Rutgers Coach Mike Rice Fired for Video of His Kicking, Berating Players

[kpete]

Source: abc

By KEVIN DOLAK (@kdolak) and ANTHONY CASTELLANO
April 3, 2013

Rutgers University men's basketball coach Mike Rice has been fired by the New Jersey school after ESPN aired video of his shoving and kicking players while berating them with gay slurs.

"Based upon recently revealed information and a review of previously discovered issues, Rutgers has terminated the contract of Mike Rice," Rutgers athletics tweeted this morning.

Rutgers Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tim Pernetti also released a statement:

"I am responsible for the decision to attempt a rehabilitation of Coach Rice," he said. "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."


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/rutgers-coach-mike-rice-fire-video-kicking-berating/story?id=18868329#.UVxCTKJzGpA

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NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams · 128,787 like this
31 minutes ago ·
Breaking update: Statement from Rutgers on firing of men's basketball coach Mike Rice:

Based upon recently revealed information and a review of previously discovered issues, Rutgers has terminated the contract of Mike Rice.

"I am responsible for the decision to attempt a rehabilitation of Coach Rice," said Rutgers Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tim Pernetti. "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."
https://www.facebook.com/nbcnightlynews/posts/10151606912338689

[nolabear]

1. Golly, NRA, if he'd only been armed...

[wordpix]

2. good move on Rutgers' part but should have been done much sooner

[Blue_Tires]

5. That's why the AD is going to follow the coach right out the door, i think...

[aaaaaa5a]

3. And to think, the players aren't even paid! NCAA=slavery and indentured servitude nt

[Andy Stanton]

4. The AD and President Should Also Go

They saw the tapes . . . and suspended Rice for three games. That was ridiculously inadequate and was obviously an attempted cover-up. Shades of Penn State?

[Stuart G]

6. Fire the athletic director....he is just as responsible....nt

[Botany]

7. Every picture tells a story

?w=600&h=450

[GermanSmoker]

8. Stupid

In Germany we have the mentality "What happens on the field, stays on the field" and no one has to face consequences for foul language. Political correct whiners are the death of every sport.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

9. Really?

Its stupid to fire a public employee for using hateful homophobic slurs and assaulting people? These are not professional athletes.



I don't care what you do in Germany, and quite frankly your country doesn't have the best record when it comes to dealing with angry, bigoted scumbags.

[Shrike47]

10. He wasn't fired for foul language, that was just one of the issues.

He was fired for abusing the students/players.

[elehhhhna]

11. watch the tape, then comment

please.

this isn't about foul language

[Vinnie From Indy]

12. The recent discussions in Europe in regard to the multitude

of racial incidents in the world of Soccer must be a bummer to you then. A whole lot of whining going on over there about it!

Cheers!

[Renew Deal]

13. So you're OK with beating student athletes?

[alp227]

14. So can I throw things at you and call you a f*g on the street then? n/t

[Paladin]

19. Tell You What: Give it another century or so, we'll see how it goes......

....and maybe then we'll be ready for lectures from Germany on political correctness.

[Rainngirl]

22. Foul language is one thing,

but physical abuse, pushing, kicking, trying to hurt them by throwing balls at their heads, belittling and abusive language? That's all a whole different deal. I can't believe none of those kids fought back. What in the world would make them just "take" it? Whatever happened to the concept of "TEAM"? He's an idiot with a serious anger problem and he deserves to be fired.

[get the red out]

26. Scholarships

Kids on scholarships either trying to get an education of trying to get into the NBA, either of which would be put in jeopardy if they "fought back".

The university in my city had an abusive coach a few years back. He was let go and wasn't so publicly outed for his abuse of the players. When it came out on the sports radio shows and message boards around here how he had treated the players everyone was just sickened, but that didn't get national attention. After a year off (he later got a DUI and that hurt his job prospects for a while and he had to go to rehab) he got a job at another school and he ended up being fired for abusing the players. Both these schools have a pretty big name in athletics.

[MADem]

28. Politically correct whiners? WTF?

This guy was a racist, sexist, homophobic psychopath.

This isn't about political correctness. It's about not being a total shitheel-asshole-jerk--surely that's not a foreign concept in Europe...?

I've been to Germany a number of times, and I've never seen this "mentality" you espouse. Maybe you should try hanging around with a better class of people..?

[Brigid]

15. And I thought Bobby Knight was bad.

[DinahMoeHum]

16. Really, the only people with clean hands here are

the assistant coaches and the players, neither of whom were in position to complain about Rice.

Let's also remember that Rutgers is a state university, meaning that the salaries of the president, AD, and coaches come from the NJ government and taxpayers, including Governor Christie. If Christie ain't happy about this situation, more heads may roll. This story isn't over by a long shot.

[LiberalEsto]

17. Good. And I say that as a Rutgers alumna. nt

[Kelvin Mace]

18. Translation:

"Based upon recently revealed information and a review of previously discovered issues, Rutgers has terminated the contract of Mike Rice," Rutgers athletics tweeted this morning.

"Now that everybody has seen the kind of conduct we tolerate, we had to fire him."

[Why Syzygy]

20. k&r

I feel sorry for the guy. His coaching days are forever gone. What profession needs a hothead bigot?

[Rainngirl]

23. haha

Maybe the NRA or republican party can use him for something. They specialize in angry bigots.

[sdfernando]

24. Why feel sorry for this SOB?

He made his bed. He had to know that this behavior was not kosher. He did this to himself, no one did it to him or forced him to do any of it. He owns this and it is totally his responsibility. Whatever the consequences he did it to himself.

[displacedtexan]

21. IIRC, this morning on the news, I heard there was an hour of film

showing this "coach" beating, cursing, and humiliating players on the court. I think they said the film was a compilation made by a former student athlete.

I love the cell phone camera age!

[MADem]

27. Better late than never. nt

[bulloney]

29. I wonder if Rice would have been fired if he had several hundred wins & some Final Four appearances.

Since he doesn't, it's easier to fire him.

Just win baby!!

[StrayKat]

30. It's not right, but is this abnormal in sports?

This is how our coach behaved in girl's high school basketball. He cam from Indiana, worshiped Bobby Knight, and saw no reason for him to be fired. He's still coaching, doing very well, too.