Former Rutgers Men’s Basketball Mike Rice received his walking papers Wednesday after footage of his abusive coaching style aired on ESPN’s Outside The Lines. The videos highlighted Rice hurling balls at players and berating them with hateful language: including ethnic and gay slurs.
There’s no defense for Mike Rice’s coaching style: especially considering how his team floundered at the bottom of the Big East’s standings. Moreover, had Rutgers actually had a strong Men’s Basketball program, I have a hard time believing the video would’ve surfaced. The sentiment might also extend if former NBA player Eric Murdock, Rutgers’ former director of player development and source of the leak, still had his job. Rice held his position for three unsuccessful seasons, two with Murdock, until this morning all things considered.
There’s a much higher tolerance for inside wrongdoing when it comes with years of winning. Plus there’s little need to dig for proof what with USC’s, Ohio State’s and Penn State’s incidents fresh in our minds. From the school’s perspective, people are better left in the dark when major problems arise behind closed doors as long as the institution’s well promoted, admissions roll through and the money’s right. There’s no sense of initially “doing the right thing” with all the aforementioned aspects involved and it honestly shouldn’t be expected. It may be sickening but that’s the reality of it..
Nowadays it’s evident schools can’t sweep anything under the rug forever yet they try to do it anyway. Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti tried his hardest via issuing a short suspension for Rice to no avail. Pernetti’s actions show that, at some level, he permitted Rice’s authority abuse and didn’t want a brush-up.
At least that’s how I look at it from the outside. I’ll just say Pernetti’s job status should be re-evaluated given recent affairs.