Former Hoosiers coach Bob Knight battling undisclosed illness

ByABC News
April 3, 2023, 3:29 PM

Former Indiana Hoosiers coach Bob Knight was hospitalized over the weekend with an undisclosed illness, according to an email sent to former Indiana basketball players Friday. 

The email asked for prayers and said the former coach hoped to return home soon. He was not listed as a patient on Monday at two hospitals in Bloomington, Indiana, where he lives. 

The university did not have an update on Knight's condition Monday.

The 82-year-old Knight won three national championships, 11 Big Ten titles and 662 games at Indiana before being fired in September 2000 after he allegedly grabbed a student by the arm in a hallway. The incident violated a zero-tolerance policy instituted by the university following an investigation into accusations of physical and verbal abuse made by former player Neil Reed, who died of a heart attack in 2012.

Texas Tech hired Knight in 2001, and he stayed there until retiring in 2008 with a then-Division I-record 902 career wins.

Knight was succeeded by his son, Pat, at Texas Tech and moved back to Bloomington in 2019. Then, after vowing never to return to an Indiana University event, he relented on that promise by attending the Hoosiers' game against Purdue in February 2020, joined by dozens of his former players and former Purdue coach Gene Keady.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.