Indiana Alumni Magazine
A Knight to Remember
IU's legendary basketball coach is dismissed after the latest controversy about his conduct.
by Mike Wright
Bob Knight bids students goodbye at a Dunn Meadow talk three days after his dismissal. Photo Jensen Walker, Arbutus.
Indiana will begin its second century of basketball in a season of transition after the firing of Coach Bob Knight in September and subsequent appointment of Mike Davis as the interim head coach.
IU President Myles Brand, with the support of the university's trustees, dismissed Knight, who coached the Hoosiers for 29 seasons, for behavior that violated zero-tolerance guidelines of conduct imposed in May.
The behavior policy followed a university investigation of charges that Knight once choked former player Neil Reed during a practice. The investigation found "a pattern of inappropriate conduct" by Knight during his years as IU coach.
The Reed allegations and the investigation, during which other controversies were brought up, forced the university to question how incidents involving Knight had been handled in the past, Brand said. "Could these problems have been dealt with earlier and in a better way? The answer to that question is yes," the president stated.
Brand said he decided in May to give Knight "one last chance" to change his behavior and remain as coach of the Hoosiers. The president set guidelines that forbade inappropriate physical contact and mandated appropriate decorum and civility in public presentations and other occasions where Knight represented IU.
Knight acknowledged in a statement that Brand had given him a set of rules to follow if he wanted to continue as IU's basketball coach. "I have absolutely no problem with the guidelines," he said.
But shortly after the semester began in Bloomington, an encounter between Knight and a student triggered another controversy. Freshman Kent Harvey, spotting the Hall-of-Fame coach as their paths crossed in an entrance to Assembly Hall, greeted Knight by his last name. Knight stopped the student and lectured him about manners. Each had a different version of the incident.
Knight said he lightly held Harvey by the elbow and spoke in a conversational tone. Harvey said he was grabbed and intimidated.
Brand cited half a dozen other examples since May that individually didn't rise to the level of a firing offense but, taken together, continued a pattern of conduct outside the boundaries of the May guidelines. Brand offered Knight an opportunity to resign, but the coach declined.
The president then informed Knight he was being removed as coach. Knight has close to two years remaining on his contract, for which he will be paid more than $300,000. "We have given Coach Knight one last chance, and he has failed to take full advantage of that opportunity," Brand said. "This is not how anyone wanted Bob Knight's career at Indiana University to end. This required action saddens me greatly. It is the most difficult decision I have ever had to make."
The Sept. 10 announcement made international headlines. At one point, more than 20 media vehicles were parked at Assembly Hall.
On the evening of the firing, a crowd estimated at 2,000, mostly students, marched on the athletic complex, Showalter Fountain, and Brand's home on campus. Four of the fish sculptures were yanked from the fountain and a goal post was broken off at the football stadium. The goal post was back up before the Sept. 23 game. The fish were found, but they are not back in the fountain because the fittings were damaged.
"We are looking into having new castings made," said Michael Crowe, director of facility services, "and that will take awhile."
During the campus unrest, Harvey and Brand were hanged in effigy, and hostile messages were sent to various arms of the university. The day after the firing announcement, the Alumni Association received a constant stream of calls. Letters to the editor on both sides of the issue flooded state newspapers.
A guest column published in the Bloomington Herald-Times, eventually endorsed by more than 160 faculty members, condemned the vandalism, intimidation, and threats evoked by Knight's firing, and called for a return to civility. Brand's wife, Peg, a professor of philosophy and of gender studies, also called a news conference seeking an end to hostility. The next week, all the presidents in the Big Ten took out an ad in the Chicago Tribune endorsing Brand's action.
A semblance of calm was restored after Athletics Director Clarence Doninger, BS'57, JD'60, met with Hoosier players, several of whom had talked about leaving the program unless Davis and John Treloar, another Knight assistant, continued as coaches. Two days after Knight was let go, Davis was named interim head coach and Treloar interim associate head coach, an action endorsed by the players.
The following day, Knight bade farewell to the students at a talk in Dunn Meadow. Estimates of the crowd ranged from 6,000 to 10,000. Although Knight took some verbal shots at the IU administration, he also urged students to support the Hoosier team and to let Harvey be a student, free from anger and threats.
"The same support that our teams have had for 29 years is the same support these kids playing on this team this year should get from you students," Knight said. Brand called Knight's talk "gracious" and wished the coach well. The president and others urged the university community to look positively toward the future.
"Bob Knight is a coaching legend," said IU Alumni Association President Jerry F. Tardy, BS'62. "We had a Hall-of-Fame coach for 29 years, but things change. Now it's time to move on. We wish Coach Knight the very best in his future, but we also urge the IU family to support the basketball team, Coach Davis, and the university."
On Sept. 15 the IU trustees accepted recommendations for a new code of conduct to govern the behavior of IU student athletes, coaches, and athletics department personnel. The full report is available online at www.indiana.edu/~athlweb/graphic/conduct.html. Other documents relevant to the university's action are available at www.iuinfo.indiana.edu/ocm. 
Mike Wright, BA'78, is managing editor of the Indiana Alumni Magazine.