Video Puts Rutgers Coach Under Scrutiny

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em;"><nyt_text><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em;">In a video shown Tuesday on ESPN, the Rutgers men’s basketball coach, Mike Rice, is seen yelling homophobic slurs at his players, kicking them, grabbing them and shoving them. He also throws basketballs at their legs, their heads and their bodies from point-blank range — as if he were playing dodge ball.</div></nyt_text></div><div class="articleInline runaroundLeft" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; display: inline; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 6px 15px 10px 0px !important; width: 190px;"><div class="inlineImage module" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 12px; width: 190px;"><div class="image" style="margin-bottom: 2px;"><div class="icon enlargeThis" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; margin-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 16px; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/multimedia/enlarge_icon.gif); background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #666699; display: inline; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; padding-left: 15px; text-decoration: none;">Enlarge This Image</a></div><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" style="color: #666699; display: block; text-decoration: none;"><span itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/04/03/sports/y-RUTGERS/y-RUTGERS-articleInline.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"><img alt="" height="175" itemprop="url" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/04/03/sports/y-RUTGERS/y-RUTGERS-articleInline.jpg" style="border: none;" width="190" /></span></a></div><h6 class="credit" style="color: #909090; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.223em; margin: 0px 0px 3px; text-align: right;">Jason Szenes for The New York Times</h6><div class="caption" style="color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em;">In December, Rutgers Coach Mike Rice was fined and suspended three games by the athletic director.</div></div><div class="doubleRule" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/borders/doubleRule.gif); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-width: 0px !important; clear: both; margin-bottom: 12px; padding-top: 12px;"><div class="story" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 8px;"><h5 style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="The Quad" height="25" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/thequad/thequad190.jpg" style="border: none;" width="190" /></a></h5><div class="runaroundRight" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin: 2px 0px 6px 6px;"><a href="http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;"><img height="75" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/thequad/thequad75.jpg" style="border: none;" width="75" /></a></div><div class="summary" style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 5px;">Stay on top of all the news, on and off the court, on The Times's college sports blog.</div><div class="refer" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.182em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 2px;"><a href="http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;">Go to The Quad Blog</a></div></div><div class="doubleRuleDivider" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/borders/doubleRule.gif); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-width: 0px !important; clear: both; height: 4px; line-height: 0; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-top: 12px; overflow: hidden;"></div><h3 class="sectionHeader" style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.2857em; margin: 0px 0px 8px;">Men</h3><ul style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding-left: 0px;"><li style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/bullet4x4.gif); background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 8px;"><a href="http://nytimes.stats.com/cbk/scoreboards.asp" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Schedule and Results</a></li><li style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/bullet4x4.gif); background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 8px;"><a href="http://nytimes.stats.com/cbk/polls.asp" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">A.P. and Coaches Poll</a></li><li style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/bullet4x4.gif); background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 8px;"><a href="http://nytimes.stats.com/cbk/standings.asp" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Standings</a></li><li style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/bullet4x4.gif); 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background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 8px;"><a href="http://nytimes.stats.com/wcbk/polls.asp" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">A.P. and Coaches Poll</a></li><li style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/bullet4x4.gif); background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 8px;"><a href="http://nytimes.stats.com/wcbk/standings.asp" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Standings</a></li><li style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/bullet4x4.gif); background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 8px;"><a href="http://nytimes.stats.com/wcbk/leaders.asp" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Statistics</a></li></ul><div class="doubleRuleDivider" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/borders/doubleRule.gif); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-width: 0px !important; clear: both; height: 4px; line-height: 0; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-top: 12px; overflow: hidden;"></div></div></div><div class="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em;"><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The footage, taken at practices from 2010 to 2012, went viral Tuesday, putting Rice under scrutiny.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">In December, after seeing the video, Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti fined Rice $50,000 and suspended him for three games. He offered little elaboration.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Messages left for Rice on Tuesday were not returned, and efforts to contact Pernetti were unsuccessful. An N.C.A.A. spokeswoman declined to comment.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">In an interview Tuesday on WFAN radio, Pernetti said of fining and suspending Rice, rather than firing him: “I made that decision. I am accountable for it. I have to live with it.”</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">He said: “In the end, I am not going to look back and say shoulda, woulda. All I can do is figure out going forward the decisions I can make to fix the problem for Rutgers.”</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">In a statement on behalf of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, his press secretary, Michael Drewniak, said: “Governor Christie saw the video today for the first time, and he is obviously deeply disturbed by the conduct displayed and strongly condemns this behavior. It’s not the type of leadership we should be showing our young people, and clearly there are questions about this behavior that need to be answered by the leaders at <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/rutgers_the_state_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about Rutgers">Rutgers University</a>.”</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The video was compiled by Eric Murdock, a former Rutgers director of player personnel. Murdock’s lawyer, Raj Gadhok, said Murdock reported Rice’s actions last summer, and later was told his contract would not be renewed. In November, Gadhok said, Murdock presented the video, which is said to be about 30 minutes in length, to Pernetti and other Rutgers officials.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">By Dec. 13, Pernetti concluded his investigation and issued Rice’s punishment. After the season, in which Rutgers finished 15-16, Pernetti publicly backed Rice, and he reiterated Tuesday to reporters that Rice would not be fired, barring any further incident.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Murdock said he planned to sue Rutgers for wrongful termination. Gadhok said that before Murdock reported Rice’s actions, he had been told his contract would be renewed.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The footage, apparently, was not supposed to be shown on ESPN until Sunday, but when word leaked, Rutgers showed it first to a group of reporters Tuesday. After the viewing, Pernetti told the reporters that the gay slur was “at the core” of Rice’s suspension in December. The physical contact, though, shocked many.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Jalen Rose, an ESPN basketball analyst, sent out a Twitter message saying: “The video of Rutgers H.C. Rice abusing players is appalling! He should be fired ASAP.”</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">In 1997, Indiana Coach Bob Knight was caught on tape choking a player named Neil Reed in practice. In 2000, when Reed spoke out about the incident and a video surfaced, Knight was placed on a zero-tolerance policy. Six months later, he was fired.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Rice is not the first Rutgers basketball coach to draw the public’s ire for an incident during practice. In 1997, Kevin Bannon ordered two players and two student managers to run sprints naked, as part of a free-throw-shooting contest. The two players later transferred. Bannon was not fired until 2001, when the incident was revisited publicly by the players.</div><nyt_author_id><div class="authorIdentification" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em;"><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.467em;">Zach Schonbrun contributed reporting.</div></div></nyt_author_id></div></div>

Mike Rice Video Puts Rutgers Coach Under Scrutiny

In a video shown Tuesday on ESPN, the Rutgers men’s basketball coach, Mike Rice, is seen yelling homophobic slurs at his players, kicking th...

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