The Mike Rice situation at Rutgers is very disturbing. Young men go off to college and parents trust that teachers and coaches will protect them. Yesterday, the disturbing video of Rice verbally and physically abusing his players at Rutgers surfaced. Naturally, he was fired today because of the outcry. The unfortunate part about this story is that the school knew of Rice’s behavior because they suspended him for 3 games in December. But it wasn’t until the video went public is when they decided to let him go. All that means to me is that Rice will have company soon. I expect that Athletic Director to be not that far behind.
Mike Rice has been fired by Rutgers University, less than 24 hours after an ESPN report showed graphic video of the men’s basketball coach physically and verbally abusing players at practice.
Athletic Director Tim Pernetti and the school had suspended Rice for three games and fined him last December, a decision that came under fire when ESPN aired video of Rice’s practices on Tuesday. In a statement this morning, Pernetti said:
“I am responsible for the decision to attempt a rehabilitation of Coach Rice. Dismissal and corrective action were debated in December and I thought it was in the best interest of everyone to rehabilitate, but I was wrong. Moving forward, I will work to regain the trust of the Rutgers community.”
H/T Washington Post
