I’m happy to see that all the Bob Knight apologists have finally started to see the light. Or is it show their true colors?
For 29 years there has been this abusive bully running the basketball program at Indiana University.
And for most of those years he was posting some pretty impressive numbers.
The apologists could live with that. Oh, that’s just Bob Knight. Look at all the charity work he does. Look at all the kids he graduates. And most importantly, look at all those Ws.
But no longer. There’s been no Big Ten titles since 1993. No national championship since 1987. IU has been bowing out of the NCAA tournament after the first round. Top recruits have been leaving in a huff.
Enough is enough.
Well, enough is just a little short of enough.
Waving soiled toilet paper in front of players to motivate them? That’s just good coaching in Indiana.
Grabbing a kid by the throat at basketball practice? That’s just good motivational technique in Indiana.
Dislocating your son’s shoulder in a scuffle? That’s just good parenting in Indiana.
Smashing potted plants against the wall and calling a secretary a f****** b****? That’s just good employee relations in Indiana.
To those of us who think Knight’s time to leave was a long time ago – like after the chair-throwing or the Puerto Rico fight or the “lay back and enjoy it” comment about rape – this latest Knight fiasco is just another in a long list of Indiana disappointments.
And what a fiasco it was.
First, the Neil Reed accusations. Then the denials. Then, “oh, they have it on video? Maybe we better look into this.”
Now, seven weeks later, we have IU President Myles Brand telling us that Knight must change. He must live by the rules.
After all these years, finally we’re giving Knight an ultimatum to live by the rules.
Its absurd.
It’s like the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza has sex with a cleaning lady in his office.
Later, when confronted, Costanza feigns surprise and asks, “Is that frowned on here?”
Maybe that’s it. Maybe Knight just didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to strangle kids. But now that we have finally articulated the rules to him, now that he finally understands, he gets one more chance to comply.
What nonsense.
What kind of message is IU trying to send here?
Officially, Brand said Knight’s suspension and fine would “send a clear message that abusive and embarrassing behavior will not be tolerated.’’
The message I get is pretty much the opposite, that you can do whatever you please as a coach at IU as long as you win ball games. It’s not about respect, civility or character. It’s about winning.
And when you stop winning, you get one last chance to win again or you will be fired. I absolutely refuse to believe that any of this would have come up if IU would have been in the Final Four this past season.
At IU, the old adage must go like this: “For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, it matters not if you cursed or maligned, but how you won the game.”
The zero-tolerance-for-boorishness policy that Brand has invoked may be a fate worse than firing for Knight.
I bet there are office pools popping up all over the country. People are betting on how long it will be before Knight swears at, shoves, kicks, head butts, punches or tramples somebody.
And when he does, what will Brand and the trustees do?
Knight hates the press. The only way he will avoid a confrontation with the press is to avoid the press.
But I bet his contract requires him to talk to the press. That first press conference will be one you won’t want to miss.
Of course Knight was conspicuously absent from the press conference at which Brand meted out the punishment. The official story was that he had a long-planned trip. Knight went turkey hunting and spent the afternoon at his office at Assembly Hall, according to Associated Press.
As he left his office, reporters asked him for a comment. And what was the new and improved Knight’s response?
“Why talk now when so many things have been said without ever giving me a chance to talk?”
Oh, poor Coach Knight. The truth of the matter is Knight had myriad chances to talk to the press during the investigation. Each time he was asked he refused.
But his response to the reporter doesn’t surprise me because Knight is a walking contradiction.
He talks frequently about kids having respect for authority. He absolutely would not tolerate any disrespect for his authority.
He was always held up as the quintessential disciplinarian, enforcing strict discipline on his players.
Now we will see how much he respects authority other than his own, and whether he can exercise a little self-discipline.