Ex-Rutgers coach enjoying new role
Mike Rice answered the obvious question with a question.
“How do you tell a good player? He learns from his mistakes,” Rice said. “Same thing for a coach.”
Saturday was Rice’s first game back as a basketball coach since he was fired by Rutgers in 2013 after video surfaced of him abusing players verbally and physically during practice. He was patrolling the sideline at the City of Palms Classic as interim head coach at The Patrick School (Elizabeth, N.J.), which defeated No. 24 Norland (Miami) 54-45. His team next plays Tuesday. Rice, who had previously declined to comment about his return to coaching, was the same animated defensive-minded coach he was at Rutgers, frequently exhorting his bench to get fired up.
“I was really excited to be back out there,” Rice said. “It was like starting over again. It’s tremendous. And the team just kind of fits my personality. They really love work. They love the intensity and the urgency and the passion. We had tremendous preparation. You don’t realize how much you miss something until it is taken away from you.”
It was The Patrick School’s first game of the season, and it was Rice’s first game as a high school coach. He went directly from playing college basketball to being a college assistant.
“Coaching high school is a little bit different, but I have a good group of assistants,” Rice said. “You work on fundamentals a lot more, and you don’t complicate things. You may only show them one way, not three ways, to box out.”
Rice is filling in for Chris Chavannes, the head coach who also is the principal. Chavannes will refocus on his duties as a principal into January, when he will return to the bench as primary head coach; Rice will transition into a special assistant role.
“I wanted to get a little break from it all, because when you do that job plus the coaching it gets a little tough,” Chavannes said. “Everyone knows that Mike is a fabulous coach. He worked with a lot of our kids during the summer. I wanted to step down for a few weeks.
“I knew of him, but I did not know him that well prior to this year. He has been very open about his past. He’s available for the kids, myself and the parents in working toward correcting those things. There was never a blink of an eye or not one word from our parents.”
In making the announcement of Rice’s appointment, the school issued a lengthy statement that pointed to steps Rice has taken since his firing: “(Rice) has attended an extensive anger management program as well as a GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) workshop in Chicago focusing on LGBT issues that high school students face. Further, he has worked with John Lucas Enterprises, including the NBA predraft camp, the NBA players association camp and his grade school and middle school camps.”
Montverde (Fla.) Academy coach Kevin Boyle, who built St. Patrick (the previous name of The Patrick School) into a national power, took in Rice’s game and was supportive.
“I’ve known him for a long time,” he said. “On the floor, he’s pretty much the same great defensive coach. You don’t change how you coach on the floor.”
Norland coach Lawton Williams III said he was glad to see Rice win in his return, just not against him.
“Everybody deserves a second chance,” Williams said.
Laquan Harris, father of Patrick School guard Jamir Harris, says Rice has an outstanding reputation as a basketball coach.
“He’s unbelievable,” Harris said. “He’s unreal. He’s great for the kids. The kids love him..”