Each and every day, educational institutions have been working to put a stop to childhood bullying across the world. From a young age, children and young adults have been exposed to a variety of anti-bullying campaigns, videos, and assemblies, all with the intent of protecting students while they’re in school.
While students are learning about peer bullying, who’s protecting them against the adult bullies of the world?
Rutgers University fired men’s basketball Head Coach Mike Rice on Wednesday, April 3, after a video aired on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” of him hitting, shoving and berating his players. Ever since the video went viral, it has prompted scores of reactions across the country.
Professor Claude Taylor of the communication department and athletics professor in residence, said, “This is definitely a sad story. I think that those in positions of authority at Rutgers University lost sight of student well-being.” He continued, “People should have turned their attention to this situation much sooner and it would have not been as complex as it is now.”
Taylor explained, “Schools are supposed to prepare kids for the world, protect them, and keep them safe – not let things like this happen.”
He believes that the firing of Rice and the coaching staff will be a temporary setback for Rutgers basketball, but feels that if they hire the right coach, it could put the school’s head back in the game. “There is a distinct line between motivation and abuse,” he said.
The video shows numerous clips of Rice firing basketballs at players, hitting them in the back, legs, feet and shoulders, pushing players in the chest and grabbing them by their jerseys while yanking them around the court. Alongside the basketballs that Rice hurled in the direction of player’s faces, obscenities bounced throughout the Rutgers Athletic Center, often containing anti-gay slurs.
Our University’s men’s basketball Head Coach King Rice expressed, “Although Mike Rice’s recent decisions have put him in a negative spotlight, he is still a good man that is good to his family. He just got caught up in the stresses of the job.”
K. Rice, who has no relation to the former Rutgers coach but knows him personally explained, coaches can get “caught up” just because they want to win so badly. K. Rice said, “However, what you must remember is that the majority of coaches are all former players. As a coach, you should not be tougher than your players—to put your hands on them is not only unacceptable, but dangerous.”
“Luckily,” K. Rice said, “Mike Rice’s players hadn’t been pushed to their limit, but what if they reached a breaking point and retaliated? The team showed great restraint and respect for their coach by not doing so.”
K. Rice explained that coaches need to me much more careful than they did two decades ago. “It is so different than it was 25 years ago when Mike Rice’s actions, to an extent, were a way of life in college sports. Everything is so public today that people who aren’t directly involved with sports can see things that happen behind the scenes of the game that they might find unacceptable.”
K. Rice went on to say, “Now is a time when coaches must take a step back, remember that we all know the difference between right and wrong, and take into consideration the feelings of the team and all those involved in the sport.” However, he expressed, “If you put your hands on someone else’s child, you deserve to be fired for those actions.”
Since the video first surfaced, Athletics Director Tim Pernetti, Assistant Coach Jimmy Martelli, and the University General Counsel John Wolf have resigned from their positions. ESPN, which was the first to obtain and air the videotape, reports that like Rice, Assistant Coach Martelli was also seen grabbing, shoving, and screaming at players. Martelli, who was hired by Rutgers in May 2010, also coached with Rice at Robert Morris.
In November 2012, Athletic Director Tim Pernetti was given a copy of the tape, a collection of excerpts from practice sessions shot between 2010 and 2012 by Eric Murdock, a former Rutgers employee, according to an article from CBS. The article explains how Pernetti first became aware of the video on November 26 2012, after a June meeting where Murdock initially described the behavior.
After an independent investigator was hired to review the video, Rice was suspended for three games, fined $75,000, and ordered to attend anger management classes, the article describes. At that time, University President Barchi had also seen the tape and approved the initial punishment.
Rice’s actions on the court are especially troubling behavior at Rutgers, where freshman student Tyler Clementi killed himself in 2010 after his roommate used a webcam to spy on him kissing another man in his dorm.
Just two weeks after the video of Rice was released, it continues to prompt major social media commentary as well as criticism from NJ lawmakers, Governor Chris Christie, and the NBA community. In a statement made shortly after Rice’s termination, Christie said, “The way these young men were treated by the head coach was completely unacceptable and violates the trust those parents put in Rutgers University. All of the student-athletes entrusted to our care deserve much better.”
Miami Heat star Lebron James weighed in with a tweet: “If my son played for Rutgers or a coach like that he would have some real explaining to do and I’m still gone whoop on him afterwards!” Kobe Bryant also tweeted, “That’s not #coaching, that’s a power trip. At a minimum it’s horrible coaching #coachdontbully.” During an interview with Jim Rome, a sports talk show host in Showtime, the Lakers Star added, “I would have smacked the hell out of ‘em — No question about it.”
This isn’t the first time Rice’s actions have raised concerns at Rutgers, an article from AP explains. Rice, in his third season at the Big East School has previously apologized to his team and Rutgers University for his actions alongside commitments to becoming a better coach.
Even though Rice helped get Robert Morris University, the Pennsylvania school where he previously coached, to two NCAA tournament appearances, he wasn’t able to push Rutgers into the upper ranks of the Big East Conference. Rice was 16-38 in the Big East, after going 73-31 in three consecutive seasons at Robert Morris.
Following the three-game suspension, he returned to his coaching duties and led Rutgers to a 15-16 record, including 5-13 in the Big East, according to Rutgers’ website. The 44-year-old coach didn’t have a winning season or make a postseason tournament appearance in his three years at Rutgers after taking the job prior to the 2010-11 season.
Nicole Manziano, a senior and health-physical education major explained, “My opinion of the case is that it should have never happened in the first place. Mike Rice is a Division 1 Coach who gets paid well, can coach the sport that he loves, is held to a higher standard because of his title, and belongs to a school that is very well known.”
She said, “These athletes should have never been treated this way. They are athletes trying to gain an education while playing the sport that they love and to have a coach treat them the way that he did in practice and during games is unacceptable.”
Manziano agrees with the school’s decision to fire Rice for his actions and believes that he should have been fired as soon as the video went to the athletic director’s desk. “This kind of treatment to anyone has to be dealt with severity especially since the video was extremely violent,” she said.
She expressed, “As for the future, I think Rice is done coaching. No one will hire a coach that is this abusive to his athletes.” Manziano explained that as an athlete, she wouldn’t know what to do if she were faced with a similar situation. However, she believes that she would contact her parents or the school depending on the severity of the situation.
However, she said, “Since I’m an athlete, I see any of my coaches as an authoritative figure. If I am not executing the drill or play properly, I can expect my coach to be upset and put me where I need to go with force.”
Ed Waite, a senior communication major and men’s basketball player at the University said, “Some coaches are tough and you have to be able to deal with some of the things that they say.” However, after watching the video, he believes that the school was justified in firing Rice. If faced with a similar situation, Waite said, “My scholarship would be on the line so I would probably keep it to myself.”
As investigations of Rice’s behavior continue and a tumultuous week at Rutgers persists, the school has begun the search for a new head coach. While many Americans are looking forward to seeing if Rutgers will get their head back into the game of basketball, many others are asking the question as to why such mistreatment was allowed to occur in the first place.
