Knight fired for "unacceptable behavior"
INDIANAPOLIS - Bob Knight's temper finally did him in.
The Indiana basketball coach, already in trouble for a history of misconduct, was fired yesterday by the school for a "pattern of unacceptable behavior."
University president Myles Brand, who announced the firing at a news conference, called Knight "defiant and hostile" and said the coach had shown a "continued unwillingness" to work within the guidelines of the athletic department.
Knight had been warned in May about his behavior during three tumultuous decades at Indiana, where he won three national titles as one of the game's best coaches but also one of its most volatile. But his behavior became even worse since then, Brand said.
The final confrontation came last week when Knight grabbed a student by the arm to lecture him about manners at Assembly Hall.
The coach had been ordered to abide by a "zero-tolerance" conduct policy, which included no "inappropriate" physical contact with students.
"He did not fulfill the promises he gave me," Brand said.
Knight had the option of resigning but refused, the school president said. Brand stressed that Knight's run-in with 19-year-old freshman Kent Harvey on Thursday was not the only reason for the dismissal of the 59-year-old Hall of Fame coach.
"If that was the only instance that took place you would not be here today," Brand told reporters.
Knight held a news conference Friday to explain his side of the story.
The coach said he didn't curse at Harvey, stepson of a Knight critic and former local talk radio show host, but did briefly hold his arm and lecture him.
The teen-ager had said, "Hey, what's up, Knight?" as they crossed paths at the basketball arena, a greeting the coach deemed disrespectful.
Brand said he stood by his decision for not firing Knight in May and for instituting the conduct policy, calling it the "ethical and moral thing to do" because of Knight's contributions to the school.
"I still believe we had to give him one last chance," Brand said. "He failed to live up to that. That was his decision."
"His unacceptable behavior not only continued since then but increased."
The search for a new coach will begin immediately and Brand said he did not yet have any candidates. Knight, who reportedly was in Canada, where he often goes hunting and fishing, will be paid for the final two years of his contract.
Besides his three NCAA championships, Knight led the Hoosiers to 11 Big Ten titles and coached the U.S. men's basketball team to the gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
But his behavior, which has included verbal and physical abuse of players, has been a problem and often an embarrassment since he took over the Hoosiers in 1971.
Knight has one of the game's most notorious tempers throwing chairs across the court, stuffing a fan in a garbage can, scuffling with Puerto Rico police and kicking his own son on the bench.
Last spring, he was accused of choking one of his players during practice in 1997, an act caught on videotape. Following a school investigation into that claim and others, Indiana warned Knight that he must adhere to the conduct policy.
