Former NFL star Ray Rice to coach JV football in Maryland

A Super Bowl winner with the Baltimore Ravens, Rice has become an advocate for domestic violence awareness after being forced from the NFL after being accused of abusing his then fiancee

Ray Rice, who left the NFL in disgrace after allegations of domestic violence, but who has since become an advocate for domestic violence awareness, has been named the new junior varsity football coach at Milford Mill High School in Maryland. / Mark Vergari/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK

Milford Mill Academy (Maryland) announced Friday the hiring of former NFL running back Ray Rice as junior varsity football coach.

Rice played six seasons in the NFL - all with the Baltimore Ravens - from 2008 to 2014. He won Super Bowl 47 and earned three Pro Bowl selections.

Rice was suspended by the NFL and later released by the Ravens after a video surfaced of him punching his then-fiancee Janay Palmer in an Atlantic City casino elevator in February 2014.

Rice, who never played again in the NFL, has been involved with domestic violence awareness groups and spoken to several NFL and college teams since his career ended. He was a volunteer coach at his high school alma-mater, New Rochelle (N.Y.) from 2014 to 2017.

The last several years, Rice has been a coach with the Pikesville (Md.) Wildcats youth football program where son Jaylen has played on his teams. Rice has been married to Palmer for 10 years and is parents to Jaylen and daughter Rayven.

The Wildcats program has sent several players to Milford Mill Academy, which has been a Maryland Class 2A power the past five seasons. The Millers won a state title in 2022, were runner-up in 2021 and reached the semifinals in 2023 and 2004.

Longtime Milford Mill coach Reggie White told the Baltimore Sun that Rice, a former star at Rutgers University, wanted to go back to his “public school” roots. 

“He’s a public school-raised kid who went to a public school and that’s what he wants to do — give back to a public school,” said White, a former NFL player who’s been at his alma-mater for three decades. “It’s just about the time, effort and energy and he wants to put it into public school. It just happened that Milford was the right choice for him. JV coach [Daymon] Royster retired this year and sometimes time is on your side.”