It's been more than two decades since the Rutgers men's basketball team made the NCAA tournament, and it seems like every coach that has been paraded through Piscataway, N.J. during that time has had a complete and total meltdown. Today's edition? Coach Mike Rice decided to whip some basketballs at his players heads and generally be an abusive dick. "It's a pattern," said the RU athletic director. He's been suspended for three games and fined $50,000. Here's the Star-Ledger:
The [suspension], which was announced early this afternoon via press release from athletic director Tim Pernetti, followed an internal investigation that revealed abusive, profane language used by Rice toward his players and an incident during his first or second season in which Rice threw basketballs at some players' heads during practice, according to multiple people with knowledge of the findings and the video evidence presented to Rice.
Rice joins a fine tradition. There was coach Kevin Bannon who in the late 90s had a couple of his Scarlet Knights running around a practice court naked after they lost a free-throw shooting contest. Fred Hill, Rice's predecessor, lost his job shortly after he ran onto a baseball field—yes, a baseball field, since his dad is the Rutgers baseball coach—during a Rutgers game and exploded at an umpire, and the opponent's coach and AD. And now we can add this. Hope the Big 10 is excited for it! Rutgers will fit right in.