To say that one NCAA basketball coach has taken March Madness too far is a bit of an understatement.
Mike Rice, the men’s basketball coach at Rutgers University in New Jersey, was caught on video pushing his players during practice and pelting basketballs at their heads dodgeball style.
If that wasn’t enough to capture his team’s full attention, Rice also leveled several inappropriate insults like “fa**ots,” “motherf***ers,” and “f***ing fairies” at the players in the clip.
While Rice’s violent demeanor is no secret, this newest footage is still jarring. He regularly throws tantrums during games and was suspended for three games back in December after an investigation of hundreds of hours of video showed that Rice was verbally abusing his players.
“I was made aware of some things [about Rice] within the last couple of weeks,” Rutgers Athletic director Tim Pernetti told the Associated Press in December. “We commenced a thorough, lengthy and fair investigation and this was the result of that investigation. There was obviously some things that are not to the Rutgers’ standard that we evaluated and decided upon.”
Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) is also having his office investigate Rice’s antics at the state’s largest public university.
“Governor Christie saw the video today for the first time and he is obviously deeply disturbed by the conduct displayed and strongly condemns this behavior,” Christie’s Press Secretary Michael Drewniak said in a statement. “It’s not the type of leadership we should be showing our young people and clearly there are questions about this behavior that need to be answered by the leaders at Rutgers University.”
UPDATE: University officials say Rice will be cleaning out his locker by the end of the day. The university is reportedly firing the coach on Wednesday, the day after the controversial video emerged.
Watch the shocking footage of Rice below:
