mike rice, rutgers
 

i'm sure everyone has heard about all this by now. was wondering what everyone thought about it? do you agree with the firing, should it have been done sooner (when they found out about it and gave him a suspension)?

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/post...ires-mike-rice

the above has some video footage of him grabbing, shoving players, throwing balls at them, etc.
imo, not a way to coach.

It's ridiculous that he wasn't fired sooner. I say this as someone who thought the Mike Montgomery incident was much ado about nothing. What Rice was doing is totally unacceptable.

i agree that it's ridiculous. hell, he wasn't even getting good results to put up with all that.
guess it's a good thing they did that show. his behavior was outrageous.

I didn't really think most of the shoving was too out of line, once it got to him throwing the ball at players though that was way too far and makes him look completely crazy.

i just saw part of it on youtube, with the former assistant talking-makes it look that much worse.
and they fired the assistant for speaking up, is that right?

Exactly. He's done nothing in three years at Rutgers. I would think they'd be looking for an excuse to get out of his contract.

i know, which makes me wonder all the more at their decision not to fire him when all that came out. and they first were told in june, investigated it then (supposedly) and again in the fall...unbelievable.
what does it take to get fired??

Here is what I have trouble with. The AD found out about the tapes and reported to the president. They decided not to fire him but to fine him, suspend him and make him take anger management classes. The coach complied with the punishment and then they fire him. That doesn't seem right. If you are going to give someone a chance to change and do better then give them the chance. If you are angry about that decision then maybe it is the decision makers that have to go.

Two words. Media Firestorm.

and they will.
he should have been fired to begin with. their decision was a poor one, and i'm glad they're on the heat seat because of it.

The guy got Tagged with a 75K fine and 2 week suspension IN Season. All these people within RU that are now outraged didn't think to say. "Wow that is a steep punishment, I want to know exactly the circumstances that merit such a punishment and if it is that steep does it merit immediate termination"

Should he have been fired- yes but I played for worse and saw worse the 2 years I played college ball. And most D1 coaches have thrown balls at players.

Which is more ridiculous-
Erick Murdock creates this "montage", sits on it for months/years while he tries to extort a 7 figure payout from RU- which no one(RU or Murdock) has denied, and Star Ledger hails him as a hero today
or
ESPN buys this montage, creates a brewstorm- then rolls out Bob Knight to talk final 4

i think the whole deal is odd, and another example of sports getting way too much leeway/respect if those are the right words. i think hubris might fit to describe some of the personalities involved. i don't know why everything was handled there as it was-the 'investigation' last summer, again in the fall. then finally the suspension-i think that these schools all need to sit down and really think about just what they want and expect out of their programs.
and it's not just RU that's outraged, it's everyone whose seen the story and the video. there's no way it's only happening at rutgers. it's another example of the mindset that allows coaches to act like crazed two year olds, that has ad's and university presidents not doing enough to stop it. there shouldn't be outrage now, as it should have been handled correctly in the beginning.
where else are these things happening? what other coaches are megalomaniacs getting away with their petty tyrant routines?

This smells of an institutional cover-up ala Penn State. Does the time of the tapes roughly coincide with the wooing of the Big 10? The big 10 would have looked in another direction if this Rutgers scandal was going on. Has to be why the AD hasn't been fired.

Yup a failed NBA player that has blown through his stack looking for his final score.

well, they announced the move in november....you've probably hit the nail right on the head with why they tried to sweep this under the rug. i'm looking now for when they first started looking at moving.

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/in...es_for_ru.html

from reading this article...the ad for rutgers was given permission a year before the move to accept such a move if the offer was made.

3kings, i think you found out exactly why they didn't do anything last summer and fall, and then only suspended in december-after the move was made to the big ten.

which doesn't mean a thing about the coaches behavior. shoot the messenger if you wish, but the message still remains. the coach is jobless because of his own behavior.
of course, years ago, jose canseco was 'the bad guy' and attacked mercilessly...and he was right all along.


http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_r...to-the-big-ten

from 8/1

from espn:

"Murdock, an ex-NBA player and a former director of player development for the Scarlet Knights, told "Outside the Lines" that Rice's "outrageous" behavior had caused at least three players to transfer from the team, including forward Gilvydas Biruta, who transferred to Rhode Island before last season. The Newark Star-Ledger, citing an anonymous source, reported Tuesday night that two more players had decided to leave the school at the end of the academic year, though it was unclear why.


Murdock, a 44-year-old, nine-year NBA veteran, was fired by Rice and Pernetti in early July. Murdock's attorney, Raj Gadhok, who has said Murdock intends to sue Rutgers for wrongful termination as early as Friday, expressed his approval in a statement Wednesday."

so, murdock reports the behavior in june, and for his efforts, he gets fired in july. wow. not the coach, the whistleblower. did these people not read/hear about penn state? did rutgers really think this was how this should be handled. absolutely outrageous. i didn't hear about this all til yesterday, and i'm more amazed the more i find out about it.

It may just be semantics but I think Murdoch had a contract that was not renewed, I don't think he was technically fired. The entire thing was not handled well at all. The coach should have been fired as soon as they saw the video and now they all need to be taken out. I heard something about having to pay a bonus to the coach for finishing the season. I think it is
100K.