Former standout NBA guard and ex-Rutgers assistant coach Eric Murdock has filed a wrongful termination suit against the university claiming that the institution ignored his warnings - and videos, which showed basketball coach Mike Rice punching, kicking and belittling his players, the New York Daily News reported. As the Scarlet Knights' former director of player development, Murdock expressed his concerns to university officials, only for them to fire him, according to the lawsuit claimed against the school in state court on Friday.
The suit claims the university ignored Murdock's warnings for six months before Rice was ultimately suspended for three games and fined $50,000 on December 13.
"Efforts to get Rutgers to address their problems were ignoredfor months," Murdock said during a Friday afternoon news conference in East Hanover, New Jersey. "Instead, I was removed from my position. That is wrong and why I filed a lawsuit." Murdock added he "never experienced a coach whose behavior and treatment of his players and others crossed the line into aforementioned assaultive, abusive and unlawful conduct," he added.
The lawsuit, which also names Rice, ex-athletic director Tim Pernetti (recently fired), Rutgers president Robert Barchi and former president Richard McCormick as defendants, also seeks unspecified damages, attorneys' fees and legal costs. The suit also asks the court to order the program to take preventive steps to stop future bullying and harassment of members of the university community. It seeks an an order requiring Rutgers to discipline anyone who condones or tolerates such abuse.
Rice was fired on Wednesday, a day after ESPN broadcast video footage showed Rice shoving, punching, kicking, and throwing ballas at his players during practice.
The lawsuit, filed by Murdock attorneys Barry Kozyra and Raj Gadhok, said he was fired on July 2 because he voiced concerns about Rice's actions. Rice, meanwhile, claimed Murdock was terminated for insubordination because he attended a motivational talk at his son for about 35 minutes, against the wishes of the head coach, the lawsuit claims, according to the New York Daily News.
Some sports fans are skeptical of Murdock's claims. As one fan wrote in the New York Daily News comments section, "Hmmmm. I wonder if Murdock would be filing a suit if his contract had been renewed. Perhaps it was fortunate that his contract was not renewed because it presented an opportunity to expose the terrible behavior of the coach toward his athletes, and the cover-up by the coach's bosses.The stuff at Rutgers was exposed, but how often does that kind of coaching go on at other Division 1 colleges where it is not discovered? Murdock should be rewarded for exposing this situation, but he should not necessarily be applauded as an angel with clean hands," the comment read.
Mike Vaccaro wrote in his New York Post column that the Rutgers President Robert Barchi also should be also be fired, calling the whole ordeal "a failure of human beings, entrusted with the reputation of a top-flight academic institution and the well-being of the students who represent it."
Coach Rick Pitino, whose Louisville Cardinals team is in the Final Four this weekend against Witchita State, called Rice's abusive actions "very disturbing," saying he had seen the video footage that aired on ESPN's Outside the Lines program. "I don't know what brought that out in a person," Pitino said in an interview with ESPN. "I hope he gets those issues taken care of."
