In December Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice got suspended for three games due to using derogatory language towards his players and an incident that was video taped two-to-three years ago in which he threw basketballs at the heads of his players, pushed and kicked several others.
He was also fined $50,000 by athletic director Tim Pernetti. Today ESPN ran an Outside The Lines feature on what happened including showing the video, which has begun a social media firestorm urging for his firing. With the video coming out and the unwillingness of the school to revisit the decision, it’s likely Rice will resign voluntarily so he doesn’t become even more of a distraction to the team.
During his suspension he took anger management classes, sensitivity training and when he returned from his punishment, got an independent monitor watching the team’s practices.
Rice has coached three seasons for the Scarlet Knights and has an overall record of 44-51 and a significant improvement from Fred Hill who spent four seasons as head coach and had a 47-77 record.
If Rice does manage to withstand the media pressure he better hope that the anger management and sensitivity training as there is no doubt he’s on a short leash.
Former NBA player Eric Murdock is the one who brought the situation to light last summer and he definitely deserves applause for his effort.
Here’s the clip that was aired.
http://youtu.be/IVoOtpDuZwA
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