Bob Knight Article from 9/10/05

Now he's Lubbock's legend - Indystar.com

Hmmm... Here I thought by this title that this could be a great article... instead it brings up every possible negative about Coach Knight.

Now he's Lubbock's legend

5 years after being fired by IU, Bob Knight has found happiness at Texas Tech

Great tagline... it sucked me in and I wanted to read this.

For Knight himself, in some ways little has changed. In other ways, everything has.

The controversies IU fans came to know so well have continued at his new school, if to a lesser degree. There was the infamous salad-bar confrontation with the chancellor. There was the profanity-laced tirade during a televised interview with former player Steve Alford. He has exploded at players, referees, media.

Hey in 5 years, Coach Knight had 2 "controversies" if you wish to call them that... gotta make sure you mention them in this article.

Knight's 29 years at Indiana produced 662 of those victories, including NCAA titles in 1976, 1981 and 1987. His reign patrolling the sidelines in his red sweater -- one of the signature images in American sports -- ended when then-IU President Myles Brand fired him for violating a "zero-tolerance policy" that had resulted from years of boorish behavior. The final straw was a confrontation with a student who called the coach "Knight" and not "coach Knight."

"Years of boorish behavior" Gotta get that in!

Knight has steadfastly refused interview requests from The Indianapolis Star since the firing, including several from a reporter who traveled to Lubbock two weeks ago. He recently gave an interview to the Cincinnati Enquirer, in which he said, "First time I met Brand, I said, 'This is not going to be good.' I saw who I was working for. I didn't think they were competent, but I thought I could continue. I was wrong."

Oh wait... you mean Mr. Rabjohns didn't actually interview Coach Knight for this article? He was denied? Ahh... sour grapes... that explains this article. I must say I do like the quote from the Enquirer article about Brand. Nice!!!

Six months after the firing, on March 23, 2001, Knight was hired at Texas Tech. Whatever his skeletons, he was embraced with a passion.

Skeletons huh? What were they? Oh wait I'm sure they will get mentioned before the end of the article.

In Lubbock, Knight is as much a celebrity as a coach. He's done commercials for a number of businesses, including one that parodied his infamous chair-throwing incident in a 1985 game against Purdue. In a television spot for McDougal, the real estate firm, Knight throws a generic "For Sale" sign from a yard, and it is replaced by one of McDougal's. One member of the McDougal family, Marc, is the city's mayor.

Hey it didn't take long to mention the chair-throwing incident. I don't understand why people think this was a big deal. It happens all the time in Baseball. At least others see the humor in it and are able to make light of it in commercials.

"Basically everybody goes to the games to see how he's going to act," Aguirre said. "The most talk about him was after that thing at the salad bar. Everyone was scared he was going to leave. You have one of the greatest guys ever to coach basketball. How can you complain?"

Nice quote to choose...

Some do, but by all accounts the dissenting voices have not approached the cacophony heard in Knight's final years at IU.

"Cacophony" eh?? Interesting that the vocal minority be referred to as a cacophony.

Only three incidents at Tech have led to serious negative national attention. In December 2001, Knight, upset over the state of his team's locker room, got into a verbal confrontation with the general manager of the Compaq Center in Houston, allegedly saying, "If you want to settle this right now, let's go out back."

His altercation with Tech Chancellor David Smith on Feb. 2, 2004, started at a salad bar when Knight perceived a comment from Smith to be condescending. According to reports, Knight pursued Smith with "clenched fists." Knight's punishment was a reprimand. His tirade during the interview with Alford the year before brought only embarrassment as newscasts replayed it, along with other incidents from Knight's past.

When Knight was hired at Tech, philosophy Professor Walter Schaller gathered support against the move by e-mailing the school's faculty. Four years later, his stance has softened. "In general, he's gone over pretty well here. He's done well, with some exceptions," Schaller said Friday. "The concerned faculty made its opinion known, and I think we are going to give him a chance."

There you go... had to go into more detail than the simple mention earlier in the article.

That's in stark contrast to former IU Professor Murray Sperber, who often railed against Knight only to receive repeated threats from Hoosier fans.

Oh and it just can't be a complete article about Coach Knight without mention of Murray Sperber. Mr. Rabjohns lost all credibility (not that he really had any) when he brought this guy up... and had to mention the "supposed" threats that Murray Sperber claimed.

"Everyone was scared at first, but he's really improved the program," said Amber DeHay, a Tech senior from Lubbock. "Everyone's really behind him now."

Another nice quote... see a pattern here? Negative to start, but are behind him now. Dude couldn't even get fully negative quotes.

Still, support isn't universal.

Another student eating lunch said he does not back Knight, though he refused to elaborate or give his name, explaining: "It's not smart to say anything bad about Bob Knight around here. I don't want to end up like that kid at Indiana and get run out of my school."

(Kent Harvey, the student involved in the incident that led to Knight's firing, transferred to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, saying in a Chicago Tribune interview that he had received e-mail death threats.)

Perfect... He was able to get a quote that allowed him to bring up Kent Harvey and the "supposed" death threats. Those same death threats that were later denied by Kent Harvey himself... but that wouldn't meet the agenda of the author so that part was left out.

I had such high hopes for this article... stupid me!