UDPride received a lot of positive feedback last year when we ran a story questioning the future of Head Coach Bobby Knight at Indiana University. The story came before much of the coverage that we now find ourselves reading, as well as many of the allegations we are now aware of. Only after the article appeared did Neil Reid’s choking incident, the verbal assault of an IU secretary, and a run-in with a disrespectful student come to light and reaffirm everyone’s opinion of The General — for or against. At that time, we left it up to the reader to take the facts and apply whatever weight they deemed fit to give them. Although we try to keep our focus on Univ. Dayton sports, we initially felt the umbrella of Knight’s association with basketball — and especially former Flyer Head Coach Don Donoher — was enough to give us a green light to talk about it. Now that Knight has been fired however, we’ve been asked again to comment on Coach Knight, only this time from our own personal opinions, so I’m taking the time to give you mine.

I’m tired of the metaphoric sportswriters who liken the rise and fall of Bobby Knight to famous Greek tragedies. I’m tired of hearing the words “zero tolerance.” I’m tired of hearing about a squeaky clean program, good students, and a high graduation rate. Most of all however, I’m tired of Robert Montgomery Knight denying what has become painfully obvious: he is a teacher that preaches ‘do as I say and not as I do’. Coach Knight is a great basketball coach and a noted philanthropist, but the personality trait that most defines us — the ability to pick and choose our battles carefully — is missing from Knight’s otherwise illustrious resume.

I, like many of you, watched Bob Knight’s interview with Jeremy Schaap on ESPN Tuesday night. Although most of my impressions of Knight were already formed, I watched the interview hoping — finally — that the confrontational coach would act with a high degree of civility, show extreme restraint, and admit to prior transgressions that he habitually denies, forgets, defends, or avoids altogether. What a dummy I was; it was vintage Knight.

Coach Knight is a longtime friend and admirer of Dick Schaap, the father of Jeremy Schapp — the reporter who conducted Tuesday’s interview. While both are reporters, Dick is the gray-haired newsman with the polish and delivery most up-and-comers aspire to — even their own sons. ESPN’s Dan Patrick wanted the interview but Knight declined, deciding on Schaap’s son hoping the relationship with his father would help him share his side of the story. In Jeremy Schaap’s defense, he was in a no-win situation. If he asked the difficult questions, Knight would become confrontational. If he threw out a bunch of marshmallows, Knight would flog him for wasting his time.

Then there’s the possibility of being compared to his father, and Knight wasted no time telling Jeremy Schaap that he had a long way to go be as good as his father when informally interrupted as he strayed off-topic from a question. Schaap said ‘thank you’ and Knight told him it was little to be proud of. That’s called an insult, and way out of line for the coach who two days ago tried to give an impromptu lesson on respect and manners to a passing student.

More disturbing however was Knight’s expression. At one point he looked like he wanted to, well, throw a chair or something. What Knight doesn’t have is a poker face. Even when silent, Bob Knight is screaming mad.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy in Bob Knight is the perception surrounding him. While he’s truly a great coach, he is no more important to Indiana basketball than two rims and a pair of nylon nets. The fact is, Indiana University won two national championships before Knight and will win championships after him. John Wooden did more for the state of Indiana, Purdue University, UCLA, and the coaching profession than Bob Knight could ever dream of. Coach Bob Knight wasn’t even the most profile, successful coach at Indiana University to begin with. That distinction belongs to IU Mens Soccer Head Coach Jerry Yeagley. Jerry who? Over the past 27 seasons, Yeagley has guided Indiana University to five national titles, seven national runner-up finishes, eight Big Ten titles in nine years, a career winning percentage of .830%, winningest active coach in the NCAA, second in all-time wins in NCAA history, five-time National Coach of the Year, four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, and member of the US Soccer Federation Hall of Fame. In other words, Bob Knight be seated.

While many student-athletes are willing to buy into Bob Knight’s system, too many talking heads correlate Knight’s system to his success. In fact, it might be just the opposite. It could very well be that Coach Knight is successful in spite of himself and might have won more titles and more games had he kept his cool and remained civilized. There is a place for Coach Knight and players to play for him. I applaud the young men who willingly buy into his system and accept it. It is interesting however that coaches such as Dean Smith, John Wooden, Lute Olsen, Lou Carnesecca, Mike Krzyzewski and many others found similar or equal success as Knight without the need for profanity-laced tirades, chair-throwing, physical confrontation, or incessant screaming — and did it while graduating players and staying out of trouble. Coaching is overrated and always has been. Schools win games by recruiting high school stars and Bob Knight, like the aforementioned others, can recruit. He can also coach, but hand him a group of rejects from Fudgypucker Technical College and see how many games he wins. In fairness to Knight, this is true for every coach.

The best we can all do is realize that Bob Knight is a man who has done wonderful things for college basketball, but also one who cannot control the compulsion to verbally or physically hurt others to maintain his own self esteem. It’s so prevalent there’s a chance it may be an illness. A disease. A man as brilliant as Knight should not short circuit so often — especially at the seemingly unimportant — but no matter the situation, Bob Knight must always have the last word. Even after Indiana University ramped up the courage to fire him, you can bet Knight will be the last to speak of it. It’s true, for every chair Coach Knight tossed across the court, ten good things he did went unnoticed. Nobody reported on the fundraisers, charities, and speaking engagements The General took part in for nearly 30 years. There is a good side to Bob Knight, a kinder gentler side. Everyone remembers him addressing the Assembly Hall crowd on Senior Day a few years back saying his son Pat Knight was his all-time favorite Hoosier. We saw the cold steel behind the stare buckle and shed a tear. But I saw a lot of other stuff, and cannot forgive a man who doesn’t realize his own morality.

Knowing as I do the tremendous friendship between Don Donoher and Bob Knight, I say these things with great trepidation, but I say them under the following precept: Do the values taught to me by the University of Dayton parallel the values shown by Robert Montgomery Knight? No way. Which means one of two things: either the University of Dayton does a poor job of shaping former students like myself or Bob Knight is a non-apologetic son of a gun. Some people have to learn the hard way, and though it was long overdue, Coach Knight finally learned that no man is bigger than Indiana University. That’s a lesson long overdue.