newjerseynewsroom.com

BY MATT SUGAM

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

PISCATAWAY - Anyone who has seen Mike Rice coach a game quickly notices a man that strides back and forth on the sideline while screaming like a raving lunatic. And those who have watched the second-year head coach more regularly observe a trend.

At some point early in the game, he’ll rip off his suit jacket and fling it to the end of the bench in what appears to be in anger and disgust.

It comes off that way because Rice looks as if he’s in a fit of rage from the opening tip to the time the clock hits zero in the second half, no matter the score or situation.

But surprisingly enough, it has nothing to do with anything going on on the floor at the time.

“When I get hot I take my jacket off. And it’s as simple as that,” Rice said. “It’s not if it’s a bad call or if it’s a bad defensive play.”

So, it’s because he’s overheated. Fair enough. But that only happens because, well, his emotions are always boiling.

“I get hot — because I don’t sit down, and I pace a little bit, and I have intensity — so I take my jacket off,” Rice said.

Doing so isn’t what makes Rice unique. Several other coaches around the country do as well. Florida’s Billy Donovan takes his off every game. But he removes it after the national anthem, folds it up and neatly places it on a seat. No one else pulls off their jacket and tosses it in the fashion that Rice does on a nightly basis.

Oddly enough, Rice doesn’t even realize what he’s doing. He never remembers the exact point in time he takes a jacket off. It’s as if he blacks out during the event. Or maybe it’s just become second nature.

Unaware of his actions, he also doesn’t exactly know what happens to the jacket at the end of the bench. He just knows where to find it after the game.

“I’m not really sure,” Rice said when asked what happens to the cast off piece of clothing. “I just throw it behind me and somebody — usually one of the managers — usually has it on a hanger for me at the end of the game. I’m not sure how it gets back there, but usually I just throw it somewhere at the end of the bench for one of our managers to go get.”

Occasiaonly someone other than a manager collects it. Earlier this season the jacket landed at the feet of Wally Judge —who’s sitting out the season due to NCAA transfer rules. Judge knew the drill, and picked up the jacket and got it ready to be hung in the locker room.

Given the fact that the RAC isn't air conditioned — and often feeling like a sauna — Rice’s jacket is usually on the floor before the first media timeout, if not shortly after.

His record was set this season, discarding of the article of clothing less than 30 seconds into the game vs. Hampton.

“Sometimes I do it calmly,” Rice said. “At Hampton, my wife said I didn’t do it so calmly.”

More often than the casual removal and gentle toss, Rice tears it off and chucks it as if he’s infuriated with the inanimate object itself.

There was, however, one time Rice made it through a half, back in his Robert Morris days.

“I lasted into the second half of a blowout in a cold arena at St. Francis (PA). I lasted until like the ten-minute mark of the second half. That was the longest I’ve gone,” Rice said. “My assistant said, ‘damn you still have your jacket on,’ at halftime. But other than that I’ve always taken it off somewhere in the first half.”

And so, in just over a season, the ritual has become a staple of Rice’s at Rutgers. While it’s a subconscious action of the coach, he’s well aware of its notoriety.

“I do realize that [people have taken notice of it],” Rice said. “My wife has told me that people are looking at the time — exchanging money for the over under. If that’s the case, I’m ok with it. It’s just to me, I get hot, I take my jacket off.”

Then proceed to hurl it to the end of the bench. An act that is a microcosm of Rice’s fierce coaching style. And a symbol for the intensity he expects his team to emulate.

For more Rutgers basketball coverage follow Matt Sugam on Twitter @MattSugam and on Facebook