What’s big in the media right now?
Scandal.
No, not the popular television show, Rutgers basketball. The Scarlet Knights are making waves Wednesday after firing their head coach Mike Rice.
Rice, who appeared in a video on ESPN’s Outside the Lines abusing his players during practice, was terminated by the school today.
A few NBA players spoke up about the scandal on Twitter, including Philadelphia 76ers guard Jason Richardson.
Richardson may have responded to an abusive coach differently than the Rutgers players (had it happened to him), but some of the parents (according to Boston Celtics reserve center Jason Collins) may share that sentiment.
Of course, that’s all hypothetical conjecture. Only time will tell what happens from here.
The OTL video (below), which aired Tuesday, elicited an almost immediate outpouring of opposition to the school’s pior decision to merely suspend coach Rice. Even New Jersey governor Chris Christie spoke out in disgust.
“The way these young men were treated by the head coach was completely unacceptable & violates the trust parents put in [Rutgers]. All of the student-athletes entrusted to our care deserve much better.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wZ3z0HeLq4&version=3&hl=en_US]
While some, like Atlanta Hawks player development instructor Nick Van Exel, may have hoped that the video was some sort of April Fools prank, the truth of the matter is that the video was footage from a practice during the regular season—a few months ago.
Hopefully this type of coach conduct will not crop up again somewhere else.
Previous Tweet Posts:
Tweet of the Night: Shaquille O’Neal
Tweet of the Night: Courtney Lee
_______
Michael Brumagin is the “Tweet of the Day” columnist for Sheridan Hoops. You can follow him on Twitter.