Earlier this week, the college sporting world lost a legendary figure when a longtime athletic director passed away.
Robert Mulcahy, a longtime athletic director at Rutgers, passed away this week, according to a report from the Associate Press. His family announced he passed away on Monday following a lengthy illness. He was 85 years old.
Mulcahy served as athletic director for 11 years at Rutgers University. He also made the hire that changed the football program’s fortunes, inking Greg Schiano to a head coaching deal.
Schiano helped lead Rutgers back to prominence in college football. After a hiatus from the school, he eventually returned to help the program compete in the Big Ten.
“In Bob’s passing, Rutgers and New Jersey lost one of its truly faithful servants,” Schiano said in a written statement. “Personally, I lost a mentor, a role model, and a true friend. The partnership we had at Rutgers was uncommon and something we both valued greatly.”
Robert E. Mulcahy, a longtime athletic director at Rutgers who also held many high-ranking government posts during his decades of service in New Jersey, has died. He was 85. https://t.co/GyV1GiTI5T
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) February 8, 2022
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The Associated Press acknowledged his career outside of Rutgers as well.
“Mulcahy also held a variety of high-ranking state posts over the years, serving as chief of staff to Gov. Brendan Byrne and spending 19 years as president and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which oversees the Meadowlands Sports Complex,” the report read. “He also was a former chairman of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2020.”
Mulcahy was inducted into Rutgers’ athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.