship to play for the Scarlet Knights as a tight end from 1989-1993. Pernetti was part of a resurgence at Rutgers that delivered back to back winning seasons in 1991 and 1992 and was known as a punishing blocker at tight end. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and mass media and a master's degree in communication both from Rutgers. He is now a resident of Oakland, New Jersey.
From 1994-2003, Pernetti worked in various television programming positions for ABC Sports. He rose to the position of Director, Programming in 1996 where he oversaw the day-to-day college football business for ABC Sports in addition to managing relationships with the PGA Tour, the Big Ten, Big XII, Big East, Pac-10, ACC, SEC, WAC, Conference USA, and the Mountain West Conference. He also managed ABC Sports relationships with college football bowl games including the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Rose Bowl.
Pernetti left ABC Sports in 2003 and joined start-up cable and satellite network CSTV in 2003. Pernetti developed relationships throughout collegiate athletics and created the programming strategy for the first-ever 24-hour network dedicated exclusively to college sports. He spearheaded a long-term agreement with the US Naval Academy to make CSTV the home of Navy football in 2004, and managed relationships with every conference from Division I to the NAIA and thousands of schools and athletic Departments. Pernetti managed the historic agreement between the Mountain West Conference and CSTV that produced and was part of the development and the launch of the first-ever conference-branded regional sports network, The MTN. In 2006, CSTV was acquired by CBS Television for $325,000,000 and Pernetti was elevated to Executive Vice President, Content to oversee the content strategy, rights acquisitions, and relationships for CBS College Sports Network which included all acquisition and programming of content on TV, the internet and all other screens of delivery. He was named a recipient of the Sports Business Journal's "40 Under 40" Award recognizing the most powerful and influential people in the sports business under the age of 40.
From 2001-2009, Pernetti also moonlit as a football analyst on TV radio for Rutgers Football, and on national radio for Sports USA Radio network's coverage of the NFL, which he continues to do today. He also was a regular TV contributor as a college football expert on SportsNet NY in 2006 and 2007 and performed TV game analyst duties on FSN and ESPN Regional Television from 2002-2005.