But the KNIGHTMARE will linger

Sporting News, The, May 22, 2000 by Pat Forde

As the new week began, it appeared Bob Knight would remain his 30th season at Indiana ...

In the end, everyone knew it would come down to this.

Bob Knight vs. the only thing he couldn't control.

Bob Knight vs. the only opponent he couldn't defeat.

Bob Knight vs. himself.

Many predicted it would be a Woody Hayes-style cloudburst, a single heinous act of uncontrolled rage that would terminate one of the greatest careers in the history of college basketball.

But it was an accrual of Woody Hayes moments, dribbling out after years of shameful denial and cover-up and a lack of institutional response that put the Indiana University basketball coach on the brink, as John Feinstein might say.

This showdown capped a weird week of brinkmanship in the Hoosier State, as this sordid tale spun out new chapters in search of a conclusion. People came forward against Knight from places they've never come from before--from within, a sure signal that Knight's indomitability has decayed. All the rumors that have swirled for years began trickling into the light.

And so the IU board of trustees met last Sunday to discuss what to do with Bob.

But a day before, while not yet back from a trip to the Bahamas, Knight issued a statement acknowledging a problem with his temper and saying he was striving to control it.

"My temper problem is ... troublesome ... and it's something I've had to deal with for as long as I can remember," Knight said in his 378-word statement, released with no small amount of fanfare on the rabid IU fan website, Peegs.com.

It was a noteworthy acknowledgment of human frailty. But it also was every bit as revelatory as a dwarf announcing that he is short. Mea culpas from the end of the plank tend to ring a bit hollow.

Nevertheless, it was a canny move from a man well-versed in the art of war. A strategic retreat can be as vital as a frontal attack.

Put yourself in the sweaty shoes of IU president Myles Brand, who had final authority on Knight's fate. He was scheduled to make his announcement this past Monday. Would you want to terminate a state hero who has just dramatically--and quite publicly--shown a measure of long-hidden contrition? Wouldn't this seem like a delightful time to construct a compromise that would keep you from being remembered forever as The Egghead Who Ran Off Bob Knight?

In the end, there was evidence and there were news media reports that the coach of three NCAA championship teams at Indiana would survive to coach the Hoosiers in 2000-01, and perhaps beyond that. He likely will have to swallow some tepid punishment--suspension for a few games, a zero-tolerance clause in regards to further abusive outbreaks, 50 lashes with a wet noodle, whatever--and live to coach another day. And when you consider that prize recruit Jared Jeffries comes aboard next fall, the on-court future is far from bleak.

But Bob Knight would appear to have a large uphill battle ahead. Already fighting a widening generation gap in recruiting the Youth of Today, Knight now must win over young men who have seen videotape of him choking former player Neil Reed and heard voluminous accounts of other abusive actions against a wide array of people. Rival recruiters have been handed an entire arsenal for blowing up Indiana in the living rooms of America's blue-chippers.

Knight's return could be a Pyrrhic victory for the coach and his loyalists.

Of course, it would be the same for the other side if Knight goes. No matter the outcome of IU's investigation, the school and its flagship athletic program have taken a terrible beating. Already being pilloried for meekly allowing and tacitly enabling the brilliant bully to run amok for three decades, IU's administration will be further excoriated for letting Knight off the hook.

(It's reasonably safe to assume that Knight's string of six straight early NCAA Tournament exits and a seven-year run without a Big ten title have made his behavior a significantly bigger issue. If this were truly all about decorum, he would have been history after throwing that chair across the floor in the mid-1980s).

If Knight stays, athletic director Clarence Doninger seems sure to go. With company.

If you believe the melodramatic scuttlebutt, this has taken on the overtones of a grim death match between the two. Knight's decades-thick wall of invincibility was first cracked by Reed's assertion that he was choked during a practice. But the cracks widened significantly when the Indianapolis Star reported during Final Four week that Knight had had an altercation with Doninger after a February loss to Ohio State. The altercation did indeed take place, and chatter about a strained relationship between Knight and his boss made the rounds rapidly.

Shortly after the incident was reported, the Knight loyalists, a predictably militant lot, mounted a campaign accusing Doninger and others of attempting to sabotage Knight through leaks to the press and other machinations. Also on the hit list were associate athletic directors Mary Ann Rohleder and David Martin and former assistant coach Ron Felling (allegedly the person who supplied the Reed choking videotape to CNN/SI).