It is the first week of National Child Abuse Prevention month and another college coach is in the news for abusing and bullying his team -- screaming homophobic slurs at them. And there’s a videotape to prove it.
It’s a different kind of abuse from Jerry Sandusky at Penn State, but the one thing in common is that Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice got away with abuse all for college sports – just like Sandusky did until he was caught.
Rice consistently harassed his players, called them names, threw basketballs at their heads, hit and kicked them and screamed disgusting homophobic slurs at them.
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Clearly Rice has a behavioral and bias problem. But once again a college covered up for sports and the big dollars it brings.
This past December, Rice was suspended for three games, fined $50,000 and ordered him to take anger management classes when the bullying and abuse was brought to the attention of Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti by Eric Murdock, a former basketball program employee at Rutgers. Rutgers’ officials decided not to fire Rice at the time. University President Robert Barchi agreed.
This past Tuesday, a public airing of the tape showed Rice verbally and physically abusing and bullying his team players. Mike Rice was finally and deservedly fired. ESPN was preparing a report so Athletic Director Tim Pernetti released the video to other media outlets this week. It clearly shows Rice shoving and kicking players, as well as throwing basketballs at them and spewing gay slurs.
Rutgers President Robert Barchi said he changed his mind and decided that a suspension was not sufficient after finally watching the video. No explanation was given as to why Barchi did not take action last year when this was brought to his attention.
Rutgers alumni overwhelmingly said Rice deserved to be fired. And like a growing number of faculty, many said Pernetti should also go. Some are even calling for the president to lose his job, too.
Yesterday, two days after the basketball coach he hired was dismissed for abusive behavior during practices Tim Pernetti resigned from Rutgers saying that he hoped his tenure at Rutgers "will not be judged by this one incident."
At a campus news conference yesterday Barchi said he first saw the video this week, but was aware it existed in late November. He said Pernetti gave him a summary of what was on the Rice video at the time. He said "This was a failure of process. I regret that I did not ask to see this video when Tim first told me of its existence," Barchi said. "I want to apologize to the entire Rutgers community for the negative impact that this situation has had on Rutgers.”
Barchi also apologized to the Rutgers LGBTQ community. It is stunning that Rice used gay slurs and still kept his job after the 2010 suicide of former Rutgers student Tyler Clementi who jumped to his death off the GW Bridge after being caught on video kissing another male. Immediately after Tyler’s suicide Rutgers put anti-gay policies into place.
Several well-known coaches say it's never been acceptable to shove, kick or throw a ball at a player. Yet many do. Mike Rice was just the first to be caught and penalized for it.
What does this all say about college sports – the covering up of coaches who do bad things to their players?
College sports generates billions of dollars for universities and private companies. Just look at the salary Rice was paid. His 2012 salary was $655,470.55, including $300,000 in base pay, according to News 12 New Jersey, which cited public records. This does not include $100,000 bonus for "longevity" as called for in his contract after his firing.
Clearly Pernetti and Barchi covered up the abuse and bullying in the same way that Joe Paterno and Penn State’s president covered up for Sandusky – sending the message that abuse is okay, as long as they make billions of dollars.
"Despite their obligations under New Jersey law and the university's own policy, neither the presidents of the university, the athletic director nor any other university representatives took any steps to assure that the rights of the student-athlete members of the men's basketball program were protected from assault (both physical and verbal), battery, harassment, intimidation, bullying, defamation and other unlawful conduct," the lawsuit states.
Rutgers will have to do major damage control and prove to its students, faculty and donors that abuse, bullying and hatred of gays will never be accepted again. Mike Rice will need extensive anger management, compassion and ethics therapy and if he’s smart will do the same for his children who have probably learned his behavior.
As for college sport coaches – no more cover ups! No amount of money can be worth abusing a student in any way, shape or form.
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