(CNN) -- The woman hired to turn around Rutgers University's troubled athletic program came under renewed fire Tuesday after news emerged she was named in a sex discrimination lawsuit at the University of Louisville, according to court documents obtained Tuesday. The revelation that Julie Hermann was at the center of a discrimination lawsuit while working at the University of Louisville, according to the documents, came just days after a report that a group of University of Tennessee volleyball players accused her of verbal abuse when she coached them in the 1990s. Hermann's appointment as Rutgers athletic director came more than a month after a video of a Rutgers coach hurling basketballs and yelling homophobic slurs prompted the coach's firing, the resignation of the school's athletic director and sharp criticism from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
@highlight
NEW: A Louisville coach says Hermann "always put the student-athletes' well-being first"
@highlight
Hermann was named in a lawsuit while at the University of Louisville
@highlight
She was accused, along with others, of sexual discrimination
@highlight
Some of her ex-players at Tennessee accused her of "mental cruelty"
Chris Christie
But @placeholder told New Jersey 101.5 radio that he spoke with the university's president and board chairman about the allegations and that he would not second-guess Rutgers' hiring of Hermann.
Rutgers University
Rutgers
Rutgers
But Christie told New Jersey 101.5 radio that he spoke with the university's president and board chairman about the allegations and that he would not second-guess @placeholder' hiring of Hermann.
University of Tennessee
Tennessee
One former @placeholder volleyball player defended Hermann in a statement of support, which was released by Rutgers.
Rutgers University
Rutgers
Rutgers
"@placeholder was deliberative at every stage of this process," he said in a written statement.