Indiana fired Bobby Knight. Whodathunkit?
I was just going to start a thread about this very subject. I guess he grabbed the arm of some kid last week, hard enough to give the kid some bruises. The coach was on “double secret probation”, so to speak. They had warned him last year that if he lost his cool and injured one more player, he was gone. His temper finally got the better of him, so they had no choice but to stick to their word and fire him.
I understand their reasons for firing him, but it is still a sad ending to a rather illustrious career.
Last I heard it was not confirmed, and there were rumors that they were going to give the jerk the chance to quit rather than be tossed out.
I’d imagine that, if he is indeed out, he won’t have much difficulty finding another job if he wants one. More’s the pity.
I am suprised it took this long before they railroaded him out.
Osip
well to clarify…that single incident was NOT enough to fire him (Myles Brand, the prez said so)…it was rather the latest in a string of events that IU felt violated the May 15th agreement with Knight.
Did Knight have a winning basketyball program…mostly yes
Did Knight have many stellar graduates from his program…yes
Did Knight, by his own admission say that he needed to work on his behavior towards other…yes
Did he agree to a specific list of do’s/don’ts in May…yes
It would appear (according to Brand) that he did violate his own agreement. It’s sad really, that a man who ran (compared to todays standards) ran a clean basketball program that graduated a higher than average rate of students…is also by many regards a prick who can’t play well with others .Lou Henson (former Illinois coach) had some particularly harsh things to say about Knight
I don’t know why he was given a second chance in May…these events seem to indicate that the “second chance” was regarded as a joke…
dave
I think it’s about freakin’ time they booted the jerk. Anyone remember the kicking-his-son incident a few years back? It sets a horrible example to allow such a violent man continue in a position of authority over young people. He is a fabulous coach, but he needs anger management therapy. Or something.
The news conference they had on ABC news tonight showed some guy saying that Knight had been offered a chance to resign, which he turned down.
Anyone want to start placing bets on which college is going to pick him up next?
What kind of headcase freaks because someone calls him by his last name? Geez. I, and most people, would have just said “Please call me Mr. Knight or Coach Knight, son.” and let it be.
It’s about time. Maybe now he’ll go home and choke his dog and throw chairs at his cat or something. Psycho.
–Tim
My son and I were watching news footage [this is really big down here in Georgia right now-former Georgia coach still nuts after all these years kinda thing] of Bobby grabbing the kid by the neck and then he turns and grabs the chair. And Billy, my youngest son, eyes wide open, gasps out, ‘IS he gonna hit him with the chair???’
I started laughing at first, and then said, ‘Who knows?’ Maybe he is a great coach, but boy, he’s a lousy role model.
I’ve got cold hard cash that says Bobby’s mug-shot will appear on the national news sometime in the next month or two.
He’ll get all pissed off, and drunk and slap around his wife or something.
I can feel it. The slow spiral into the abyss is starting for Mssr. Knight.
“This is A.C. I have Bobby in the car. He’s got a gun to his head.”
There is a thread currently running in IMHO. I signed on this morning to LOOK for one, I was so fired up about this story.
It’s ABOUT TIME.
[Rant]
This probably belongs in the pit, but in my opinion, those people who sent their sons to play college for this man, thinking he was going to play nice with everybody, were idiots. He had a history of this behavior and I can’t see any reason to think he would stop now. I’ve seen what he did and can say that it’s no worse than some of the things some of my coaches have done to me in the past. I have worked with several people who have kids who played for him, and every one of them knew what to expect when they sent their kids off. The people who didn’t see these incidents coming should be punished themselves for having their heads so far up their butts. Bob Knight ran one of the last highly disciplined teams left today. He won games, and he won games without playing favorites and with kids who were actually passing their classes and learning something in college. I personally think he should be commended for having the balls to run an organization like that.
[/Rant]
I appologize for the rant. I just couldn’t pass it up.