Via Ace, how long has it been since we’ve had a hotly disputed “minor authority figure exercises power in dubiously aggressive way” thread? Seems like a few years ago there’d be a new viral video every week of some cop tasering an annoying but nonviolent person, thereby kicking off a new navel-gazing cycle of Internet debate about whether The Man had gone too far or whether the would-be perp should have known better than to give a cop some lip. This is a variation on that: What’s the split on people who think the coach went overboard versus people who think Div I college athletes need to man up and accept a little “tough love” in the interest of winning? I’ll guess 60/40. To the 40 percent: Throwing basketballs at the kids is … a little much, no? Even the pros think this is beyond the pale.

As you might expect, Rice isn’t being fired because of how he behaved, he’s being fired because the public eventually found out:

The videotape, broadcast Tuesday on ESPN, prompted scores of outraged social media comments as well as sharp criticism from Gov. Chris Christie and NBA star LeBron James.

Athletic director Tim Pernetti was given a copy of the video in late November by a former employee. He suspended Rice for three games a month later, fined him $50,000 and ordered him to attend anger management classes.

Pernetti finally canned him this morning. I wonder with guys like this how much of the aggression is genuine — it sure looks it in the vid — and how much of it is a primitive attempt to gain Bob Knight/Rick Majerus-type respect from players by aping their most boorish tendencies. He must know what he’s doing, right? He’s a total control-freak A-hole! But check the results at Rutgers. If he’d won 20 games, maybe the suspension would have been enough.