Rutgers After Mike Rice
The sad saga of a flawed man came to an end today as Rutgers rightly fired Mike Rice for egregious behavior in team practice sessions, recorded on tape by a disgruntled member of the basketball staff, Eric Murdock. A top Big East coach questioned his hire in 2010, noting his strange behavior on the sidelines in a Robert Morris loss to Villanova in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Others wondered out loud why a man turned down by both his alma mater, Fordham, and Seton Hall would be hired at Rutgers.
Athletic Director Tim Pernetti saw something in him in over 5 hours of interviews. Pernetti is a savvy AD with strong television connections from his days at CBS. He has been approached repeatedly by college presidents and even one conference for open jobs over the past three years. His candor has been called into question regarding a statement that his university president had viewed the Rice tapes before his three game suspension in December. Those close to the university have said off the record that Pernetti has done wonders in his short four year tenure at the school and a lapse in judgment with respect to suspending, as opposed to firing, Rice was not enough to get him fired.
Pernetti engineered Rutgers move into the Big Ten, almost single-handedly, largely as a result of his relationship with Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, developed from his days in television. Some close to the new coaching search have indicated that Rutgers will go the way of a proven head coach, as opposed to an assistant or an NBA guy. Former Boston College coach Al Skinner and former NBA coach and Rutgers star Eddie Jordan have supposedly made pitches already to Rutgers. Others mentioned for the top position are Chris Mooney of Richmond, Chris Mack of Xavier, former Pitt and UCLA head coach Ben Howland, former Northwestern coach Bill Carmody and former Rutgers assistant and Rhode Island coach Danny Hurley.
