Mike Rice's dismissal yesterday was met with an "about time" response from the public after video of the former Rutgers coach's abusive behavior during practice was aired on ESPN a day earlier, but those with ties to the program were conflicted.
Departing senior forward Austin Johnson, who played three seasons for Rice, said "everybody's upset and shocked" by Rice's dismissal, while some parents of members of the team feel the move was justified.
"From what I saw on the video, it was warranted on him being fired. It's not right to put your hands on someone else's kid," said Sandra Mack, the mother of star sophomore Myles Mack. "I feel bad for him, but in the meantime I think it was warranted."
Johnson said it wasn't until watching the video himself that it struck him that Rice's behavior was excessive. While he wouldn't say whether the school was just in its decision to fire Rice, Johnson said there was a method to Rice's madness.
"He wanted to change the culture of Rutgers so bad and he wanted to get us practicing harder," Johnson said. "He wanted us to follow his lead. He wanted to let us know how hard we needed to work. Maybe, sometimes, yeah [he went over the line], but then other times players stepped over the line as well. It was a two-way street in that matter.
"I never felt threatened. I never felt in harm's way. I just thought it was really high-intense situations in a really high-intense environment. A lot of my teammates can attest to that."
Rutgers players were prohibited from talking to the media, but Johnson said his roommate, junior forward Wally Judge, and others were disappointed to see Rice go.
"He's done a lot of stuff for us that's really not talked about in the media," Johnson said. "I was just surprised because during the course of the season they addressed it with a suspension. I thought that was the end of it."
The video of physical and verbal abuse caught Sandra Mack off guard.
"I was disturbed," she said. "I could never imagine someone putting their hands on a kid like that or using that type of language. I'm sure coaches do it, they probably never get caught. I don't think it was fair to the kids, to the team."
Graduating senior Dane Miller's mother, Marion Small, said her son never mentioned anything to her about Rice's antics.
"It's shocking to see something like that," she said. "That's not right what he's doing to the boys."
Bob Hurley Sr., the legendary St. Anthony of Jersey City coach who sent two players — sophomore guards Eli Carter and Mack — to play for Rice and considers the fired coach a friend, wouldn't say whether or not Rutgers made the right decision. The video, he said, showed behavior he couldn't possibly defend. Hurley did say he never saw such actions in his frequent visits to practice and neither Mack or Carter never complained to him about Rice.
"I know Mike very well and this is not the Mike Rice I know," Hurley said.
zbraziller@nypost.com
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Team stands by coach as opinions fly
Dengan url
http://susuvirus.blogspot.com/2013/04/team-stands-by-coach-as-opinions-fly.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Team stands by coach as opinions fly
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Team stands by coach as opinions fly
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar