Still reeling from the firing of men’s basketball coach Mike Rice and athletic director Tim Pernetti, now Rutgers has suspended men’s lacrosse coach Brian Brecht.
According to ESPN and The Associated Press, the university is investigating allegations of verbal abuse against the coach. Rutgers has been reviewing video of all sports’ practices since the Rice incident, in which the coach was caught on tape physically assaulting players and using homophobic slurs.
“While I cannot comment on an ongoing investigation, let me reiterate that there is no place at Rutgers for words or actions that are inconsistent with the values of the university. Our student-athletes, as all members of the Rutgers community, should know that our university is committed to promoting an atmosphere of respect and dignity,” said Rutgers president Robert Barchi. “As I stressed earlier, we will be looking closely at all intercollegiate athletics at Rutgers going forward. If we find problems, we will address them.”
Brecht was in his second season at Rutgers. Before that, he spent seven years at Siena College, where he was a three-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference coach of the year.
