Kobe Bryant, who reportedly paid off a Colorado woman after she dropped a rape case against him in 2004, said he wouldn’t have stood for the treatment ousted Rutgers coach Mike Rice subjected his players to.
During an interview with Jim Rome on Showtime, the Lakers star, who went directly from high school to the NBA and thus never had to deal with a college coach, said he would have “smacked the hell out” of Rice had he been one of his players.
“No question about it,” Bryant said. “Probably wouldn’t have been the best way to react to it, but that’s how I would have reacted to it.’’
Rice was fired last week by Rutgers after video was released to the media, including ESPN, of the coach throwing basketballs at players, putting his hands on and kicking players and insulting them with profanities and anti-gay slurs.
The video also resulted in the resignation of Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti.
None of Rice’s players brought their coach’s actions to the attention of the university.
“I’m not sure [why no one said anything],” Bryant said. “Everybody was trying to do the right thing by kind of just holding your tongue and not say anything.
“That’s abusive man, you cannot take that form of abuse, that’s crazy.”
Bryant knows a thing or two about abuse.
He was charged with rape in 2003 after a sexual encounter with a 19-year-old front-desk clerk in his room at a resort in Vail, Colo., where Bryant had traveled to have knee surgery.
After several months and before the criminal case could be brought to trial, the charges — which carried a stiff prison sentence if Bryant were found guilty — were dropped amid rumors of a financial settlement with the woman.
“Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did,” Bryant said at the time.
dburke@nypost.com