The former Rutgers assistant who blew the whistle on disgraced coach Mike Rice said Rice treated his players “like slaves” and accused him of illegally pocketing ticket sales in an angry rant last June that was secretly recorded by another assistant coach.
Murdock stormed into the basketball offices at Rutgers after learning he had been fired by Rice over what he believed to be a frivolous disagreement. He vowed in the 11-minute, foul-mouthed rant at assistants David Cox and Jimmy Martelli that he would “tell the f—— God’s honest truth about f—— Mike Rice,” according to a recording obtained by the Chronice of Higher Education.
The former director of player development followed up on that promise when he leaked practice video of Rice calling players homophobic slurs and throwing basketballs at their heads to ESPN in April. Rice was fired by Rutgers less than a day later. Murdock has an ongoing lawsuit against Rutgers for wrongful termination.
In the profanity-laced diatribe, Murdock said he had discussions with Rice about toning down his hot-tempered behavior with the players, but he didn’t listen.
“Treating motherf—— like slaves, just cracking the whip,” Murdock said. “That’s all you do is crack the whip. When the motherf—— can’t deliver, you cut his toe off like f—— Kunta Kinte.”
Murdock’s words were directed mostly at Cox, the associate men’s basketball coach. Rice was in a nearby office with his door closed and “did not seek to confront” Murdock, according to a Rutgers investigation headed by law firm Connell Foley. One of the assistants, either Cox or Martelli, recorded the remarks with his cell phone.
Murdock also accused Rice of taking money from Big East tournament ticket sales and Rutgers basketball camps that was supposed to go elsewhere.
“Where’s it going? In this motherf—— pocket,” Murdock said. “He’s a greedy f—— pig.”
The former assistant said the other coaches on staff have “bitten their tongues” about Rice’s alleged indiscretions, “because he’s the boss, and you’ve got to respect the boss.” But after his firing, Murdock vowed to blow the whistle on Rice.
Murdock said he was fired over a quarrel with Rice stemming from his missing a Rutgers basketball camp to speak at another camp in which his son was a participant. Rutgers has claimed it simply did not renew Murdock’s contract. Reports surfaced in April the FBI was investigating whether Murdock tried extorting Rutgers. A lawyer representing Murdock sent a letter to the university offering to settle the wrongful-termination suit for $950,000, according to an ESPN report.
The leaked video of Rice started a scandal-laced domino effect at Rutgers. Athletic director Tim Pernetti was dismissed days after Rice, because he did not immediately address Rice’s behavior when Murdock brought it to his attention. Julie Hermann, a former associate AD at Louisville, was hired to replace Pernetti only to be embroiled in her own saga when reports surfaced that she had verbally abused players when she was the women’s volleyball coach at Tennessee 16 years ago.