"The RU Screw"

Time for the Vibe to weigh in on the Rutgers Men’s Basketball controversy.

The best angle to attack this from at this point is to weigh in on each person involved at the end, with what their fate should hold. With Rice having already been shown the door, it is pointless to debate that decision, as most would agree it was appropriate. I will, however, inject some Mike Rice perspective as to what his future holds.

 

First a little commentary on Eric Murdock. If you think Eric Murdock is any kind of hero or good Samaritan for bringing this to light, you aren’t paying attention very well. Some footage in the videos was from the 2010-11 season. The video was not brought to administration until November 2012. So my question is, was Eric Murdock really disturbed by the behavior? Or did he just see this as his opportunity to build a safety net if he ever got fired ? In my opinion, the answer is quite resoundingly the latter. He collected this footage over time and socked it away for a rainy day, which finally came when his contract was not renewed.

Murdock saved the day? Not quite... Murdock apparently reflected during his time off the payroll and came to the conclusion that the behavior was unacceptable... 2 years after the fact. (Photo from ScarletKnights.com)

With respect to Robert Barchi (President of Rutgers) the big question is….to what degree did he know what went on? It seems that all parties agree that Pernetti went to Barchi to bring him in the loop in November when the tape surfaced. But what exactly did “bringing him in the loop” look like? In my opinion, this has a very big impact on how harshly Barchi should be judged. I envision TWO scenarios:

SCENARIO #1 – Pernetti Minimization Scenario

Did Pernetti “bring Barchi in the loop” by saying:

“We have a tape of Coach Rice using some inappropriate language during practice….i brought someone in to help investigate.” Followed by… “We recommend a three game suspension and $50,000 fine” ?

To which the newly appointed Barchi deferred to his AD’s judgment with "sounds good Tim."

OR

SCENARIO #2 – Rutgers Trying to Save Face Scenario  

Did Pernetti say to Barchi:

“We have a tape of Coach Rice pushing players and throwing basketballs at them. He also uses inappropriate language, including referring to a player as a “F*CKING F*GGOT.” ?

 And then Pernetti and Barchi jointly decided to pursue a suspension and fine and hope that it went away.

There are many things you can say to your players on tape that are edgy, but still keep your job. "You're a f*cking f*ggot" is not one of them.

Mike Rice was Pernetti's big hire...A man pegged to turn around Rutgers basketball (long thought to be a sleeping giant). Was fear of this hire backfiring behind Pernetti's (& possibly Barchi's) attempt to minimize the infractions? (Photo from AP)

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COMMENTARY

My first question is….If you need to hire an independent investigator to look into something like this….what exactly are you paying the Athletic Director for? He is the administrator that directly impacts the hiring/firing of coaches and athletic staff. What did the independent investigation focus on, if the words were inappropriate enough?

It would be easy for me to say that Pernetti’s got to go.... and I am kind of leaning in that direction. But I think there is a big gray area. Was Rutgers resistant to fire Rice because they didn’t want to pay two basketball coaches? (They’d have to pay Rice…a buyout at least…and also pay the new coach)

Was Pernetti inclined to protect Rice because he was “his hire” and he took a risk by bringing in a known fiery coach?

Should Tim Pernetti lose his job?
The only scenario I envision that Pernetti should keep his job is if he went to his President and said, “Oh my God… look at this tape…give me some direction here.” And then Barchi worked with him and talked him down to a suspension (perhaps due to the financial burden of firing a coach). I highly doubt that was the case.

To me, the suspension and fine were Pernetti's version of saying "I know it's bad enough that I have to do something, let me see if I can skate by with this punishment without having to search for a new coach."

Should Robert Barchi lose his job?

I give Barchi a bit more leash here. He was brand new on the job, and one of the things that you do (in his situation) is you rely on your existing team of administrators as you are transitioning to the job. Based on the statement he released, in which he used language like “after viewing the video myself yesterday,” it seems to me that Pernetti did not share all the vulgar details with Barchi.
Barchi’s lapse in judgment came in that he knew that a tape existed, but did not ask to see it. Perhaps because its contents were minimized by Pernetti. I have a hard time believing that he was told Rice said "you're a f*cking f*ggot" and did not request to see the video at all - especially with the University's supposed sensitivity to that type of homophobic slur brought about by the Tyler Clementi suicide. If he knew that was said, and he didn't ask to see the tape, he should be gone.

Will Mike Rice ever coach again?

As with many things, time heals all wounds. He will probably be out of work for this coming season, but I can see him latching on as an assistant at some mid-major. His opportunity to build his reputation back up. He won’t get a head coaching job right away. He also will probably never coach in any of the “big time” D-1 conferences again, as he hasn’t built enough equity as a coach.
If he had been a seasoned winner he’d find another job again in a power conference (a la Bob Knight at Texas Tech).

Rice parlayed his time on Jamie Dixon's staff at Pittsburgh into his "shot," serving as Head Coach at Robert Morris. He'll be tasked with working his way back up again - this time with a negative reputation working against him.

Final Vibe:
In all of this, Rutgers ended up firing Mike Rice. If you think for ONE SECOND that the decision was about the safety and respect of its student/athletes, you are mistaken. It was about responding to the negative PR brought about by the public airing of the video.

Make no mistake about it. If that video was never aired on ESPN, Mike Rice would still be the coach of Rutgers.