Rutgers player quits, accusing coach of abuse

A Scarlet Knights football player has left the team after alleging that a coach verbally abused him and threatened to head-butt him during a spring study hall session. The player says the assistant then treated him unfairly once the season started.

Jevon Tyree, a redshirt freshman from Somerset, was on scholarship and quit the team last week.

The website NJ.com reported Friday that Tyree said defensive coordinator Dave Cohen used two profane terms in the study hall in front of teammates and an academic adviser, who reported the issue,

The university said in a statement that Cohen was reprimanded by head coach Kyle Flood the next day and apologized. The school denied any physical threat.

The Scarlet Knights (5-4, 2-3 American Athletic Conference) on Saturday were thrashed by Cincinnati 52-17. “We have to do a better job of handling that,” Flood said. “No one feels sorry for you for that. Things are going to happen, and the situation that we’ve been dealing with over the past 24 hours is one where we have to do a better job of handling it and not allowing it to be a distraction for us.”

This latest problem at the State University of New Jersey comes less than a year after basketball coach Mike Rice was fired for physically and verbally abusing players.

AP