The one person who actively tried to stop Mike Rice’s mistreatment of his players is now fighting back against Rutgers.
On Friday, Eric Murdock, former director of player development, filed a wrongful termination suit against Rutgers. University officials dismissed Murdock’s worries about the head coach’s actions and ignored the now infamous practice video –which Murdock made public — for six months until finally suspending and fining Rice in December, according to the lawsuit.
“Efforts to get Rutgers to address their problems were ignored for months,” Murdock said during a Friday afternoon news conference. “Instead, I was removed from my position. That is wrong and why I filed a lawsuit.”
Rice states Murdock was terminated for insubordination after a disagreement about the former NBA guard attending a motivational speech at his son’s basketball camp, according to the suit. Murdock maintains that he was fired on July 2, 2012 as a result of showing his concern about the physical and verbal abuse that the players were enduring.
“While Mr. Murdock’s employment with the university was wrongfully terminated, defendant Rice, whose assaultive, abusive and unlawful conduct and bullying of and discrimination against student-athletes was publicly recognized by the university, its athletic director and others in December 2012, defendant Rice remained one of the highest-compensated employees of the university and, under information and belief, the state of New Jersey,” the lawsuit says.
Rice, ex-athletic director Tim Pernetti, who resigned on Friday, Rutgers president Robert Barchi and former president Richard McCormick are all named as defendants in the lawsuit, which can be viewed below.
