Rutgers Coach Mike Rice Is Out Of Control, And Fired

[Rudi]

The controversial practice tape that resulted in a three-game suspension and $50,000 fine for Rutgers men's basketball coach Mike Rice in December is about to put Rice and his program back in the spotlight again. The Star-Ledger has learned that ESPN's "Outside the Lines" program will air the tape Tuesday afternoon.

Four individuals with direct knowledge of the tape and its exact contents — profane and abusive language, including a gay slur, and throwing basketballs at players' heads — confirmed the network's plans to broadcast it this weekend, in between the Final Four and the NCAA's national championship game. The individuals requested anonymity because they do not speak for the network.

Two individuals confirmed that "Outside the Lines" program has reached out to current and former players in regard to its story.

When reached, an ESPN spokesman confirmed the network was working on a Mike Rice story that would be broadcast Tuesday afternoon on "Outside the Lines." (Earlier versions of this story incorrectly indicated ESPN could not be reached for comment.)

Athletic director Tim Pernetti and Rice were not available for comment.

Rice was suspended for three games without pay and fined $50,000 in December for what Rutgers termed "a violation of athletic department policy" which was termed by Pernetti at the time of Rice's suspension as a "pattern" of behavior. The reason for suspension also included use of "inappropriate behavior and language." All of it stemmed from a videotaped practice during Rice's first season at Rutgers, which The Star-Ledger reported in December included Rice throwing basketballs at players' heads.

The taped material was brought to the attention of Rutgers and now ESPN by former Scarlet Knights director of player development, Eric Murdock — according to one of the individuals.

Murdock, whose contract was not renewed after the 2011-12 season, promised to release the tapes of Rice's treatment of players if the university did not compensate him. When reached in December, Murdock did not provide further details citing that "there are some legal things going on," in regards to himself and Rutgers. Murdock has reportedly threatened a lawsuit for unlawful termination, but a search of public records showed no such lawsuit has currently been filed.

Rice's suspension cost him nearly $75,000 — or roughly 25 percent of his base salary for the 2012-13 season.

"It's a pattern, I think I would say," Pernetti said on a conference call at the time of Rice's suspension in December. "But certainly something that, once we were made aware of it, deal with it in a very proactive manner."

Rice — whom Pernetti hired in May of 2010 — returned to his team on Dec. 29 and led the Scarlet Knights to a 15-16 record and 5-13 mark in the Big East Conference. While there was speculation at the time of the suspension and throughout the season, Pernetti told The Star-Ledger last month that Rice would return next season at the head coach at Rutgers.

Rice would have one year left on his initial contract after the 2013-14 season — which would be the school's first in the Big Ten Conference.

"Of course he's coming back," Pernetti said at the time. "It's been an interesting year to say the least and while I think in one case some of the progress — and there's been a lot of progress — doesn't show and that's in the win-loss column. I would like it to show there. I think everyone in the program would. I know Mike and the players would. But you can definitely see us getting better."

Rice is 44-51 in three seasons with the Scarlet Knights and 17-39 in Big East play.

Upon returning, Rice stipulated that his practices be monitored by an individual outside of the basketball program. He also had to undergo sensitivity training as part of his punishment.

"I did this to myself," Rice said on Dec. 29, upon his return. "There's no one else to blame. So if someone thinks negatively of me, all I can try to do is try to change that. ... It's by my actions. It's about what I do daily with practice and what I do daily with my team. That's truly what's going to count."

SOURCE: NJ.com

 

[EmpireWF]

Yep. How the AD didn't can his ass when he first came across the footage is astounding.

How the coach hasn't been fired on Tuesday is ridiculous.

Send both of those nuts packing.

 

[Woy]

Yep, he needed to be booted yesterday. Rice was always fiery when he was here at RMU, and his antics got out-of-control at times, but he never did anything as serious as that.

 

[Sigona]

Word around campus has it that he's resigning tomorrow/today April 3rd. Jerome Seagers has already decided to transfer out. I can only believe that more will follow him out. Gilvydas Biruta transferred out of here last spring, but the issue was unknown. Guess this was it.

 

[Juggernaut]

Fucking embarrassing for the school.

 

[RyanLeaf16]

Watched the interview Jeremy Schapp did with Tim Pernetti and I loved that Schapp put Pernetti on the spot. Pernetti talked about Erick Murdock not having his contract renewed based off of insubordination due to speaking at a youth camp that he was told to not attend. However, the punishment handed down to Tim Rice was considered "sufficient" in Pernetti's eyes. Schapp put him right on the spot with his comments and Pernetti really didn't have a solid answer for the question.

EDIT: At least Bobby Knight had already won a shit ton of games when pulling this kind of shit.

 

[Senser81]

Yep, he needed to be booted yesterday. Rice was always fiery when he was here at RMU, and his antics got out-of-control at times, but he never did anything as serious as that.

Doubtful. Rice learned under Kevin O'Neill, who was/is one of the most reprehensible people in college basketball coaching. I would guess that Rice's behavior has been the same the entire time. The differences are that Rice won at RMU, and Rice is now on a bigger stage in the Big East.

 

[Woy]

Doubtful. Rice learned under Kevin O'Neill, who was/is one of the most reprehensible people in college basketball coaching. I would guess that Rice's behavior has been the same the entire time. The differences are that Rice won at RMU, and Rice is now on a bigger stage in the Big East.

I've been to a bunch of the practices he held during my freshman year and only saw the verbal abuse. Again, he's always had the temper problem, but the throwing balls at players' heads is brand new - yet sadly, unsurprising.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Rice still has a job today if Rutgers wasn't terrible on his watch.

Rice still has a job today if that video wasn't leaked.

Not saing that's right, but let's not be naive.

 

[MvP]

His actions were similar to just about every basketball coach I had from 2nd-8th grade. Must be a Jersey thing.

 

[Matt]

Don't understand how not one player stood up for himself. While what Rice did was stupid, these boys were soft.

 

[Glenbino]

I don't see the problem here. These kids are getting their entire education paid for, they have no rights.

 

[ralaw]

Don't understand how not one player stood up for himself. While what Rice did was stupid, these boys were soft.

Most people would react the same way. A lot of guys think about losing their scholarship. Had a player reacted forcefully the media would have killed them even worse than what Rice is getting it now.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Don't understand how not one player stood up for himself. While what Rice did was stupid, these boys were soft.

Maybe because they used two years of footage to come up with about 60 seconds of clips.

I'm not giving Rice a pass, I think he was way over the line with some of this stuff. But I doubt he behaved this way regularly on a day to day basis.

I'm sure you can cull plenty of footage of Bob Knight or Rick Majerus or a number of coaches shoving players or grabbing them. The players who can deal with that type of coaching end up LOVING guys like this and would go through a wall for them for life. But it's not for everyone.

 

[EmpireWF]

I don't see the problem here. These kids are getting their entire education paid for, they have no rights.

Yes massa!!!

 

[Pitty]

 

[Pitty]

Maybe because they used two years of footage to come up with about 60 seconds of clips.

I'm not giving Rice a pass, I think he was way over the line with some of this stuff. But I doubt he behaved this way regularly on a day to day basis.

I'm sure you can cull plenty of footage of Bob Knight or Rick Majerus or a number of coaches shoving players or grabbing them. The players who can deal with that type of coaching end up LOVING guys like this and would go through a wall for them for life. But it's not for everyone.

I don't think he could catch the players.

 

[TheImmortalGoud]

Assistant Jimmy Martelli resigned today for doing the same stuff Rice did.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/9134814/assistant-rutgers-basketball-coach-seen-video-pushing-players-using-slurs-resigns

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Jimmy Martelli, an assistant Rutgers men's basketball coach under recently departed Mike Rice, has resigned, the university told "Outside the Lines" on Thursday afternoon. No reason was given.

Martelli was known to coaches and players as "Baby Rice," "Outside the Lines" has learned.

In some of the hundreds of DVDs of Rutgers practices from 2010-12 being reviewed by "Outside the Lines," there are at least a handful of instances in which Martelli grabs, throws balls, shoves and screams at players, including calling one a "f-----g fa---t."

Martelli's behavior is similar to that of Rice, who was fired Wednesday, a day after "Outside the Lines" made public video of practice incidents that had led Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti initially to suspend and fine Rice in December.

At least one of the Martelli incidents was on the DVD that Pernetti saw in November ahead of disciplining Rice. Pernetti has said he launched investigations twice into Rice's behavior -- once after being told verbally of his behavior and once after seeing a 30-minute DVD in late November. In that investigation, he has said he hired an "independent investigator."

According to NJ.com, Pernetti said on Tuesday during a meeting with local reporters that Martelli's involvement had been addressed.
"Jimmy was spoken to about the matter," NJ.com quoted Pernetti as saying. "We dealt with that. Certainly the tape focused on Mike, but it brought some other things to light that we dealt with at the same time that we dealt with Mike."
Martelli, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, was an assistant of Rice's at Robert Morris, and both were hired by Rutgers in May 2010. It's unknown whether Martelli, who resigned Wednesday, was disciplined for the incidents. Pernetti has not been reached for comment since Tuesday.

The investigator Pernetti hired -- John Lacey of Connell Foley LLC -- is listed as an executive committee member of Rutgers School of Law. Lacey told "Outside the Lines" this week that he could not speak without checking with Rutgers first. He has not returned calls since.

Eric Murdock, the former director of player development who turned over the 30-minute video to Pernetti and Rutgers on Nov. 26, said in an interview last weekend of Rice: "It's amazing to me how he got this far in this profession, first of all, because what I understand is at Robert Morris there were five coaches-versus-player brawls in practice."

Tyree Graham, a player who was on the Rutgers team for two years, told "Outside the Lines" on Thursday that he, too, heard Martelli called "Baby Rice."

"He used to belittle players by the way he talked," Graham said, adding that Martelli called players "b-----s" and "pu--ies."

Graham also said Martelli and Rice were "best friends. But Rice would yell at Martelli in practice as well."

Martelli is the son of St. Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli.

 

[ram29jackson]

 

[Primetime]