Rutgers' Rice Case Represents All That Is Wrong With Collegiate Athletics

By Brad Cygan

Director of Sports Information

Missouri Baptist University

For the last few tumultuous weeks at Rutgers University, especially the Athletics Administration, it has been a sobering reality that going easy on a coach for being “fiery” can have serious consequences at any level, especially at one as scrutinized as a basketball program set to join the Big 10 Conference.

Mike Rice has been the leader of the Scarlet Knights men’s basketball program since the fall of 2010 and has been widely regarded around coaching circles to have a reputation of an intense coaching style. Why this behavior is accepted among his ranks and at any level involving student-athletes is a question that has yet to be raised.

Throughout college athletics, it is a regular occurrence for coaches to record their practices and review the footage in preparation for the coming games. The moment that the first practice was recorded, the Public Relations issue began. It was from this point forward that Rutgers University and the Athletic Director, Tim Pernetti, mishandled the situation.

Pernetti was one of the youngest Athletic Directors at the NCAA Division I level. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the situation is his education background. The since-fired AD held a bachelors degree from Rutgers in Mass Media and a Masters in Communication. How does someone that holds two degrees in communication fail at such a high level? 

In order to answer these questions, you need to understand where the fault lies and how things got to the point in which they did. Typically, at an NCAA Division I practice, you will have the entire coaching staff, graduate assistants, video coordinators and at least one Athletic Trainer present. Among these individuals, only the Athletic Training staff are not hired by the head coach and do not report to anyone on the coaching staff.

Of the eight coaches that were present regularly for Rice’s outbursts, just one came forward. Eric Murdock alleges he was fired for doing this. This was likely the reason that someone from the basketball staff did not come forward sooner.

Now that many of the facts seem to be on the table, more questions arise than answers. Once Pernetti had seen the video of Rice, heard the gay slurs and saw the physical abuse of the coach to his players, the coach should have been fired immediately and the press should have been notified that the situation had occurred and it had been swiftly been dealt with. Rule No. 1 of Public Relations is never lie. Lies and cover-ups have a tendency of coming back to bite you when you least expect it. More than just doing the right thing, for the sake of your own character, if you do it right the first time, the negative press will be minimized and praise will likely come your way for acting swiftly.

The University President, Athletic Director, coach and administration of a University are responsible for the safety and well-being of its students and student-athletes. Tim Pernetti levied a three-game suspension to Rice for his actions, not nearly enough for such an egregious act. 

How did it come to this? How did the Athletics Administration continue allow this man who assaulted his student-athletes continue to lead young men? You could say winning was a reason, but of the 64 games that Rice coached at Rutgers, he held a record of 29 wins and 35 losses. Wins were not what kept him there. The answer, as shameful as it is, can be summed-up quite easily. There was a higher priority placed on keeping a coach that had the potential of winning than on the safety of its student-athletes and in winning the right way.

Rice coached Robert Morris University (Pa.) to the NCAA Tournament in his two years prior to his time at Rutgers. Dollars can get in the way of doing what is right and in this case, the people at the top didn’t see danger for their student-athletes, they saw dollar signs and the potential for Rutgers to head to the NCAA Tournament, a lucrative position to be in for any NCAA institution. 

The growing concern is not that Rice was caught, it was that he was hired in the first place. There were reports of his using gay slurs and violence against players at Robert Morris University, but an internal investigation by Robert Morris cleared Rice of any wrongdoing. Certainly anyone in the business world would have an uphill battle to get a job with those types of allegations. Why is this acceptable at the highest levels of collegiate sports?

This is not to say this is happening at every Division I institution or that it is only happening at that level. The point is that no-where else in society, with probably the exception of the entertainment industry, is this type of behavior accepted. Any institution like Rutgers has every advantage at its fingertips to be able to run a background check and seriously look into the coach to see if there is truth to previous allegations. Whether Rutgers knowingly hired Rice or looked the other way should be treated exactly the same. The institution as a whole should pay the price for not making safety a top priority.

Since ESPN’s airing of this story, Rice and Pernetti have both left the institution. Controversy is still swirling as the Faculty of the University are pushing for University President Robert Barchi to also lose his job.

Pernetti claimed that he thought Rice could change and gave him a second chance. He took out a full-page advertisement in the Newark Star-Ledger to apologize to students, faculty and fans. 

This sounds like someone who truly cares, but think about it this way. Pernetti let an individual that should not be trusted continue to lead student-athletes. These are individuals that the parents have faith in to keep their kids safe from harm. These individuals failed the parents, Rutgers University and college athletics.

College athletics, especially the NCAA added another black eye on the heels of the Jerry Sandusky debacle at Penn State. It is increasingly more difficult to speak about the positives of the organization because public perception will forever remember these points rather than the positives. The fact of the matter is that college athletes are given the tools to succeed and most will likely need to rely on the degree they attain to find work, rather than going pro in a sport. 

At every level of college athletics, tens of thousands of scholarships are given out every year. Study halls are arranged for student-athletes to help them succeed and to remain eligible. Grade eligibility requirements assist student-athletes to succeed in the classroom, thus having the opportunity to succeed on the field of play.

Student-athletes are perhaps the busiest groups of students on any campus. Team practices, weekend and weekday games, team volunteering activities, study halls and personal workouts put free time of these individuals at a premium, so college institutions do far more good than harm. At the end of the day, however, it will be people like Mike Rice that will be remembered for the damage they have done.