[quote="SJU1512" post=291484]Don't think there is much to worry about from a negative press standpoint. There will definitely be plenty of press including national, mix of positive rehabilitation angle and bringing back to the surface his past transgressions, but that will just be an initial story.
Ultimately this will mostly get dictated by how it actually goes at SJU. If Rice is a model citizen and part of a winning transformation at SJU, this is a major positive story about change and second chances. If there is even a hint of past behavior and/or SJU doesn't win then this could be viewed as another poor (or worse) move in a program that hasn't always recently diligenced and assessed risk very well.
I tend to think the former is more likely because Rice would have to be truly out of his mind to go anywhere near his past behavior, even behind closed doors. He's got almost no margin for error and his career, which he seems to have a genuine interest in getting back on track, is legitimately in the balance.
A key from my perspective is that this is not Rice's first second chance. It's not even his second. He's coached one of the elite High School and one of the elite AAU programs in New Jersey. So there's a few years of relevant post-Rutgers data for SJU to rely on here, and hopefully they have done their diligence to confirm that went as well as it appeared to publicly. SJU would obviously be the first to bring Rice back to the college ranks, but seems like the high school/AAU experience was a success and that was with even less margin for error there.
Spent quite a bit of time around Rice in my own playing days at camps and tournaments. Seemed like a pretty intense guy, although a lot of coaches are and I don't think you would have necessarily predicted his actions at Rutgers, which were clearly inexcusable. But on a basketball level even pre-Robert Morris he stood out as a guy who really knew and had a passion for this game, even in environments where there were a lot of those types around.
In that regard I think SJU would basically be buying what they hope GSJ could turn into in 10-15 years, and securing that kind of probability - both from a game prep/in-game tactician and recruiting perspective - is not something that floats by that often in an assistant. Well worth the risks IMO, including the second chance/rehabilitation angle from a reputational perspective.[/quote]
I would pretty much guarantee that behavior won't happen again here. A lot of that aggression comes from being in complete control with the knowledge that players wouldn't challenge him or they would sit or be banished. As an assistant, there would be immediate ramifications if he acted that way again, and he knows that. Rehabilitated or not, we won't see that here, guaranteed. In that regard, it's a very safe hire. He would be on a very short leash in terms of any untowards behavior.
