Coach Gives His Side of the Story on Knightly News

He held up well under scrutiny, kept his composure and tried to answer most of the questions.

Bob Knight?

No, Jeremy Schaap.

In cable’s answer to reality television, ESPN gave Knight one hour and a live microphone Tuesday to respond to his Sunday firing as basketball coach at Indiana University.

Knight basically said what Indiana President Myles Brand said Sunday: It was time for Knight to go.

“My mistake was over-staying my situation,” Knight told ESPN’s Schaap.

Knight said he should have quit in May when Brand allowed Knight to stay on the condition he adhere to a “zero tolerance” behavior policy.

Knight agreed to the edict, but said leaving the program after 29 years would have been the better option.

“In retrospect, that’s exactly the thing I should have done,” he said. “I didn’t do it because of the kids I have here. The kids came here to play for me.”

As he did in his May interview with Roy Firestone, Knight sometimes bullied his way through the interview, frequently chastising Schaap for interrupting him.

Along the way, Knight challenged several of Brand’s claims.

On Sunday, Brand said last week’s arm-grabbing incident involving Indiana freshman Kent Harvey was only one of several breaches of the zero-tolerance edict that led to Knight’s dismissal.

Knight claimed no one ever explained the policy to him.

“I have no idea what zero tolerance is,” Knight said. “They never said anything. If I get a technical foul, is that zero tolerance?”

Knight said he and his wife, Nancy, would leave Bloomington but that he would like to coach again.

“I haven’t retired,” Knight said. “I’m an unemployed teacher now and I’m looking for a place to teach.”

He added, “I want to coach in the worst way,” and “If I had to put occupation on my passport, it would say ‘teacher. Teacher/coach.’ ”

Knight acknowledged he is not the right man for every school, saying, “Very few of us are men for all seasons.”

In a Tuesday interview with the Sporting News, Knight said he would consider an offer from Isiah Thomas to help coach the Indiana Pacers.

Thomas, the Pacers’ new coach, starred on Knight’s 1981 national title team.

In other news on the Knight front, Indiana named assistant Mike Davis as the Hoosiers’ interim coach after several players threatened to leave the program if Davis was not promoted.

Dane Fife, a junior guard who announced Monday he was leaving the program in the wake of Knight’s firing, changed his mind and said he will stay.

Iowa Coach Steve Alford, thought to be a prime candidate to become Indiana’s permanent coach, held a news conference to say is not interested in the job.

What will Knight do in the interim?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I may go fishing tomorrow. I may work on my offense tomorrow. I may go look at some tape tomorrow. Never a day goes by that I don’t work on basketball.”

Knight said he is not embarrassed over the actions that led to his departure.

“No, not at all,” he said. “What I am is proud. Proud of what our basketball program turned out at Indiana. Just so proud of the kind of kid we turned out here and the kind of men these kids turned into.”

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T.J. Simers

Why would anyone want their child to be with someone who hasn’t learned a thing? Page 2

The New Man

Mike Davis is promoted to fill Knight’s shoes, at least for one season. Page 8