The Rutgers Fallout

The Rutgers Fallout by Joe Brackets:

It’s been a few days since Rutgers fired men’s basketball coach Mike Rice, but the dust has only just begun to settle.  And this isn’t even close to being done.  That’s not going to happen for a while.  Rutgers basketball has never been any good.  Moving into the Big Ten at the heart of a scandal is a recipe for a lot of long years for the Scarlet Knights.

Mike Rice should’ve been fired in December.  Most people thought that when news of the video and his subsequent fine/suspension first broke.  After “Outside the Lines” got their hands on it and made the video public, Rutgers had no choice.  It came three months late, but Rice had to go.  That type of behavior is completely unacceptable.  Had it first come to light at any time other than the middle of the season, I’m sure he would’ve been fired right then and there.  But for whatever reason, Rice was allowed to continue his duties.  Who knows how much longer they would’ve allowed him to coach if not for ESPN?  As much as people like to pile on ESPN sometimes, I think in this situation we owe them a huge debt of thanks.  If not for ESPN obtaining the video and the public outcry that ensued, would the university have even taken action at all?

What I’m saying here is that Mike Rice isn’t the only one who should be shouldering the blame here.  Former AD Tim Pernetti knows that.  The gift of hindsight is 20-20, but Pernetti now knows that he made a terrible mistake by not firing Rice then and there.  That’s why he’s the former AD.  Whether or not he was forced to resign isn’t relevant.  (Although, the favorable conditions in his settlement with Rutgers sure makes it look like the decision was his.)  Bottom line is it’s the only choice he had.

Yes, Pernetti did great things for Rutgers University.  He got them into the Big Ten.  He made them nationally relevant in a number of sports.  But this wasn’t going to go away, and it was forever going to mar the remainder of his tenure.  One mistake is enough to wipe out a career’s worth of good.  Just ask the Paterno family about that.

The blame doesn’t stop there, either, though.  Some are calling for Rutgers President Robert Barchi’s resignation/dismissal as well.  Because his role in all of this is just as suspect.  He admitted to agreeing with the original suspension, stating that it wasn’t a fireable offense.  But he also admitted that he didn’t watch the video.  Wouldn’t you make it a point to watch the video yourself?  Especially when it’s a sport as high-profile as basketball, wouldn’t you want to see it just to be sure?  While I’m not sure of his level of involvement/knowledge of the situation, Barchi’s lack of action shows, if nothing else, poor leadership.

While not even close to anything approaching the same level, there are a lot of similarities between Rutgers and future conference mate Penn State.  The Penn State scandal brought down a legendary coach, as well as the athletic director, school president and a few others.  I’m not comparing the severity of the two scandals (Penn State was repeated federal crimes, that’s far worse), but the Penn State president was fired for his inaction.  It’s a completely reasonable argument to say that Barchi should be fired for the same reason.

In an attempt to save face, Barchi has announced that he’s going to review practice video from every team to see if there was any similar behavior from other coaches.  This isn’t just too little, too late.  It’s completely ridiculous.  Coaches can be hard on their players and push them in practice without crossing the line.  Is he going to start nitpicking and completely overreact when he sees one of the football coaches getting in a player’s face?  It wouldn’t surprise me.  Although, I find it more likely that all of those practice videos will show absolutely no inappropriate behavior by other Rutgers coaches.

And how about Eric Murdock?  He’ll, of course, always be known as the whistleblower.  His chances of ever coaching Division I college basketball again range from minimal to nonexistent.  You have to wonder if any of this ever would’ve come to light had he never been fired by Rutgers.  Probably not, which is the saddest commentary of all.  Some are criticizing Murdock for taping the practices, but that’s commonplace in Divison I basketball, so, even if Murdock hadn’t taped it, somebody would’ve.  And somebody eventually would’ve seen it.  And even that doesn’t change the fact that Rutgers knew and was going to let Rice off with a slap on the wrist.

Rutgers isn’t going to be able to move away from the Mike Rice scandal for quite some time.  First and foremost, they have to hire a new coach, a task that falls to interim AD Carl Kirschner.  That new coach will then have to convince the players that Mike Rice abused to stay at Rutgers.  (You know some of them are going to transfer.)  Then there’s that lame-duck year in the Old Big East before becoming the Big Ten whipping boys in 2014-15.

So, in conclusion, was the Mike Rice Era worth it?  Definitely not.  A 44-51 record in three years, and they never finished higher than 11th in the Big East.  But, as it turns out, the team’s performance on the court wasn’t the real disgrace.  No.  That would be the man who embarrassed the university as much as himself with his behavior.  Behavior for which there’s no place in sports at any level.