The word “bullying” means the use of force or coercion to abuse or intimidate others, while the definition of “coaching” means a teaching, training or development process in which an individual gets support while learning to achieve a specific personal or professional result or goal. So I guess Mike Rice, ex-Rutgers’s Men’s basketball coach, was trying to teach his players to perform basketball strategies and skills by coercing them with physical and verbal abuse in hopes they would produce on the basketball court. Obviously, his approach didn’t work and finally led to his dismal from Rutgers. But what I’m most baffled about (besides why no player knocked out him or assistant coach, Jimmy Martelli) is how former Rutgers’s Athletic Director, Tim Pernetti, thought a suspension was a sufficient reprimand for Rice’s behavior?
A few years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing 10 Division I-A athletic directors on their career paths to obtaining their position. They shared with me some valuable advice on the necessary skills needed to become a potential Div. I-A athletic director candidate. Business acumen was without a doubt the must have credential, because we all know that college athletics is big business. But another important criterion to have experience in was the ability to manage personnel; in other words, the ability to hire and fire coaches. I’m not sure if Pernetti had experience in firing coaches, but this should not have been a complicated decision to make, especially with the video and audio evidence as proof of guilt.
I guess the questions remain. How should have this unfortunate situation been handled? Who were the parties involved in the initial decision making process on putting Coach Rice on suspension and in rehabilitation? Was Pernetti a scapegoat for the Rutgers’s president’s derelict of duty? Who else should have been fired? I’m sure as the money stops flowing in from the donors more of the story will come out and more people will silently resign. Odds are all individuals that were fired will land on their feet thanks to the “Good Ole Boy” network and when they do time will tell if they have been truly rehabilitated.
A few years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing 10 Division I-A athletic directors on their career paths to obtaining their position. They shared with me some valuable advice on the necessary skills needed to become a potential Div. I-A athletic director candidate. Business acumen was without a doubt the must have credential, because we all know that college athletics is big business. But another important criterion to have experience in was the ability to manage personnel; in other words, the ability to hire and fire coaches. I’m not sure if Pernetti had experience in firing coaches, but this should not have been a complicated decision to make, especially with the video and audio evidence as proof of guilt.
I guess the questions remain. How should have this unfortunate situation been handled? Who were the parties involved in the initial decision making process on putting Coach Rice on suspension and in rehabilitation? Was Pernetti a scapegoat for the Rutgers’s president’s derelict of duty? Who else should have been fired? I’m sure as the money stops flowing in from the donors more of the story will come out and more people will silently resign. Odds are all individuals that were fired will land on their feet thanks to the “Good Ole Boy” network and when they do time will tell if they have been truly rehabilitated.
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