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Former Rutgers coach Mike Rice is back on the sidelines.
Rice is now the interim head coach at The Patrick School in Elizabeth, N.J., the school that produced current NBA players Kyrie Irving and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, among others.
The news was first reported by SNY.tv on Sunday afternoon, with ESPN later giving credit.
Rice, who was fired from Rutgers in 2013 for verbal and physical abuse of his players — including hitting and kicking them, throwing basketballs at them and launching homophobic slurs — will remain the interim head coach through December and then will become a special assistant to head coach Chris Chavannes. Chavannes, also the school’s principal, is taking a brief sabbatical “to focus on important projects,” he said in a release emailed to SNY.tv.
“I’m excited and thankful for the opportunity,” Rice told SNY.tv Sunday. “Whatever I can do to help The Patrick School student-athletes and Chris, I will.”
Chavannes coached the team Sunday in a scrimmage against Christ the King, with Rice serving as an assistant. Rice, 46, will coach his first official game Dec. 19 at the City of Palms Classic Fort Myers, Fla.
“In recent years, Mike has built a diversified resume in the game,” Chavannes said in a statement. “He has attended an extensive anger management program as well as a GLSEN workshop in Chicago focusing on LGBT issues that high school students face. Further, he has worked with John Lucas Enterprises, including the NBA pre-draft camp, the NBA players Association camp and his grade school and middle school camps.”
Chavannes added that he wanted someone with Division 1 coaching experience to work with his team.
“Mike Rice was the right fit for several reasons,” Chavannes told SNY.tv. “We wanted to give the kids a fresh voice, someone who had not been affiliated with the program last year or in the summer. Also, we we expect this team to compete for a state title and to be one of the better teams in the country. So we needed someone with the experience, knowledge and game savvy to operate at that level. We also would love to have had someone with high level D-1 experience, since most of our players aspire to that level.
“Under normal circumstances , that would be an unrealistic desire. With Mike Rice willing to be a part of this, it was an opportunity for the players that we could not pass up. Adding Mike to an already fabulous, over-credentialed coaching staff will give our team a great chance in this grueling opening tournament schedule.”
Rice has been working for The Hoop Group, coaching his children’s teams and also working out the players at The Patrick School, including Harvard-bound point guard Bryce Aiken and 6-foot-11 2017 big man Nick Richards, who is being courted by Kentucky, Duke and many others. Rice also coached the New Jersey side last month in the Sharette Dixon Classic at the Gauchos Gym.
“He’s a passionate and enthusiastic coach who has unlimited knowledge of the game, and I look forward to learning from him this upcoming season,” Aiken told SNY.tv.
Rice’s reputation took a major hit following his firing. He was even mocked on Saturday Night Live by Melissa McCarthy.
But Rice has said he wants to “change the narrative” about him.
“I’m sure most people have their mind made up about me,” Rice told Bleacher Report last year. “The housewives who saw the clips on their afternoon talk show or the casual fan who watched it on SportsCenter, that’s all they’ll ever know of me.
“But hopefully there are other people who are more open-minded. Those are the people I want to reach. I want change the narrative of who Mike Rice was.”
“I want to change the narrative,” he says, “of who Mike Rice is.”
Indiana coach Tom Crean is among those rooting for Rice to make a comeback.
“Everyone wants to cast judgment so fast,” Crean, the Indiana coach, told Bleacher Report. “It’s not our place to cast the blame or to press the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ button, especially on things we don’t know much about or have only seen parts of. That’s up to the people that are involved in it.
“Mike is a very talented coach. He has an edge to him. I would bet that he’s going to be a very strong comeback story.”
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