Michael Thomas Rice Jr. (born February 13, 1969) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach, formerly the head men's basketball coach at

Robert Morris University Robert Morris University (RMU) is a private university in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1921 and is named after Robert Morris, known as the "financier of the mericanrevolution." It enrolls nearly 5,000 students and offers 60 ...

and later

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...

. He is the son of former college basketball coach and

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

announcer Mike Rice. In 2009, he helped lead Robert Morris to its first NCAA tournament since 1992. Rice gained national attention in 2013, when

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

aired Rutgers practice videos showing the coach verbally and physically abusing players. Rice was fired the next day. He resides in

Little Silver, New Jersey Little Silver is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 6,131, an increase of 181 (+3.0%) from the 2010 census count of 5,950, which in turn reflected a drop ...

Overview

Rice was born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsyl ...

, to Kathy and Mike Rice. He attended

Boardman High School Boardman High School is a high school in Boardman Township, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Boardman Local School District. Athletic teams compete as the Boardman Spartans in the Ohio High School Athletic Association as a ...

Boardman, Ohio Boardman Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. The population was 40,213 at the 2020 census. A suburb directly south of Youngstown, it is the second largest municipality in the Youngstown–Warren ...

where he was a three-year starter as a basketball guard. He was a three-year starter for the

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

basketball team from 1988 to 1991 and was captain of the team his senior year when Fordham went to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

. He received a bachelor's degree in communication. After graduation he was an assistant coach at several programs including Fordham 1991–1994;

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

1994–1997;

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Appro ...

1997–1998;

Chicago State University Chicago State University (CSU) is a predominantly black public university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, it was an innovative teachers college. Eventually the Chicago Public Schools assumed control o ...

1998–2001;

St. Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh old ...

2004–2006; and

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

2006–2007. In addition he was associated with the Hoop Group in Neptune, New Jersey from 2001 to 2004 where he was director of the Eastern Invitational Basketball Camp. In 2007, he became head coach at Robert Morris University, and in 2010 he became head coach of Rutgers University.

Rutgers University suspension and firing

On December 13, 2012, Rice was suspended three games without pay and fined $50,000 for abusive behavior toward his players. The suspension came after athletic director Tim Pernetti obtained video footage from a practice during either Rice's first or second season at Rutgers, at which Rice was seen throwing basketballs at players' heads and cursing at them. Assistant coach David Cox led the team during Rice's suspension. As part of the suspension, Rice was not only banned from any contact with his players or going on recruiting visits, but was banned from coming onto campus altogether. Pernetti characterized the suspension as "a complete removal from the program," but stated that Rice would return to Rutgers for the 2013–14 season pending a review of his behavior. The situation changed dramatically on April 2, 2013, when

's '' Outside the Lines'' aired several hours of video from Rice's practices. According to ESPN, the video, provided to Pernetti by then-assistant coach

Eric Murdock Eric Lloyd Murdock (born June 14, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Utah Jazz in the first round (21st pick overall) of the 1991 NBA draft. Biography Murdock grew up in Bridgewater Township, New ...

, showed Rice berating, pushing, kicking, cursing, using

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

slurs, and throwing basketballs at players during practices. Murdock said that he first told Pernetti about the abuse in the summer of 2012, but Pernetti took no action until he and other Rutgers officials saw the video in December. Murdock claims he was fired in July for reporting the abuse, and sued Rutgers for wrongful termination. An independent investigation found that there was insufficient evidence to support Murdock's claims that Rice created a hostile work environment. It also found the video was not in context, since it depicted practices from Rice's first year at Rutgers. However, it did find that Rice's actions brought "shame and disgrace" to Rutgers–on paper, grounds to fire Rice for cause regardless of the merits of Murdock's claims. Pernetti later said that his gut feeling had been to fire Rice on the spot, but ultimately concluded that Rutgers policy would not justify a firing. The video touched off a nationwide outcry, with

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Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in ...

condemning Rice's behavior, and

State Assembly State Assembly is the name given to various legislatures, especially lower houses or full legislatures in states in federal systems of government. Channel Islands States Assembly is the name of the legislature of the Bailiwick of Jersey. The Baili ...

Speaker

Sheila Oliver Sheila Y. Oliver (born July 14, 1952) is an American politician serving as the second lieutenant governor of New Jersey since 2018. She previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2004 to 2018, where she represented the 34th leg ...

among many demanding that Rice be fired. The next day, Rutgers fired Rice as head coach. According to '' The (Newark) Star-Ledger'', the move came after school president

Robert Barchi Robert Lawrence Barchi (born November 23, 1946) is an American academic, physician, and scientist. He was the 20th president of Rutgers University, holding the position from September 1, 2012, to June 30, 2020. Barchi was appointed to the positio ...

saw the video for the first time, although he had signed off on Pernetti's decision to suspend Rice in December. When Barchi saw the video, he called in Pernetti and told him that Rice had to leave immediately. Barchi held Pernetti responsible for the debacle, and forced Pernetti's resignation two days later. In a post-mortem of the circumstances leading to Rice's firing, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported that Rutgers officials were so focused on whether Rice created a hostile work environment for his assistants that they ignored "the larger question" of whether Rice's behavior toward his players in and of itself demanded his firing.

Head coaching record

College

* Rice was suspended by Rutgers for three games in December 2012. Assistant coach David Cox served as interim coach during Rice's suspension, but Rutgers credits the entire 2012–13 season to Rice.

References