NEWARK, N.J. — The president of Seton Hall University has denied published reports that athletic director Joe Quinlan will be fired at the end of the academic year.

Monsignor Robert Sheeran made the comment in an interview with The Associated Press shortly before the Pirates played No. 9 Pittsburgh in a Big East Conference basketball game on Sunday afternoon. He said stories that Quinlan's five-year tenure at the school would come to an end were wrong.

The Courier-News of Bridgewater made the first report late Friday night, and the Star-Ledger of Newark followed with a report in its Sunday editions.

"The sources in the Star-Ledger are wrong on this," said Sheeran, who is stepping down when the school year ends.

Quinlan has been working without a contract since June, but Sheeran insisted that no decision had been made on Quinlan's future, adding he's the one who makes such decisions. He said the report that stated the university's Board of Regents made the decision not to renew Quinlan's contract were inaccurate.

"They got governance at Seton Hall big-time wrong," Sheeran said.

Quinlan would not stop to field questions at courtside on Sunday.

Sheeran said the athletic department is undergoing a transition and the only department member who has received a new contract was basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez.

"Part of the new plan is looking at salaries," Sheeran said.

Patrick Hobbs, the Seton Hall Law School dean who was brought in to help oversee the transition, said a decision on whether Quinlan would get a new contract eventually will be made by the university's next president.

Hobbs said that person would probably not take over until July, adding that Quinlan probably will be running the department next year.

Hobbs also said no one has told Quinlan he will be fired.

The reports suggested that Quinlan was being let go because Gonzalez had more support, but the two have not been at odds in recent years.