Mike Rice Suspended for Throwing Balls at Players' Heads

Mike Rice with the rage in his eye

I mean, is there really anything else to be said beyond the headline?

Mike Rice, Rutgers third year head coach, has been suspended for three games and docked $50,000 for whipping balls at his own players’ heads during practice.  This incident happened during his first two years and not this year.  Well, not yet at least.

He will return to the sideline on January 2^nd, in which he and his team won’t have balls thrown at their heads, but it sure may feel like it after Syracuse rolls them at the Carrier Dome for their first Big East game of the season.

Clearly this guy is intense and has anger issues.  And apparently the best way for him to deal with those issues is to use his laser rocket arm to pelt his players with basketballs to the dome.

All you have to do is watch a Scarlet Knights game and keep an eye on him roaming the sideline.  He really is terrifying, but extremely entertaining to monitor because you know a blow-up is only moments away.  You can call it fiery, but his demeanor is more over the top than that.  It’s borderline nuts.

My biggest question is how he went about throwing balls at the heads of his players.  Would he just catch them mid-drill or scrimmage with a ball to the noggin when they were focusing on the game and getting better?  Did he line them up firing squad style and really put the fear into them?   Or, did he go up in the rafters and drop bombs from above?  All seem to be probable scenarios.  If you have any other ideas please leave them in the comments below.

Nevertheless, how did these players continue to play for him?  Seems like he would not only lose respect of the players, but also lose the players as well.  His days at Rutgers could be numbered.

In the meantime, associate head coach, David Cox, will handle the ball throwing coaching duties until Rice returns. 

Twitter:  @shane_t_mac