Ramapo Athletic Director Preaches Respect in Wake of Rutgers Scandal

Last week the New Jersey residents were reminded that things aren’t always, as they seem. Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice was terminated after a video highlighting his abusive and foul antics surfaced.

The resulting chain of events began Rice’s termination, his assistant’s resignation and subsequently, Wyckoff native and Oakland resident Tim Pernetti was obligated to resign. Even the President of the University has been under scrutiny for the handling of this situation.

“I’m an old guy and I played back in the old days where coaches would get away with things and that’s just the way it was,” said Ramapo High School Athletic Director Ron Anello. “But what I saw on tape was beyond any of those methods.”

Anello went on to discuss his feeling about coaching and the way it should be done:

“I’m a parent. I would not want to see a coach treating my son or daughter that way. As a head coach for a lot of years, I always told my assistants to treat these children the way you would want yours' to be treated. I was just appalled at Coach Rice and what I saw from him on those tapes. I was watching and thinking 'Did this really happen?’ because it was so extreme. These are someone’s kids, you just don’t act that way. If I expect to be treated with respect and dignity I am going to show that back to you. I equate that to a teacher flinging books at kids in a classroom for doing poorly on a test. I always coached in a very fair, disciplined but firm manner. I always told my assistants that if you want to get in a kid's face and read him the riot act just make sure you have your arm around him when you’re walking off the practice field. You have to level with the kid and tell him why you did that so when he is eating dinner he is feeling good about himself or herself.”

It is often times not until something takes place close to home that we begin to open our eyes to the possibility of what else could be taking place. In this case, Wyckoff, Franklin Lakes and Oakland residents need not fear, your kids are in good hands. 

For more on the Rutgers scandal check out the following stories:

• Media Swarms Oakland Home of Former Rutgers Athletic Director
• University Addresses Pernetti Resignation
• Rutgers Assistant Basketball Coach Resigns
• Rutgers Fires Coach Mike Rice
• Garden State Equality Calls for Rutgers Investigation