Mike Rice was fired as Rutgers men’s basketball coach in April 2013 because he verbally abused his players.
On Feb. 7, he was ejected from his son’s high school basketball game in New Jersey … because he verbally abused the referees. Allegedly, anyway.
Matthew Stanmyre of NJ Advance Media has the story, in which defends himself by saying he was far from the only culprit:
After the home crowd reacted to a call that went against Point Beach late in the game, the official stopped play and pointed to Rice and another adult sitting in the bleachers. They were then escorted out of the gym by a part-time police officer on site, Michigan said.
Rice and the other adult left without incident. No report was generated by the police or either school.
When reached by phone Thursday, Rice confirmed he was asked to leave the game by the official, but called the incident “a complete misunderstanding.” Rice said he’s not certain the official meant to remove him specifically from the game since most of the crowd reacted loudly to the call during St. Rose’s 68-57 victory. “There was probably 700 people screaming at the top of their lungs,” Rice said. “He pointed over at where our [team's] parents were sitting. I still have a hard time believing he actually said me because I probably would say two things the whole time. I can actually count on one hand how many times I’ve commented to a referee this whole year.”
Stanmyre talked to two parents who were there. Both said Rice was unfairly singled out:
“He did not deserve to be thrown out,” said Mike Frauenheim, a former high school coach who has two sons on the Point Beach team. “It could have been 20 people who screamed out; Mike didn’t say a word. I was sitting two rows behind him.”
Rice underwent anger-mangement counseling after he was fired by Rutgers for physically and verbally abusing his players in practice incidents that were caught on camera. He has said in the past that he hopes to coach again some day.
After spending the first 17 years of his Post career writing and editing, Matt and the printed paper had an amicable divorce in 2014. He's now blogging and editing for the Early Lead and the Post's other Web-based products.
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