During college basketball’s biggest celebratory week of the year, Rutgers and Mike Rice took center stage this week when video surfaced on ESPN of Rice punishing his players with angry behavior that resulted in his firing. He pushed players, sometimes from behind, routinely fired basketballs at their knees and ankles, and uttered homophobic slurs at some.
On Thursday, assistant coach Jimmy Martelli resigned, and more than 50 Rutgers faculty signed a letter calling for the dismissal of athletic director Tim Pernetti. They also want school president Robert Barchi to explain why he didn’t fire Rice immediately after learning of the video in December.
Meanwhile, the number of professors signing a separate letter demanding that Barchi step down doubled to at least 28. That letter calls the president’s handling of the whole episode “inexcusable.” New Jersey Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver called for legislative hearings on the details, and gay-rights group Garden State Equality also called for an investigation.
Reaction from his colleagues, both nationally and statewide, was frank Thursday when the Final Four coaches arrived for their initial news conferences.
Final Four coaches
John Beilein, Michigan: I think all the coaches in the community are disappointed at how that transpired. I don't know Mike Rice well enough. I don't know the athletic director well enough. But I know that in this day and age, there's certain lines you're not going to cross with your student-athletes. We want young men to play for us because they love coming to the gym every day. Mike must have done that quite often because he won a lot of games, was very successful. At the same time, those incidents are uncalled for, and I'm sure that Mike regrets it.
Jim Boeheim, Syracuse: I absolutely do not believe that coaching style is going on. I do not. I'll go out where you probably shouldn't go. I don't think there's a coach in the country that does that. I know Mike Rice. I've known him a long time. I like him. I think he's a very good basketball coach. I think the tragedy is his team would have played exactly the same or better if he hadn't done any of that. If he never threw a ball, if he never touched anybody, his team would have played I think better, in my experience.
You know, I get verbal. I’m on players. I don’t like to curse. I do curse sometimes. You get out of control, just things come out when you’re in the heat of the moment. But you can’t touch a player other than just on the shoulder or something, and you certainly can’t push ’em and grab ’em or throw something at ’em. …
I watched 10 seconds of the video. I couldn’t watch it, honestly. I couldn’t watch it anymore.
Gregg Marshall, Wichita State: I hope that (Rice) can get straight and figure out what he needs to do going forward, and gets another opportunity.
I feel really bad for those young men. I hope it didn’t impact any of them negatively to the point where they weren’t able to be good basketball players and finish their careers.
There’s obviously a line that was crossed. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of people that will suffer now, including Rutgers University and the state of New Jersey.
I’m hopeful that everyone can come out of it in a positive way somehow.
Rick Pitino, Louisville: We feel bad in the coaching profession for Mike Rice, for kids that had to go through that, for his family that's going to have to endure the embarrassment now.
That being said, this is an isolated incident that doesn’t happen in college basketball. Those things do not happen. As a pro coach, I would go to every city and go see a college practice. You know, I’ve seen some coaches that may use rough language. But that just doesn’t go on. It’s just an aberration that just doesn’t go on in college basketball.
From the state
Mark Fox, Georgia: Obviously he went way past the line you shouldn't cross. It's an unfortunate thing for Rutgers. I don't know the timing of any of that. I don't know if it was earlier this year or last year or what. I don't know if there was a pattern of things. But there's no room for that in the game. … You obviously have relationships with each kid and I think that helps you know how to push them to higher levels.
Ron Hunter, Georgia State: That's unfortunate. The physical abuse of kids and throwing balls, it's something we don't need in the game in that regard. He just went over the top and made a mistake. I'm from the old school with the coaches, but none of that.
Lewis Preston, Kennesaw State: I don't think it's good for the game of basketball. We are supposed to be teachers, mentors, leaders, educators to these young men. To have that type of treatment, those types of actions — it seems like it's not an isolated incident — it puts a mark on our game that's not good.
