let me preface this by saying that i am a military man; i lead for a living. and unfortunately, i see this all the time.
its not that he was physically afraid of him, but he didnt have the leadership and character to take a young man by the collar, and address his flaws as a professional, face to face. its extremely common to see a "leader" that isnt willing to have the tough talks. to then take it further, and take swipes at them behind their back, thats toxic, he solved nothing.
admittedly, i had to go back and look at the details of this incident again. (i wasnt sure how they got his track suit off him, after a team meeting.)
if byfuglien snuck into the locker room, stole kanes clothes, and threw them in the shower, then 100% that is ineffective. any message he was trying to send would be lost.
if they walked up to kane told him why he was wrong, and then threw it in the shower. its a bit of a different story. maybe you could have motivated him that way, maybe.
1) not professional.
2) you didnt handle anything.