Bobby Knight Returns to Campus
B L O O M I N G T O N, Ind., Sept. 11 -- An angry Bobby Knight returned to Indiana University Sunday night promising to tell his side of the story that led to his dismissal.
“I’m gonna tell you my side of this thing,” the former Hoosiers basketball coach told students through a megaphone. “And I think you’ll be interested to hear it.”
The crowd of thousands cheered his remarks. Knight said he would get together with as many students as possible in the coming days.
Knight, who served as Indiana’s coach for 29 years, was fired Sunday after a long history of temper problems — and after the university warned him earlier this year that any more outbursts would lead to his dismissal. He is accused of grabbing and cursing at a student last week.
Mob Scene
The crowd had gathered in front of the residence of school President Myles Brand, who announced the dismissal Sunday morning. The mob burned Brand in effigy, and several students were arrested for interfering with police.
But the small group of Bloomington police officers had a hard time controlling the thousands that gathered, and efforts to contain the students appeared only to anger them; at one point, the crowd tore a lamppost down.
”We love him... we’ve put our lives on the line for him to get him back here and things didn’t turn out the way we wanted it,” said one unidentified student. “We had a unique thing and now it’s gone. We’re happy to play for him, and we hope we have a lot of loyalty to him after this.”
‘Unacceptable Behavior’
On Sunday, Brand called Knight’s behavior “uncivil, defiant and unacceptable.”
“I’ve been in higher education for 30 years … unquestionably, this is the most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make,” Brand said. “Bob Knight is a legendary coach at a school with a legendary basketball reputation.”
At a news conference, Brand cited Knight’s “unacceptable pattern of behavior” that violated the university’s “zero-tolerance” policy, including verbally abusing a high-ranking female university official and “gross insubordination.”
