Should Rutgers have fired Mike Rice sooner? - Created by spiced on Apr 03, 2013: EdenFantasys Forum

spiced

If you haven't heard about it, Rutgers University fired Mike Rice, their Men's Head Basketball Coach, today. He was caught on video abusing his players, both verbally (insults, slurs) and physically (kicking, throwing things at them). Tim Pernetti, the Athletic Director, had fined Rice $50,000 and suspended him for 3 games back in December; he didn't give any reason for the punishments at the time, but it was for the same kind of thing. You can read all about it here.

What do you think? Should Rice have been fired sooner?

Answers (private voting - your screen name will NOT appear in the results):

Yes. They knew what was going on and should have fired him sooner.

No. Everybody deserves a second chance.

They should also fire the Athletic Director for not getting rid of Rice sooner.

They should give Rice one more chance, even now.

Other?

Total votes: 13 (11 voters)

Poll is closed

04/03/2013

spiced

Quote:

Originally posted by Allstars316

I think it was handled the way it has played out.

I have mixed feelings. I do believe everybody deserves a second chance...but I think this guy got multiple chances, probably too many. The video was supposed to be from 2010-2012. I find it hard to believe that this past December was the first time the Athletic Director learned what was going on.

Given that Rutgers is the same school Tyler Clementi attended, I would hope they'd be extra sensitive to gay slurs (one of many wrong things the coach was doing). It looks to me like they took action only after they couldn't keep it out of the public eye any longer.

I also find it a little hard to understand why they'd want to protect this guy and keep him around. Men's basketball isn't that big a deal at Rutgers, anyway! They always have an excellent women's hoops team, but the men's team is mediocre at best.

04/05/2013

spiced

Well, Athletic Director Pernetti just resigned, under pressure from Rutgers faculty, and from the president of the NJ Senate. link

According to Pernetti's statement, he actually wanted to fire Mike Rice back in December, but instead agreed to the rehabilitation plan proposed by the university's president, Robert Barchi. A number of former Rutgers athletes are rallying to Pernetti's defense, including Ray Rice and Eric LeGrand.

I'm with the players (assuming Pernetti's statement is factual): he shouldn't have lost his job — but probably Barchi should have. It's nonsense to oust the guy who wanted to do the right thing and keep the guy who overruled him.

04/05/2013