{"id":710,"date":"2013-04-03T13:57:26","date_gmt":"2013-04-03T17:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=710"},"modified":"2013-04-03T14:57:32","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T18:57:32","slug":"tuesday-teabag-april-2-2013-mike-rice-and-rutgers-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=710","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Teabag, April 2, 2013 – Mike Rice and Rutgers University"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mike<\/a>By now, I\u2019m sure you know the story.\u00a0 Rutgers has suspended (read: will fire soon) head basketball coach Mike Rice for a series of verbal and physical attacks on his current\/former players.\u00a0 Shockingly, there is a wealth of video evidence corroborating this.\u00a0 Not only does he physically assault players by pushing and throwing things at them, but he also slings an impressive amount of vulgarity at them (even The Machine cringed at some of those words).\u00a0 More than just vulgarity (who doesn\u2019t like to drop f-bombs at the office?) his verbal attacks are simply degrading and homophobic.\u00a0 There is no excuse for his actions.\u00a0 There\u2019s also no excuse for the actions of his (soon to be sued) employer, Rutgers University.<\/p>\n

Back in July, then Director of Player Development Eric Murdoch informed (soon to be former) Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti of Rice\u2019s actions, and how 3 players have left the team based on his outrageous conduct.\u00a0 The AD kindly responded by (according to Murdoch) firing him.\u00a0 Rutgers claimed they simply decided not to renew his contract.\u00a0 The Machine\u2019s no attorney (actually, we are) so characterize it however you want, but the temporal proximity to Murdoch informing his employer and his employer firing\/not renewing his contract raises some serious eyebrows.\u00a0 The Machine can smell a wrongful termination action.<\/p>\n

Despite this knowledge, Rutgers allowed Rice to continue coaching, and it wasn\u2019t until December when he was suspended for 3 games and fined $50k for \u201cinappropriate behavior and language.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s kind of like saying Kevin Ware suffered a minor leg injury last week (it\u2019s just a flesh wound).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyway, as late March, the AD was staunchly in Rice\u2019s corner.\u00a0 Quote, \u201c[o]f course he\u2019s coming back.\u201d\u00a0 The Machine\u2019s not sure why Pernetti is showing such loyalty to Rice, but it\u2019s likely one of his last decisions as AD.<\/p>\n

Bottom line:\u00a0 Rutgers has no choice but to fire Rice [update: Obviously Rutgers University is a reader of The Machine because, minutes after posting, Rice\u2019s status has been updated to fired]<\/b>. \u00a0They also have no choice but to fire Pernetti too.\u00a0 In the face of such damning evidence, merely calling such conduct \u201cinappropriate\u201d and dismissing his antics as that of an intense coach is a gross misrepresentation.\u00a0 That, coupled with firing\/not renewing the contract of the individual that brought this to your attention, reeks of a coverup, and exposes your employer to legal liability.\u00a0 If those aren\u2019t grounds for termination, then The Machine would like to apply for any job at Rutgers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What makes Rice\u2019s conduct even more stupid (if that\u2019s possible) is that he must\u2019ve known his practices were being recorded.\u00a0 This ain\u2019t the 1980\u2019s (or even the 90\u2019s) where maybe there\u2019s one grainy video lying around or a still shot.\u00a0 We live in the land of social media.\u00a0 Of course your practices are recorded.\u00a0 Knowing this sends the message that he thought his conduct was within the bounds of acceptable behavior.<\/p>\n

Which brings The Machine to another point.\u00a0 There are those in the media who want to draw similarities between Mike Rice and Bob Knight.\u00a0 In fact, this morning, The Machine exchanged twitter barbs with a Yahoo! sportswriter on this very topic.\u00a0 In their minds, employing their best SAT logic skills, Bobby Knight was hard on his players, Mike Rice was hard on his players, ergo, Bobby Knight and Mike Rice are the same.\u00a0 This is simply unfounded, and nothing more than the type of surface level analysis that fills The Machine with rage.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear:\u00a0 we\u2019re not excusing Knight\u2019s behavior.\u00a0 Clearly, he\u2019s no choir boy.\u00a0 He was over the line when he put his hands on Neil Reed (sensationalistic journalists call it choking), and there\u2019s also game tape footage of him yelling at his players\u2026even his own son.\u00a0 But yelling at your players as a way to motivate is substantially and fundamentally different then humiliating and degrading your players for the fun of it.\u00a0 Bobby Knight coached passionately, used vulgarity quite liberally, but there was a bigger purpose behind his words.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t doing it to degrade his players, he was doing it to motivate and get the most out of his players.\u00a0 The same cannot be said for Rice.\u00a0 There\u2019s no way his actions can be perceived as motivation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sure, Bobby Knight probably called his players assholes, and even watching him on ESPN now, you can tell he\u2019s pretty ornery and mean.\u00a0 But being mean is not the same as being degrading and humiliating.\u00a0 It\u2019s just not.\u00a0 Coaches are never going to be emotionless, politically correct people that don\u2019t keep score and end every practice with hugs.\u00a0 Coaches (in any sport) will ride their players to get the most out of them.\u00a0 Every coach coaches through fear.\u00a0 Some more than others.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fine line.\u00a0 Bobby Knight walked that line (sort of), Mike Rice wasn\u2019t even close to the line.<\/p>\n

Need more proof:\u00a0 Knight\u2019s players, by and large, are fiercely loyal to him, and credit him with turning them into more than just players.\u00a0 Just look at quotes from former players like Quinn Buckner and Isiah Thomas.\u00a0 Also, Knight is the ultimate teacher of the game.\u00a0 Just ask Coach K.\u00a0 Have you seen any fiercely supportive statements by former players of Mike Rice?\u00a0 Not so much.\u00a0 Instead, you\u2019ve seen a laundry list of players that have left the program during Rice\u2019s (largely unsuccessful) 3 years at Rutgers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And if you need more proof that Bobby Knight, in his heart of hearts, is a good and honest man who loves his players, read this<\/a>.\u00a0 Bobby Knight doesn\u2019t defend his conduct because he doesn\u2019t give a shit what you think.\u00a0 That may make him mean, but it doesn\u2019t make him Mike Rice.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the real focus here is on Mike Rice, Tim Pernetti, and Rutgers.\u00a0 When the full story unravels, it will seem amazing that he lasted 3 years.\u00a0 Sure, he\u2019ll probably get another chance to coach in a couple years, after going through anger management counseling and we\u2019re guessing a TV interview next to his wife talking about how he found God and is a new man.\u00a0 Until then (and probably even after then), he and Tim Pernetti are well deserving of this award.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Enjoy your teabag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By now, I\u2019m sure you know the story.\u00a0 Rutgers has suspended (read: will fire soon) head basketball coach Mike Rice for a series of verbal and physical attacks on his current\/former players.\u00a0 Shockingly, there is a wealth of video evidence … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tuesday-teabag"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Bp3y-bs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=710"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":715,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710\/revisions\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}