The American Athletic Conference is set to hire Tim Pernetti as its next commissioner, according to two sources familiar with the move. Pernetti, a former athletic director at Rutgers and current president of IMG Academy in Florida, is a New Jersey native and former Rutgers football player. The deal is still being finalized, and an official announcement by the conference has not yet been scheduled.
Before his tenure at Rutgers, Pernetti worked in programming for ABC Sports and helped launch College Sports Television, which later became CBS Sports Network. He has been leading the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, since 2015.
The American Athletic Conference is currently undergoing changes, with SMU leaving for the Atlantic Coast Conference and Army joining the conference as a football-only member. The AAC will have 14 football members next season, including new additions such as North Texas, Rice, FAU, Charlotte, UAB, and UTSA. The conference also boasts teams like Memphis, Temple, South Florida, Tulsa, East Carolina, Navy
