The New Jersey state comptroller’s office is seeking information from Rutgers University regarding the financial management of its athletics department in the wake of news reports about undisclosed deals the institution made with its head football coach, The Star-Ledger reported.

The Newark, N.J., newspaper reported last week that the university had made side deals that guaranteed the coach, Greg Schiano, $250,000 in compensation on top of his $2-million contract and that would allow him to walk away from his contract, without penalty, if the university did not complete an expansion of its stadium by 2009. A shortfall in fund raising has put into question whether the expansion can be completed on time.

Rutgers officials told The Star-Ledger that they would comply with the request for documents. The comptroller’s office would not comment on the request, but a state senator told the newspaper that the comptroller wanted the information before deciding whether to conduct an audit. —Charles Huckabee