True question not trying to be a snarky guy but did you ever play sports in high school? Thats as far as I went and man the coaches there were like drill sargeants. Infact one of them was, I blew my assignment on specials teams going for the runner and got faked out by a fake hand off I came back to the bench and he reamed me then broke his clip board on my helmet. The crowd laughed. The coaches were always on top of us but we were a pernial winner at the time. I played gunner/CB and it made us better.
I did cross-country/track in high school, I'm not going to pretend it was as intense as some of the "bigger" sports. Nonetheless, I had an intense coach who wasn't afraid to pick apart the top runners and even others who he thought were underperforming. He kind of mellowed through the years. My dad couldn't believe some of the things he said at the banquet my freshman year.
So no I don't have first-hand experience of a Bear Bryant or Bobby Knight running my practices. Just because something was effective, doesn't mean the ends justify the means. I'm sick of hearing how something was acceptable 50-75 years ago, so we can't *change." A lot of other things were acceptable at one point, which we wouldn't think of acceptable now -- slavery, women not having the right to vote, etc.
Sure in the heat of the moment, a coach can lose it. I'm willing to forgive a one-time thing depending on the severity, who among us is perfect? But a repeated thing like Rice which is well documented is pretty unforgiveable in my books. I'm sure he'll get another chance though.