ESPN obtained a video of the Rutgers Basketball Coach Mike Rice bullying his players and using racial slurs which has gone viral on the Internet which, in turn, led to Rice's firing. The assistant coach Jimmy Martelli resigned in the wake of Mike Rice's firing after he was seen on the video bullying. Friday the Athletic Director Tim Pernetti's resigned with a $1.2M settlement he received along with the Rutgers top lawyer resigning after this video surfaced:
The odd look on the coach's face makes you wonder about him. Rutgers had already suspended him once for three games but it didn't phase him it seems as he along with his assistant coach kept it up the bullying which led to his firing and now the Rutgers Athletic Director who was covering for Rice has resigned. Many of the faculty want the President out as well.
Most amazing part is Fox News first Bolling and then Hannity defending this coach. I cannot believe anyone can defend how Rice coached. In the end, they were not a good team so all the excuses from conservatives about his berating players to make them better didn't work. The fact one of the players didn't slug the coach is simply astounding. Players had much more restraint then the coaches. Media Matters has Andy Katz, ESPN, take on the story along with his opinion of Fox News anchors Bolling and Hannity:
Fox News defended the Rutgers coach for his actions with Eric Bolling leading the way originally and then followed by Sean Hannity in the clip above. Media Matters has this clip of Bolling from the Cavuto program with comments from Fox's Bolling On Fired Rutgers Coach's Abusive Behavior: "You Have To Motivate People Sometimes":
On Friday, the university also released a 50-page report that John P. Lacey, an outside lawyer, prepared last year in response to the abuse allegations. It made clear that Rutgers officials were aware that Mr. Rice’s outbursts “were not isolated” and that he had a fierce temper, used homophobic and misogynistic slurs, kicked his players and threw basketballs at them.
But it described Mr. Rice as “passionate, energetic and demanding” and concluded that his behavior constituted “permissible training.” It found that he aimed to “cause them to play better during the team’s basketball games.”
His methods, “while sometimes unorthodox, politically incorrect, or very aggressive, were within the bounds of proper conduct and training methods,” the report said.
At a news conference Friday afternoon, Dr. Barchi announced the resignations of Mr. Pernetti and John B. Wolf, the university’s general counsel. Dr. Barchi placed the blame for the decision to suspend rather than fire Mr. Rice in December squarely on Mr. Pernetti and the university’s lawyers, saying he had not watched the video of Mr. Rice’s actions last fall and instead had relied on their descriptions of it.
“I know had I seen the tape that my assessment would have differed from theirs, and I would have acted on my assessment,” Dr. Barchi said.
When asked why he had not watched the video, he said: “I can’t answer exactly why I didn’t. You can only say in retrospect I sure wish I had.”How can anyone defend the actions of Rice, the Rutgers basketball coach, is beyond me but over time I have come to the conclusion that conservatives like on Fox News see nothing wrong with berating minorities which to me is reprehensible and should get them kicked off the air but then it is Fox News. What if this was a black coach berating white players? Would Bolling, Hannity, and other conservatives defend him as getting the most out of his players or attack the black coach? IMHO it would be the latter.
There is no place in any level of sports for this type of behavior by coaches and any media members defending this coach should resign because they have lost objectivity when it comes to reporting. Their narrow conservative views have now clouded their judgment even when it comes to sports.
Kudos to ESPN for bringing this atrocity of Rutgers basketball coach and his assistant to light! That is journalism at its finest.
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