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Rutgers has fired coach Kyle Flood and athletic director Julie Hermann, a university official and a person with direct knowledge of the decisions told The Associated Press.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the school was not yet prepared to announce its decisions.

The Scarlet Knights just finished a 4-8 season that was a mess on and off the field. Flood was suspended for three games for making inappropriate contact with a professor regarding a player's academics. Also, seven players were arrested since August, though charges were dropped against star receiver Leontee Carroo.

Flood is 27-24 in four seasons at Rutgers, including bowl appearances in his first three. He was given a two-year contract extension at the beginning of the 2014 season that runs through the 2018 season and made $1.26 million this year, according to USA Today's coaches' salary database. Among Big Ten coaches, only Illinois' Bill Cubit, who was interim coach until getting a two-year deal on Saturday, made less.

Hermann took over in 2013 after the Mike Rice scandal led to Tim Pernetti's firing. Hermann's contract runs through the 2017-18 school year.

Hermann came from Louisville where she was an associate AD and walked into reeling athletic department at Rutgers after Rice was fired for physically and verbally abusing his players. Pernetti, the AD who helped land Rutgers a spot in the Big Ten, was let go for only suspending Rice when a video of Rice's actions were first brought to him.

But Hermann brought her own baggage. She had been accused of verbally abusing players when she was volleyball coach at Tennessee and was named in a discrimination lawsuit while at Tennessee.

Her first few months were tumultuous and she never seemed to gain the full trust of the administration. When Flood was under investigation in August and ultimately suspended, Hermann made no public comments on the situation beyond prepared statements.

Hermann met with Rutgers University president Rob Barchi at his home Sunday morning. The meeting lasted 11 minutes.

Flood was hired in a rush after former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano left to become coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January 2012. Flood, a former assistant under Schiano, came up a victory short of taking Rutgers to its first Big East Conference title in 2012 and finished 9-4.

The Scarlet Knights slipped to 6-7 the next season, but went a surprising 8-4 last year in their first season in the Big Ten.

The season has been a wreck.

Flood was suspended on Sept. 16 and fined $50,000 after the university's investigation determined he knowingly broke rules regarding contact between coaches and professors when he asked to meet with a professor for a player who was unable to become academically eligible in summer school.

Flood missed games against Penn State, Kansas and Michigan State. When he returned the team was 2-3. Rutgers beat Indiana 55-52 in his first game back but only won one more game the rest of the away, against Army.

The season ended Saturday with a brutal loss to Maryland. The Scarlet Knights blew 31-13 halftme lead and lost 46-41 at home to finish 1-7 in the Big Ten and last in the East Division.