Hannity defends Rutgers coach: 'My father hit me with a belt, I turned out okay!'

Fox News host Sean Hannity and conservative pundit Michelle Malkin on Wednesday both defended a former Rutgers basketball coach who verbally and physically abused his players, both saying that they had received plenty of spankings and "turned out okay."

On Wednesday, Rutgers announced that the school had fired coach Mike Rice after ESPN revealed video tape of him kicking players, throwing balls at the heads of players and shouting homophobic slurs like "fucking faggot" and "fucking fairy."

Hannity, however, said that the coach "maybe" should have stopped physically abusing the players, but he was just "trying to get the best out of them."

"I'm watching this and I'm thinking, 'I don't like it' -- he kicked one player there -- but on the other hand, I kind of like old-fashioned discipline," the Fox News host explained. "I mean, have we become that politically incorrect? These are adults, they don't want to play for that team, they can leave."

"Sports is a rough world," Malkin agreed. "The problem isn't so much that there are consequences for hate speech -- and I think there should be -- the problem is that the left is so very, very, very selective about when it chooses to manufacture outrage and when it doesn't."

"He's trying to bring the best out of them, put discipline in that team, raise their game, force them to focus, push them become champions and that takes intensity," Hannity continued. "It's like a drill sergeant. Are we now going to fire drill sergeants because they get in the face of cadets? Is that next on the list of politically incorrect things we can't do?"

"I certainly agree that political correctness has run amuck," Malkin replied. "I think there should be scrutiny of people who blow the whistle on these kinds of things."

"I can understand, stop hitting them maybe," Hannity opined. "But I like the intensity, I like the drive, I like that he's pushing those kids and he runs a tight ship. Maybe we need a little more discipline in society and maybe we don't have to be a bunch of wimps for the rest of our lives."

As the segment closed, it devolved into a discussion of Hannity and Malkin's personal experiences with giving and receiving spankings.

"My father hit me with a belt, I turned out okay!" the Fox News host exclaimed. "Except in the minds of liberals."

"Same here!" Malkin said. "Oh, I certainly did. And with more than a belt. I'm sure the left thinks we are warped minds."

"That's a good thing," Hannity noted. "If they liked me, I'd feel that things are really bad."

"Well, I have to tell you, I'm much better at administering spankings now than receiving them," Malkin concluded.

Watch this video from Fox News' Hannity, broadcast April 3, 2013.