Rutgers said Friday that it had suspended the head coach of its men’s lacrosse team and was investigating accusations of verbal abuse, the latest developments in the athletics controversy that has gripped the university in recent weeks.

The coach, Brian Brecht, who is in his second year, was suspended with pay.

The university said in a statement that the Rutgers University Police Department was investigating, but it did not elaborate on what the coach was accused of doing.

“Coach Brecht has an exemplary professional record,” Brecht’s lawyer, Kevin A. Buchan, wrote in an e-mail on Friday. “He has nothing to hide and will be 100 percent cooperative with the university investigation. He looks forward to clearing his name and getting back to coaching.”

Brecht’s suspension comes about two weeks after Rutgers fired its men’s basketball coach, Mike Rice, after ESPN broadcast video of him hurling basketballs at his players and berating them with homophobic slurs during practice. The video spread quickly on the Internet, prompting anger at university officials, including the university president, Robert L. Barchi, and the athletic director, Tim Pernetti, for suspending Rice rather than firing him when the video was brought to the attention of the university months earlier.