Rutgers basketball Coach Mike Rice was fired by the university.
Rutgers fired Mike Rice, the coach of its men’s basketball team, on Wednesday, a day after a video surfaced showing him berating his players during practices, throwing balls at them, kicking them and taunting them with slurs.
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Rice’s termination comes nearly four months after the university’s athletic director, Tim Pernetti, suspended him for three games and fined him $50,000, with little elaboration. On Wednesday Pernetti called that decision a mistake and said that he would “work to regain the trust of the Rutgers community.”
Rutgers announced Rice’s termination on its Twitter account Wednesday morning, saying, “Based upon recently revealed information and a review of previously discovered issues, Rutgers has terminated the contract of Mike Rice.”
Rice could not be immediately reached for comment.
On Tuesday ESPN broadcast video from practices from 2010 to 2012 that showed Rice’s conduct at practices. The video went viral, putting scrutiny on Rutgers and prompting the university to take further action.
“I am responsible for the decision to attempt a rehabilitation of Coach Rice,” Pernetti said in a statement posted on the Rutgers Web site Wednesday. “Dismissal and corrective action were debated in December and I thought it was in the best interest of everyone to rehabilitate, but I was wrong. Moving forward, I will work to regain the trust of the Rutgers community.”
