Knight Chooses to Pay $10,000 Fine Over Incident

L.A. Times Archives

March 12, 1998 12 AM PT

Associated Press

Bob Knight paid $10,000 to coach one game--and never thought twice about doing so.

“Unless I was broke,” he said, “which I’m not.”

Rather than give up his seat on the Indiana bench for today’s NCAA tournament opener against Oklahoma, Knight chose to pay the Big Ten fine himself for haranguing a referee.

The referee was punished too. The Big Ten placed restrictions on his conference assignments next season, a penalty which did not seem to impress Knight.

“It simply means that he’ll officiate games in other conferences instead,” said Knight, who had been given a choice of a one-game suspension or the fine by the Big Ten.

Referee Ted Valentine was censured by the Big Ten for improperly calling a technical during the Indiana-Illinois game. He will not be allowed to work games involving Big Ten teams during the nonconference part of the 1998-99 season.

Big Ten associate commissioner Rich Falk, citing NCAA policy, would not say where, or if, Valentine was officiating during the NCAA tournament. Such decisions are not disclosed until 20 minutes before gametime.

Valentine called three technicals against Knight and ejected the coach during the Feb. 24 game. Knight called Valentine’s officiating the “greatest travesty” he had seen in his 33 years as a college coach.

The Big Ten said the first and third technicals assessed against Knight by Valentine were proper. But the second technical was “clearly erroneous . . . because Knight went onto the floor to attend to an injured player.”

Knight was at his colorful best discussing the incident in Washington.

Asked if anything he did was wrong, he launched into a cryptic answer that dealt with degrees of guilt.

“It isn’t a determination that if a person kills another person, he goes to the electric chair,” Knight said. “There are a lot of different degrees to what happens with something like that. I really don’t think that degrees were applied in this situation.”

This is the third time in Knight’s 27 years at Indiana he has drawn a fine of at least $10,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“Coach Knight has wide latitude in carrying out his responsibilities but also has an obligation to comply with the letter and spirit of conference standards governing sportsmanlike conduct,” Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said. “In this case, Coach Knight’s postgame comments violated conference standards.”

Knight, who earns an estimated $550,000 annually, said the university “reluctantly agreed” to let him to pay the fine.

“The payment will be made under protest and without prejudice with respect to any legal rights that may be asserted by Coach Knight,” the school said.

Stanford women’s forward Kristin Folkl injured her knee during practice, making her doubtful for the NCAA tournament.

Folkl, a second-team All-American, was hurt early in the Tuesday workout during a 3-on-2 drill, Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer said.

Folkl was awaiting the results of an MRI exam.

Folkl’s injury came after forward Vanessa Nygaard announced she would try playing with a fully torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. She was hurt in the second half of Stanford’s final regular-season game Saturday at Oregon State.

A surgeon told her she had torn the ligament, but could play before having surgery at the end of the season.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

FRIDAY’S GAMES

SOUTH REGIONAL

Lexington, Ky.

1. Duke (29-3)*

16. Radford (20-9)

8. Oklahoma State (21-6) 4:30 P.M.

9. George Washington (24-8)

4. New Mexico (23-7)*

13. Butler (22-10)

5. Syracuse (24-8) 9:15 a.m.