Louisville coach Rick Pitino is in the news for becoming the first coach to win a National Championship with two different schools, but perhaps the biggest coaching name in college basketball these days is Mike Rice.
The coach for the Rutgers men’s team, Rice was fired last week after ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” aired video of Rice berating his team with racial as well as homophobic slurs, physically pushing players and firing basketballs at his players as if it were dodgeball practice.
All of these are behaviors that a coach, no matter how intense, should not be exhibiting- particularly at a college level and lower. But the decision to fire Rice was based off an impulse reaction that required more input, primarily from his players.
Rutgers’ players should have had some say in whether or not Rice should have been fired, whether or not it was by behind-closed-door meetings with athletics personnel, a vote amongst the team or even both. Players may have been grossly offended by Rice’s bullying, but had they felt like he was their best chance at winning going forward, they should at least have some say as to determining his fate. The fact that several players came forward in defense of Rice speaks volumes- circumstances may have been entirely different had they a say in the matter.
The focus also shifts to (now former) athletic director Tim Pernetti, who resigned in the wake of the scandal. While Pernetti suspended Rice for three games in addition to fining and requiring completion of anger management courses, public outcry still called for his head as well. On orders from the President of the University, Pernetti fired Rice, and was given the option of being fired or resigning on his own terms, to which he opted to resign.
Pernetti was also granted a controversial severance package– $1.2 million, two years of health insurance, $12,000 for a car and an iPad.
At the end of the day, if a coach uses racial or homophobic slurs to demean the abilities of his players, they should not be coaching in the first place. But if the players are willing to tolerate it, they should get at least some say in the matter, and when the athletic director walks away with a lucrative severance package, it’s even more of a low-blow.
