Mike Rice, ousted Rutgers basketball coach, apologizes: "I was wrong"
LITTLE SILVER, N.J. Fired Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice said he was wrong to treat his players the way he did.
Speaking Wednesday outside his home in Little Silver, Rice was emotional and apologetic.
"There's no explanation for what's on those films because there is no excuse for it," he said. "I was wrong."
Rice said he let down his players, Rutgers, its fans and his family.
He said his family was "sitting in their house just huddled around because of the fact that their father was an embarrassment to them."
"I want to tell everybody who has believed in me that I'm deeply sorry for the pain and the hardship that I've caused them," Rice said.
Rice was firedWednesday, a day after excerpts of videos were released publicly showing him yelling anti-gay slurs at players, throwing basketballs at them, and shoving and kicking them.
Rice says he had been working on changing after being confronted about his actions last year. He was suspended for three games in December.