.
April 3rd, 2013
07:03 PM ET
Building Up vs. Tearing Down
It wasn't "tough love" being used with a Rutgers University basketball team. Coach Mike Rice, who was seen on video cursing and throwing basketballs at some players, was accused of being abusive. Rice has since admitted he was wrong, saying "there was no excuse" for his behavior.
The story brings up a tough question: Where do you draw the line?
Carl Azuz, Anchor
I guess you could sometimes get angry and start being mean but throwing basketball at the students is a whole different ball game.
I would have fired him on spot , he should not have horrased those player like that for there mistake no one is perfect.
I would have Video Taped me firing him.
This coach of the college basketball game is absolutely wrong for abusing some of they players- both physically and verbally. I would draw the line when the verbal abuse starts to get very bad and if and when there is physical abuse. Most of the time, a coach could say things to make a player work harder like, “You’re not running fast enough” or “You can do better!” that is verbal encouragement that some kids need. When the coach starts to get nasty to the players or is threatening them, that’s where you draw the line to the point where- that coach is not good for those players (or any players) anymore.
It depend on the relationship built between the coach and the players. If players really love the coach, and vise versa, some kinds of physical punishments have positive effects on the improving the skills of players. However, after giving punishments, the coach should give much more love to them.
I think that any abuse physically, verbaly, or mentaly should get immediate attention and suvere punishments and/or charges.
I think he crossed the line completely, however they are being a little rough on him, he made a mistake, he admitted he was wrong, why can't they leave it at that.
You could yell at them, if they keep doing it over and over again. But cursing and swearing and hurting the players? That's just wrong. The coaches aren't the players parents. They don't get the privilage as parents do.
I dont believe in mean language. Nor should their coach. the coach should be positive with the players not foul with them!
I think that it was plain wrong for the coach to do that. Yes, some people need to be taught to be tougher but that was crossing the line. I understand and I don't understand why none of the players didn't say anything. Also I thought it was way overboard to curse at those 10, 11, and 12 year olds
I agree. However, they were college players, not ten, eleven, and twelve year olds.
I heard that he cursed at 10, 11 12 years old also.
I would end the aggressive behavior when he starts throwing the balls at me. I would understand if he was bipolar or something, but it is straight up rude and mean otherwise.
I would have to draw the line right there,it shouldn't be right for a coach to in any kind of way hurt his team.Think of the way the team might end out to be.
If the coach is telling his players to get violent, he should become a wrestling coach and shouldn't tell kids to get violent in other games
He should have treated his players the way that he would want to be treated, with respect and patience. He probably had a bad day or was stressed out, but that is no excuse for his behavior. It is uncalled for.
I'd draw the line at a coach verbally abusing. But if he apologizes and is sorry for what he did i'd let him have a 2nd chance.
I understand that a basketball coach may need to use some physical direction, but physical punishment is going way too far. Nothing good even comes out of physical punishment, it just makes the players feel worse.
Overall I think that all of this is wrong and no players should be treated/abused in this way. I also think that the players should have spoke up sooner.
I draw the line when a coach pushes me and starts cursing at me. No coach should have to physically or verbally abuse to feel like they can get through to a player. Any coach should know you can talk to a player without abusing them an anyway.
Physical abuse is never okay, no matter how often it happens or not. No matter how often you're winning or not.
I would probably draw the line at hitting the players. i mean its not right to throw balls at the team, it will not boost their moral or their confidence.
I am only sorry when I get in trouble, same with him! He is only sorry because he lost his job and got fined ALOT of money.
I think it's okay for coaches to show a bit of toughness, because that makes the team strong to pressure. But physically abusing them is wrong. Team members could get hurt. I think the university was right to fire that coach. Throwing basketballs and shoving them is wrong. It's something little kids do, but not grownups.
Our class discussed this issue and shared experiences they have had with coaches. The class feels that coaches have a right to motivate athletes verbally without using derrogatory language or physical abuse.
I don't think they should change the team I think they should change the coach.
We think that the coach really needs to take time and tell all those player sorry because that could have really made the fill a different way and who care if he get mad he shouldn't take it out on the boys on the basketball team.
It was unacceptable what he did he should either be fired or put on suspension for what he did... Totally inappropriate
I think this coach is very stupid
II feel that Coach Rice was too rough on his players and should have thought of a better way to encourage them.There are times on a sports team when you can get in a rough environment. It would be difficult to deal with if the roughness from coming from your coach.
I think that was outrages but it was good of him to confess.
I'd draw the line at any physical punishment. Coaches jobs are too teach their students with some tough love involved, but I think Mike Rice went way too far on this.
Well the line is crossed after a coach cusses at you. Its just not right, coaches can show toughness just not like that
He should be fired for what he did. There is no excuse.People should not be treated like a rag doll.
I don,t think that its right that the basketball coach hit the students with the basketball.Everyone is not perfect i look at it like this .If its not your kid dont hit them.
i dont think he should of did that because its brings the players down mentally, its also the players fault too, because they didn't even report, they just let him abuse them...
the coach should have got fired.they should have hit him with a ball or two that was jacked up players should be treaded with respect.Its hard in school we shouldnt have to deal with that too
I understand trying to push your players, but when it gets to the point where the actions can hurt the players, I would draw the line.
IIf I got hit by the coach, I know he won't do it again.
I get that you have to work hard to acheive something but throwing things to make them get better doesn't help.
I think that the coach was right to fire him after that.
I think the basketball coach is very STUPID. I think this because it's not right to yell at them but sometimes if they mess up a basketball shot they can try it again.
II think that Rice's behavior was immature and you shouldn't physically abuse a player or anyone for that matter. A good althetic pushment is running or push-ups.
I think the line should be drawn when a coach starts to curse at a person or start to cause any sort of harm.
Coaches go too far when they use phyisical contact as a punishment on players and using bad language.
Physical contact from a coach to player is not nessecary, simple verbal direction can help a player know what he or she is doing wrong and how to fix it or guidence. Bullying is not the team spirit.
Unles you want to keep your job, harming a student will usually get you fired. It's useless to not discipline a student, but physically harming them won't help, especially if they can no longer participate in the class or activity because of their injury.
I understand that you have to be disciplined to get better at something, but physically hurting the players is where you draw the line.
IIf the coach throws his clipboard then he should be completely terminated from coaching basketball and take anger management classes. He especially can't get away with throwing basketballs at his players at practice.
IThe coach's behavior was unacceptable, most coaches just yell on the sideline at their players i think he should get fired becuase hitting players with balls for no reason at all.
I think we should forgive Mike Rice for his behavior, because he is apologizing, but he deserves his punishment.
I think I would draw the line right before he says something because who would want to listen to that jerk-of-a coach.
ii think that even if the students weren't playing the game right, it is unacceptable for a coach to abuse anyone like that for any reason. i'm glad he got fired...
I feel he went a little bit too harsh. It's ok to discipline your players but this is a whole new level....
I would just draw the line when I'm doing serious injuries to the team.
After physically touching the players would be a bit far, but throwing basketballs at the kids is a huge no-no.
Sometimes people can get angry and start being harsh,but throwing basketballs at someone is past the half court line!
II would draw the line when I saw the coach degrading his players, and if he apologized I would give him a second chance. The fact that he physically abused his players was unacceptable and should definitely be fired with further punishments.
Throwing basketballs at your players is not the way to play the game
Coachs should draw the line when yelling at the players and not throwing basketballs at players. That is just insulting to the players.I don't fully understand why the coach is doing this.
Throwing a basketball at your students is not the way to play the regular basketball game! The coach should have just had some patience on those boys instead of throwing basketballs to the boys!
I think the coach recieved the right punishment, no coach should make physical contact with the player unless he is giving him a high-five or pat on the back.That was very immature of him and he should calm down,violance is never the answer.
If a coach who abuses his students like Mike Rice , I would draw the line by reporting the incident to the team's CEO.
I would draw the line right there! It's not right for a coach to be abusive to his players and hurt them without any words of encouragment.
I think I would draw the line right before he says something because who would want to listen to that jerk-of-a coach?
Well, he definitely crossed the line. Verbal, harmless teasing is OK. But physical moral boosting? No. Not like that. Hands on the shoulders and telling them to get their head in the game is fine. But nobody should physically harm someone else for something small like mistakes in a game.
All Mike Rice needed to do was take a breather instead of letting his anger out on his players, he owes them a big appolyogy. His actions were unacceptable and inappropriate.
This coach was unacceptable. I would start to draw the line if he started to hit me with the basketball it the face or any where. He was inappropriate to his students and to him self and he should get banned from coaching and fired from the team.
I I think that the coach has really gone out of the line. He just wants to gain fame and to do that by throwing basketballs at his players that he trained ? That is not the right path to go down to.....
iI draw the line at least swearing or physical actions torwards the teams.
I draw the line at least swearing or physical actions towards the teams.
What the coach did was totally wrong. If I was a player on the team, I would call 911for the coach abusing children or quit and go directly to an adult that'll stop him. Throwing basketballs and cursing at a couple of kids who are not even teens yet is just inappropriate. I'm disgusted by this. He deserved to be fired.
I think that what he did was comepletely unacceptable, drawing the line for this is having a coach yell at you is the most tolerance a player could handle.
Coaches can be mean or tough but I would draw the line if my coach was throwing basketballs at me.
I think that the coach just got obsessed with trying to improve his team. He was probably fine in the begining, but eventually he kept on trying to make his team better and he got obsessed.
There is tough love but there is a line you have to draw between the two.
I think the coach went to far by throwing basketballs at the basketball players.
I would draw the line at throwing the basketballs at the players. The coach deserved to be fired. He is an bad coach for doing that.
Not right because its abuse
This coach should be sued and charged. Because he should not be physically hitting or touching kids that are not his.
Not good
I don't think the coach was very smart, he would hurl the ball at the kids. I think he is just "Sorry" because he wants his job back, I wouldn't give it back to him! Ha "SORRY"!
His behavior was unacceptable. No one should be able to touch anyone or say anything harmful to anyone. He's a coach not a parent . And he was very dumb to think that what he was doing was gonna help the team be better in any type of way. He should of deserved alot more than just being fired. But if I was one of the players on the team I would have told him off a long time ago before he was discovered.
I think that it was wrong for the coach to that to the players because if it wasn't for the players on the basketball team they wouldn't be playing for him when he was the coach. To be honest I'm glad that he was fired because he abuse those people that was so wrong!!!!!!!
I think he knew what he was doing was wrong and he needs to be held accountable for his actions would he like it if someone threw basketballs at his head.
I think this guy should have got more than a fine and fired. I think he should go to jail for child abuse.
I would draw the line when he started abusing the players.
The coach had no right to throw the basketball at the people at practice!!
This coach is obviously very aggressive and its good that he was fired. There was no excuse for what he had done. Physical abuse is not the answer to hard workers. If their pushed too hard they will try too hard and could end up like Kevin Ware. And that could just lead to more violence. We know it takes a bit of a nudge to get people to work harder but he crossed the line the moment he started all that nonsense.
I think its a good thing the coach is fired & its a good thing that he's taking those anger-management classes. Throwing and hitting is abuse to us humans. I wonder what he'll do if he got hit with basketballs and got thrown at.
I think the coach was being dumb and did't know what he was getting into.
I think that his crazy how would trow a ball at someone.
i think what the Mr. rice did the wrong thing and have nothing to do about the school any more.
the coach is very dumb becuase he can not value his players
i think that the coach made a huge mistake throwing basketballs at the players. It is a good thing he got fired.
I think the coach should have been fired at the beging because hitting a kid in the back in the head with a basketball that is when i think he should have been fired.
I would draw the line when you are physically hurting the players and that dosent help anybody play better.If anything it makes tham play worse.
Any coaches exist to encourage his or her players to improve their play. Through abusing, who will become better?
I think that coach Mike Rice did the wrong thing and appoligizeing was not enough for the players, the fans, the university, and his family. He shamed himself and deserved to be fired!!!!
i will feel i shame to him and that should hert to the kids that got hert whith the basketball so he sould be fierd from his job.
I think this coaches behavior was thoroughly irrational and he really needs to get a higher emotional quotient. I saw the article on the CNN main and the things he says are extremely disparaging. But even on account of all that, with my superior intelligence (jk jk jk) i can judge that the punishments are rather intense... Getting fired and fined are totally rational but $75,000? To reduce that to the tenth would suffice. I mean like how rich is this guy? But even so its going to be next to impossible for him to find a new job... At least he said he was sorry but he really overreacted and unless he can learn to control his emotions better later on, hes going to have loads of trouble in any other field as well.
why would a coach do that to his students he ethier has no constions and he ethier has really bad anger issues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think that the way Coach Rice is treating his players is horrible. I am glad that he was fired. No coach should physically hurt his players. He was literally HURTING them.
I mean you can sometimes get angry but throwing and hitting them is just wrong to do
i currently play three sports. coaches should not make physical contact in any way to punish players.
That it's not right to abuse your player's and say ras
This was way over the line. Back when I was in middle school (and not in homeschooling), out Gym teacher could be a little loud or even a tad bit rude, dare I say, but he never, ever laid a hand on us, or used any adult language of any kind. Honestly, as soon as Rice touched one of the players, he deserved to be fired right there, right then, and I also think he deserved some sort of prison sentence of some sort. There were other ways to coach his players, and the coach himself took advantage of his power and acted inappropriate for an adult towards the players.
I think prison is a little extreme he did get fined seventy-five thousand dollars
I think that if this coach repents, he should have a second chance. So many people to day are denying or bringing up excuses for their bad behavior
In a college setting the players are choosing to be there. They have the choice to be on the team and go to practice. Also, when you take the sound away from the video, simple hands-on coaching looks like abuse. In my opinion the media has taken it too far.
Coaches should be encouraging and postive rather than physically hurting players. Yelling doesn't help the situation.Coaches should know their players and be able to motivate them in the right way.
Just that you got mad does not mean that you have to be throwing basketballs at the team to show that.
I think that the "line" is what I saw on today's(4/4) show. That is completely inappropriate and entirely unacceptable! A coach should be cheering his team on, not tearing them down. If he has criticism, then he could tell the player and tell them what they could do differently,not throwing basketballs at them!
I think he was tough on the players. But the suspension, the fine AND the anger managment classes be enough. He did apologize. People really should just be happy with thwt.
He did apologize. He also got a punishment of a suspension, a fine and, anger managment classes. It's not like he hospitalized any of the players. People need to let it go.
Coaches should not be so mean to the players you should build them up not tear them down.
I think he was being a jerk, I would draw the line at the verbal abuse, and physically abusing the players was crossing that line big time.
I think when it comes to the persons safety or wellbeing I would draw the line.
The coach had no right to hit those kids like that, especially since he's being paid to teach them. It's okay to make them work hard or maybe to even yell at them as long as it is for reasonable reason. At the least he should be fired because those student might now be afraid of him
Sometimes it is okay to push on your players a little bit, but not as he did. It is very inappropriate for that coach to physically hurt his players. Awful.
I think that the coach was very mad. the coach is going to jails. i think thats was a mad idea
i think that it is wrong for the coach to yell or be physical with the players. Hes spose to be profesional.its good he got fired.
It depend on the relationship built between the coach and the players. If players really love the coach, and vise versa, some kinds of physical punishments have positive effects on the improving the skills of players.
Well, first of all, what the couch did was unexcusable and unprofessional. The coach being terminated was the right the decision. He behaved in an unprofessional manner with his team and there is no excuse for it.
I think what draws the line is TO much violence! I think that abusing and hurting team members also draws the line!
I think the coach should not have let his anger get the best of him and just continued giving the players positive reinforcement.
i think the coach was abuseive and should be charged with child abuse.
I think the coach was very,very wrong about abusing the players,if he was at least a little nicer,he wouldn't have been fired.
I'm fine with having strict coaches and teachers but physically abusing people is just wrong.
I think that hitting or cursing doens't matter because it's part of teaching and leading the players into right way. But considering that even the coach admitted himself for being abusive, I guess he was too hard on players.
some times you go overboard.... but that does not mean you should not get a second chance! He might have been feeling angry with his players but everyone learns by their mistakes.
I think they should give him another chance because he is human. Our nature is to make mistakes and learn from them then do it right the next time.
Throwing basketballs at your players head?!? That is so insane and so stupid! I would have drawn the line at yelling but this, this is not right and would scar your life and career forever.
Okay in my opinion he went to far! there is certain limits to getting your team to work harder! throwing and swearing at them is not gonna help at all! but i dont agree with him getting fired! i think a suspension was a good enough punishment!
I can understand getting angry but you should never abuse your players. They're trying their best. Everyone gets a little angry but he shouldn't have done that.
"Tough Love" or as those coaches call it, may be beneficial, encouraging the players to work hard. But it becomes too much when your "tough love" counteracts and, instead of helping your players, emotionally degrades your players. And then you look like a mad man. It's a lose-lose situation.
I draw the line at yelling, and would only really do it when the player did or said something unpleasant or was complaining. Throwing basketballs and tripping them is just not right.
Sometimes, a little push beyond the norm may be necessary to attain results. But physical abuse shouldn't take a place as an incentive to progress.
This is unacceptable. Why would you throw a basketball at a player's HEAD?!?! I mean, seriously. It's ridiculous, and he deserved to be fired.
Just because he got mad doesnt mean he should be throwing basketballs at his team.
I am not going to college but if i did go to college i would expect to be able to get a job after i graduate but like i said i am not going to college.
I would have given him a warning and restrict his time with the students and have a second coach for that.
If the person who gets a hit defines his feeling as angry, that is where I draw a line between violence and non-violence.
Your anger does not mean you can physically abuse these players. Cursing is a no-no for students. Students can be bullied by being verbally abused by other students so why can adults do it and all that it cost him was his job?