The Scarlet Letter

The game of basketball was a big winner today, because this guy lost his job and will likely never coach at a significant level again. Nor should he. He’ll be branded for life for this, and deservedly so. And I’m all for second chances, mind you, but anyone who does something like this needs another line of work. The fundamental covenant of education – that a school environment provides a safe place for young people to learn – seems to have been forgotten here by all the supposedly responsible adults. And some vulgar, bullying boor throwing around racially tainted and homophobic slurs has no place being on the payroll of the State University of New Jersey, nor anywhere else for that matter.

And frankly, the cowardly Rutgers A.D. who didn’t fire him on the spot needs to go too. Hiring Mike Rice to coach the basketball team was his first big hire at the school, you see, and he didn’t want to eat the slice of humble pie with a side of crow that comes with admitting you fucked up. Suspending him for three games? Really? What a joke. His judgment has clearly been compromised, and he has no business continuing in his position, either.

You can understand why the kids never said anything, as the deck is stacked against them. A school can revoke your scholarship, make it difficult for you to transfer. It’s a shitty system in need of reform. Frankly, I think the kids in this video show amazing restraint. If one of them had popped this jerkstore in the mouth, it would’ve been understandable.

Rutgers’ basketball program has been a mess for years, the coaching position occupied by a revolving door of lunatics fired for all sorts of bizarre and unprofessional behaviours. But whomever the Scarlet Knights hire next, it can’t be any worse than this … can it?