Last week Rutgers University coach Mike Rice was fired after ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” aired a video of him physically and verbally abusing the players of his Scarlet Knights men’s basketball team. The footage showed Rice pegging a basketball at multiple players’ heads, kicking them and screaming homophobic slurs in a wild rampage.

More shocking than Rice’s abusive behavior, though, was the Rutgers administration’s reaction to it, or lack thereof. Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti was informed of the abuse by former basketball assistant Eric Murdock as early as the summer of 2012 but took no action until December. A report even shows evidence that Rice’s assistants notified Pernetti about his behavior long before Murdock told him.

As we go higher up the ladder we see the same neglect in dealing with Rice’s misconduct. Rutgers president Robert Barchi knew of Rice’s behavior but refused to review Murdock’s video in late November.

It seems to be a recurring theme among college sports scandals — the administration is informed of an employee’s wrongdoing, ignores it, hopes it will just go away and finally deals with it when the media finds out.

If we look back at the Penn State child sex abuse scandal, Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was molesting various children for more than 14 years. In 2002, when graduate assistant Mike McQueary told head football coach Joe Paterno that he witnessed Sandusky abusing a 10-year-old boy in the shower facilities at Penn State, Paterno did not notify state police and never followed up on the report — allowing the serial child molester to have continued access to school athletic facilities for 10 years.

We can also consider the Baylor murder and cover-up back in 2003, when Baylor Bears basketball player Patrick Dennehy was fatally shot by fellow teammate Carlton Dotson. If that’s not shocking enough, coach Dave Bliss ordered his players to lie to investigators that Dennehy was dealing drugs. For him, keeping Dotson in the game was priority number one.

Or let’s take into account the University of Utah scandal that a Yahoo! Sports report broke this year. Sadistic swim coach Greg Winslow would force swimmers to put bags over their heads. He strapped PVC piping to one swimmer’s back, causing him to pass out in the water, and sexually abused a 15-year-old girl. The insane part? There is evidence of Winslow’s abuse dating all the way back to 2008. Parents complained to the Utah athletic director for years and nothing was done until Yahoo! Sports published the story.

On a moral level, there is nothing sadder than realizing these college coaches, athletic directors and presidents care much more about the sport than the welfare of its players. On an intellectual level, however, it is bewildering that these administrations actually believe that if they ignore the abuse, no one will find out. It is utter self-delusion. Every time they try to cover up or dismiss accusations, they are essentially offering up their job.

The Rices, Sanduskys and Winslows are not the only ones inflicting harm in these scandals. College administrations that have ignored complaints about abuse have also relinquished any responsibility they once had to protect the students and players from it. It is about time the people at the top start dealing with the problem from the get-go so abusers cannot continue to abuse.

A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, April 9 print edition. Raquel Woodruff is deputy opinion editor. Email her at [email protected].