Knight reflects in the aftermath

By Andrew Bagnato
Tribune Media Services

Bob Knight wishes he could have finished his coaching career at Indiana.

At the same time, he wishes he had left the school last spring when his superiors imposed a "zero-tolerance" conduct policy.

But Knight doesn't wish he had walked away from a 19-year-old Indiana freshman last week at Assembly Hall, though he might have averted the incident that brought his 29-year reign at Bloomington to an end. Only four days after Knight grabbed the student, Kent Harvey, by the arm and lectured him, school President Myles Brand decided Knight had to go.

"What I did with that student was simply try to teach him something about manners," Knight said Tuesday night in a live ESPN interview. "And I'd do it tomorrow and I'd do it the next day."

The irony of Knight lecturing a teenager on manners could not have been lost on millions of viewers. But if Knight meant to be wry, his face never betrayed it.

Knight, a 59-year-old Hall of Famer, used the forum to announce that "I want to coach in the worst way," and he all but begged athletic directors to call him. Knight also attacked his accusers, calling former Hoosier Neil Reed and Indiana athletic department secretary Jeannette Hartgraves liars and questioning the credibility of Brand and other Indiana officials. And he rambled about his personal philosophy.

"I've never looked at myself like others tried to," Knight said. "I have always felt that I've got to be me. I can't be something that someone is trying to construct. I can't be someone I'm not to satisfy people. I try to be fair. I try to be honest. I have a philosophy about things that differs from people and I think that's a basic problem in this situation."

While Knight looked back on his shattered career Tuesday, the Hoosier basketball program looked ahead. Indiana named assistant coach Mike Davis its interim head coach for the 2000-01 season.

Indiana's players had said they would desert the program if Davis or fellow assistant John Treloar weren't promoted. It now appears Indiana will have most, if not all, of its roster back when preseason practice opens next month.

"There was no way I could turn this job down," said Davis, 40, who was surrounded by the team at a Bloomington press conference. "I'm sad by the way it happened. Everyone knows coach Knight is the reason I'm here and why the players are here."

Treloar will remain as interim associate coach.

Knight wished his former players well but made no mention of Davis.

Indiana will form a committee to search for a permanent successor. Iowa coach Steve Alford, believed to be the Hoosiers' main target, called a press conference Tuesday in Iowa City to announce he did not want to be included in the search.

"This is the last time I'm going to talk about it," said Alford, the native Hoosier who led Indiana to its last national title in 1987. "I'm not going to talk about something that's not going to happen."

Knight's televised session was similar to the interview Knight staged on the cable network in May after Brand fined Knight $30,000, suspended him for three games and placed him under the conduct policy. Knight even wore the same green sports shirt, with Ted Williams' signature stitched on the chest.

The main difference was the venue. Because he no longer works for Indiana, Knight couldn't hold court at center court in Assembly Hall, as he had in the spring; the interview took place a few miles from campus, with Jeremy Schaap replacing Roy Firestone and Digger Phelps as Knight's questioner.

Schaap is the son of veteran broadcaster Dick Schaap, a longtime Knight backer.

At one point Knight accused the younger Schaap of interrupting his answers. Knight never raised his voice, but he provided viewers with a glimpse of the Knight reporters have known for years  --  touchy, sarcastic and unwilling to address straightforward questions.

Knight rebutted each of the incidents Brand enumerated Sunday as reasons for Knight's dismissal, including charges that Knight had refused to participate in alumni functions and work with Indiana Athletic Director Clarence Doninger. Knight also denied he had orally abused a high-ranking female school official in a dispute over arrangements to extract the fine from his paycheck.

Knight also accused Reed of lying; Reed's accusation, supported by videotape, that Knight choked him in a 1997 practice triggered the university investigation that led to the "zero-tolerance" policy.

Knight also indicated that Hartgraves had been untruthful. Hartgraves, 64, reportedly told her bosses she felt threatened when Knight shattered a vase against a wall behind her.

"What we're talking about is interpretation," Knight said. "Communication has not been particularly good here."

Indeed, that was Brand's contention when he asked Knight to remain on campus last weekend while Indiana police completed their investigation into the incident involving the student, Kent Harvey, who since has gone on a trip with his family and might be looking at other schools to attend. Knight decided to go fishing instead.

Indiana officials have told reporters that Knight had been repeatedly warned since May that his behavior was out of line. Knight denied that too.

Asked why he didn't resign instead of accepting unfair or ill-defined guidelines, Knight replied, "I don't know. Maybe I was dumb. It's not an unusual thing for me to be dumb on occasion. In retrospect, that was maybe exactly the thing that I should have done."

Instead, Knight let Indiana fire him and buy out the last two years of his $170,000-per-year contract. He promised that he would coach again and said he already has been contacted by representatives of schools he refused to name.

"You know, I haven't retired," Knight said. "I'm an unemployed teacher right now, and I'm looking for a place to teach."