Knight Timed Story: The Good, Bad and Ugly of a Man Who Did It His Way

Bob Knight, passing away at the age of 83, didn't believe he required professional assistance to control his temper. But he did believe in being addressed as Mister or Coach. His time on earth is finished, but Knight's critics didn't need to wait until now before starting to kiss his posterior. They should have commenced puckering up when his time at Indiana expired at the start of this century. Let's face it! Knight did superior coaching at Army (four NIT appearances in his first five seasons) and Texas Tech (five national tournament appearances in his six full seasons). But his 29-year stint at IU is all that really matters and essentially what he'll be remembered for; especially the NCAA's last undefeated team (1975-76).

His career is basically what he achieved on the court and classroom at IU and how he departed the institution. Incredibly, the most innocuous of salutations - "What's up, Knight?" - hastened the demise of Knight School. But his departure was inevitable even if a flighty freshman had inserted General or Your Royal Highness before stating his last name.

Although it was the most minor of an extensive list of transgressions, a relatively benign set of circumstances was bound to revive a malignant tumor sooner or later. IU was forced to just get it over with. Egomaniac couldn't be "Bubble Boy" immune from everyday conversation let alone impulses stemming from the slings and arrows of detractors.

Buttressed to push back because icon wasn't winning as much as before, the light finally turned on for Indiana's pooh-bahs, who unleashed a torrent of criticism. After years of coddling Knight, they called him insubordinate, unwilling to follow a chain of command, hostile and defiant. They said he had an intolerable attitude and a persistent and troubling pattern of unacceptable behavior. They said he failed to take advantage of one last opportunity, intimidated another female employee and did not fulfill promises of a spring meeting.

Responding late instead of never, IU's administration decided to focus on its essential business as an educational mission rather than being immersed in dealing with continually taking out the trash from its contaminated campus. Amid the rubbish that must have alarmed school brass was Knight's conspiracy theory branding some intemperate teenager (19-year-old Kent Harvey) as a stepson of an attorney, author and radio talk show host in Bloomington who had been a "vitriolic" critic of Knight. Was Knight implying that a sullied student hid behind a pillar at Assembly Hall waiting for him to emerge at precisely the right time to test some axiom he learned the first full week of class in Goading 101?

Pathetic was the only word to describe Knight in burgeoning shorts illustrating his version of the incident on a blackboard. As if he was diagramming some last-second play using then assistant coach Mike Davis as a prop, it turned out to be a last-second caricature of his tenure at IU.

Knight said he contemplated that he had not gotten through to Harvey, but it is difficult to put too much stock in his interest in manners and civility. Myles Brand, IU President at the time, and the trustees probably thought the same thing about their investigation of Knight. Perhaps they should have taken a similar approach long beforehand and grabbed him by the neck, inside the elbow or wherever it took to drive home the message that his gig was almost up.

It had to be throw-chair-across-court disconcerting when Knight disrespected his bosses by saying he wouldn't teach a class in basketball theory because he wasn't certain he could abide by the "nebulous" guidelines of zero tolerance. After all, Brand assured everyone months before that there were "a clear set of guidelines."

Knight had said that he "welcomed the guidelines." Most of the sanctions imposed by the school's trustees and president--a three-game suspension, $30,000 fine, and forced apologies to athletic department members--were not substantially different from others he previously faced. What was different was the creation of an ill-defined zero tolerance policy in regard to his public decorum.

A menacing Knight was an expert in practicing zero tolerance on virtually everyone around him. That's what made many of his teams virtually unbeatable. He was a neophyte, however, in applying comparable standards to himself, especially a powerless student such as Harvey. Frankly, it was difficult to generate much optimism for him with no mandate from IU's silk-suited spineless superiors regarding anger management counseling or psychiatric evaluations.

A sure sign the school was going nowhere fast was "The General" avoiding the school's press conference frontline announcing the sanctions. He might have been sorry, but not as sorry as being a no-show. Perhaps he went hunting fruitlessly for a personality transplant in Scotland.

Brand wanted Knight to postpone a hunting trip to Canada, but the Hall of Famer apparently had more pressing matters. Fishing for a cure, Knight said his wife has put signs around their house to help curb his temper. Posters, billboards and sky writing would have been more appropriate in helping him cope with a level of scrutiny no coach ever had faced. Of course, many in the media wouldn't have been satisfied until a sign outside his office read: "Gone Fishin' (Permanently)."

It could have been an inspiring story if Knight purposefully ended his personal war. But he couldn't simply order away his personal demons as easily as ordering his team off the floor in the middle of an exhibition game against the Soviet Union.

The Baron of Bloomington insisted his players attend class, but he frequently showed such little class. For instance, Knight reportedly kayoed former SID Kit Klingelhoffer in a dispute over a news release before the master manipulator "bribed" the school flack with shirts. Harvey's situation wasn't going to be that easy to shirk.

A suddenly diplomatic Knight tried to diffuse his mess by acknowledging that "my temper problem is something that I have had to deal with for as long as I can remember." How serious the skilled behind-the-scenes public relations tactician was remained debatable when he funneled the statement through a web site friendly to him instead of issuing it through a university official.

The 350-plus-word partially-contrite statement temporarily impressed IU's power brokers, but didn't come close to offsetting more than 30 years of protracted troubling behavior. A state-supported psycho finally ran out of lifelines.

Knight is the fourth-winningest coach in NCAA history, but there were no winners in his sorry departure spectacle. Following is a look reflecting on the four biggest losers:

Loser 1: University President/Trustees/Athletic Department

At least the sports department publicist didn't use his boss for one of his inane comparisons trying to defend Knight for yelling at a secretary, getting after a reporter and "touching" a player. The henchman didn't say if it was okay to kayo another SID.

It wasn't portrayed that way but not winning enough, rather than incessant outrageous conduct, was the main factor in Indiana's hypocritical brass sanctioning Knight at all. IU's culpable brass had little credibility left to erode after doing so little for so long in holding the coach truly accountable. What took so long in coming up with zero tolerance guidelines?

IU's wizards looked as if they were going down a yellow-brick road in their seemingly never-ending search for a heart, a brain and some courage. John Walda, the president of the board of trustees, was ineffectual and nowhere to be seen the weekend everything unraveled. If Walda, waiting for the light bulb to turn on upstairs, was a player for Knight during the previous three decades, he would have received a head butt much like vulnerable backup guard Sherron Wilkerson in 1994. The smirking lead investigator sounded Clintonesque when he said, "It depends on how you define the word, `choking.'"

Brand, Walda and the remaining trustees should have gotten knee pads and apologized to whistle blower Neil Reed for allowing the former Hoosiers guard to be branded in such a derogatory fashion. It didn't seem possible that IU could be so desperate for a competent coach. A sure sign the school was going nowhere fast was "The General" avoiding the school's press conference frontline. He might have been sorry, but not as sorry as being a no-show. Perhaps he went hunting for a personality transplant in Scotland.

Loser 2: Knight's Immediate Family and Bobbyheads Everywhere

Assistant coach at the time Pat Knight, a Kevin Costner-like bodyguard trying to protect his father, sounded like a classic case of paranoia from a dysfunctional family with his incoherent remarks about betrayal and assorted conspiratorial claptrap.

It was surprising the family inheritance didn't take a huge hit from former assistant Ron Felling, who possibly could have wound up getting his hands wrapped around a sizable portion of Knight's largesse stemming from circumstances surrounding their split. Felling deserved punitive damages for being characterized as a traitor of some sort.

Knight worshipers must be fond of neck-first directions. The rubes probably believed that he was checking Reed's collar size for a letterman's jacket. Can you imagine how they'd still be trying to smear Reed if the 1997 practice videotape had not surfaced? After all, Knight remained in utter denial. "I don't need to look at it," he said. "I never choked anyone."

Loser 3: Past, Present and Future Hoosier Players

Transfers such as Reed, who averaged 18.1 points per game as an All-Conference USA guard for Southern Mississippi 1998-99, and Luke Recker (Iowa) took a toll on the illustrious Hoosiers. By any measure, Knight didn't get his robotic players to play to their potential his last six years there when the Hoosiers failed to reach an NCAA Tournament regional semifinal. It's not just a string of bad luck because the losing margin for the last five IU playoff setbacks averaged a whopping 17.2 points.

Knight said with a straight face in an ESPN interview that he "listens to his players." No program can consistently lose the talents of Recker, Reed and the following alphabetical list of transfer players and expect to keep reaching an NCAA regional semifinal let alone the Final Four:

• Bob Bender, G--Key substitute for Duke's NCAA Tournament runner-up in 1978.
• Larry Bird, F--National Player of the Year (28.6 ppg, 14.9 rpg, 5.5 apg, 53.2 FG%, 83.1 FT%) when he carried Indiana State to the 1979 NCAA Tournament championship game.
• Delray Brooks, G--Second-leading scorer (14.4 ppg) for Providence's 1987 Final Four team. He averaged 13.5 ppg for the Friars the next season as a senior.
• Rick Calloway, F--Averaged 13.1 ppg and 4.3 rpg and shot 54.4% from the floor for Kansas' 30-5 team in 1989-90.
• Jason Collier, F-C--All-ACC player for Georgia Tech is expected to be an NBA first-round draft choice this year.
• John Flowers, C--Starter for UNLV's 33-5 team in 1985-86.
• Tracy Foster, G--All-Sun Belt Conference second-team selection in 1986-87 when he was UAB's leading scorer (17.3 ppg).
• Lawrence Funderburke, F--Averaged 12.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 2.4 bpg for Ohio State in 1991-92, team-high 16.3 ppg and 6.8 rpg in 1992-93 and team-high 15.2 ppg and 6.6 rpg in 1993-94.
• Mike Giomi, F--North Carolina State starter averaged 7.1 ppg and 5 rpg in 1986-87.
• Steve Hart, G--Averaged 12.9 ppg for Indiana State in 1997-98.
• Rob Hodgson, F--Averaged 12.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg and shot 40.6% from three-point range for Rutgers as an All-Big East performer.
• Derek Holcomb, C--Illinois' leader in field-goal shooting as a senior in 1980-81 (56.9%). He averaged almost three blocked shots per game as a sophomore.
• Chris Lawson, C--Averaged 11.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg for Vanderbilt in 1992-93 before averaging 12.3 ppg and 6.8 rpg in 1993-94.
• Mike Miday, F--Bowling Green's leading rebounder in 1978-79.
• Lou Moore, F--Averaged 8.7 ppg and 4 rpg for Oklahoma in 1996-97.
• Dave Shepherd, G--Ole Miss' leading scorer in 1973-74 (14.3 ppg) and 1974-75 (20.7 ppg as an All-SEC third-team selection).
• Marty Simmons, F--Two-time All-Midwestern Collegiate Conference first-team selection averaged 24.3 ppg for Evansville in 1986-87 and 1987-88.
• Rich Valavicius, F--Led Auburn in field-goal shooting in 1978-79 (53.1%) and 1979-80 (52.2%) while averaging more than 12 points per game.
• Chuckie White, F--Leading scorer (14.5 ppg) and rebounder (6 rpg) for Colorado State in 1990-91.

Remember: Kansas (Phog Allen), Kentucky (Adolph Rupp) and UCLA (John Wooden) each reached the Final Four under at least three different coaches since their legendary mentors retired. North Carolina advanced to the Final Four twice in the first three seasons after Dean Smith stepped down as coach. The game generally and IU specifically will not miss Knight all that much. Indiana earned two NCAA championships before his tenure and the Hoosiers, despite some struggles in recent years, eventually will be respectable again.

Loser 4: Big Ten Conference and NABC

Knight's predicament was another blemish for a league whose prestige has taken a severe pounding sans so few NCAA titles of late. It came on the heels of NCAA investigations at Michigan and Purdue, academic fraud at Minnesota and a point-shaving scandal at Northwestern. It's even more of an indictment for the Big Ten and IU that Knight said he never had any decorum requirements to follow.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches squandered an opportunity to forcefully declare that no coach should operate outside acceptable standards of their profession. A well-defined code of conduct should have been issued. Instead, the organization seems more concerned with a Rebel flag flying over a state capital than flagging rebellious members. At least college basketball patriarch John Wooden stepped up and addressed the issue while most of the gutless coaching community fell silent. Said the UCLA coaching legend and Indiana native: "I wouldn't let someone I love play for him."

If ESPN's exclusive interview conducted back then was any indication, Knight University didn't realize it was about to go out of business. Saying resigning "wasn't a valid option," Knight admitted he was "confrontational" but that "I'm a pretty good person."

Holding court at midcourt in IU's Assembly Hall, he periodically hid behind a flippant numbers-game justification comparing his actions to everyone else. "Ducking (questions) has never been a characteristic of mine," Knight said during his I'm OK! You're OK! gabfest. "Mistakes here and there don't define a person."

Reducing mistakes by his players made Knight a coaching legend. Failing to tone down personal pitfalls tarnished his own legacy. His life encompassed both mountaintops and valleys. Sounds like the textbook definition of a full life for an authentic man fond of Frank Sinatra's song ("I Did It My Way").

In 1988, an ignoble Knight said in a highly-publicized network interview with Connie Chung: "If rape is inevitable, then lay back and enjoy it." Well, if you're a Knight detractor, you should embrace a similar "Knightcap" philosophy recounting his misdeeds. But if you're a Knight supporter, you should recall all of his on-court successes and lay back and enjoy it.