LUBBOCK, Texas – Before Texas Tech officials decide whether
to make an offer to Bob Knight, dozens of faculty members want to
make their opinions known.
At least 79 faculty members out of roughly 900 have added their names to a petition
against hiring the fired Indiana coach before Knight's three-day
visit to the campus, which began Thursday afternoon.
Asked about the petition Wednesday night on Bob Costas' "On the
Record" show on HBO, Knight said it was the first he'd heard of
it.
"I'm not sure I know a single person or have ever met a single
person on the Texas Tech faculty," he said. "And I would
certainly, if I coached there, reserve judgment about the faculty
until I meet them."
A few hours earlier, associate professor of philosophy Walter
Schaller turned in the petition at Tech president David Schmidly's
office. University spokeswoman Cindy Rugeley said Schmidly was out
of town on Wednesday and had not seen the petition.
However, she said, "he has emphasized that faculty opinion
certainly would be taken into consideration."
In the 2,000-plus-word e-mail, Schaller argues that Knight's
ability to build a clean and winning program should not outweigh
his repeated misconduct.
"Having Mr. Knight as the basketball coach at Texas Tech would
bring much negative publicity and damage our reputation in ways
that are completely unnecessary," Schaller wrote. "At a minimum,
the announcement of his hiring would be accompanied by the film
clip in which he throws a chair across the basketball court, except
this time the name of Texas Tech would be attached to such
antics."
Earlier in the day, athletic director Gerald Myers said he was
not aware of the petition.
Knight, a Hall of Fame coach who led Indiana to three national
championships, was invited to visit the campus by Myers, a longtime
friend. He planned to address the media at an early evening news
conference, but will not take questions.
Whether he ends up succeeding James Dickey, fired last week
after Tech's fourth straight losing season, "depends on how they
feel and how I feel about the things that we talk about," Knight
told Costas.
"I obviously think there are some things that are necessary in
the building of a basketball program that can be successful," he
said. "If they think and I think that those are the same things,
then we'll just see what happens."
Pat Knight, now an assistant coach at Akron, told The Associated
Press on Thursday he wasn't concerned about the petitions and that
he believes his father will take the job if offered.
"I think if he likes it, he's going to take it," the younger
Knight said. "I know he likes the situation. We were there last
year and he made a comment about what a nice facility it is. I know
he likes coach Myers and that coach Myers is somebody he can trust.
That factors into it huge, especially after what happened last
year.
"You know for him to go down there, it has to be close," he
said. "He wouldn't go down there for nothing. If he's going down
there, it's got to be pretty close in his mind."
Bob Knight's 29-year reign at Indiana ended in September when he
was fired for violating a zero-tolerance behavior policy when he
grabbed a freshman student by the arm to lecture him on manners.
In Lubbock, T-shirt vendors began cashing in on the dispute.
"Mr. Knight, we love your style!" read one shirt. "Techsans
for Knight! Supporting discipline and the American Work Ethic!"
Shouted another: "Put the kids to bed and glue down the chairs,
KNIGHT TIME, is coming."
One vendor said he had sold about 1,200 shirts in support of
Knight at two Lubbock shops, by phone and online.
"They're excited about having a winner here at Tech," said
Stephen Spiegelberg, vice president of retail operations for Red
Raider Outfitter.
As for the "Put the kids to bed" shirts, Campus Design manager
Stephanie Massengale said they weren't bashing Knight, just
"making something fun out of it."
"We did have one customer who said, `I don't like him, and this
seems like it's slamming him, so I'm going to buy it,"' Massengale
said.
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AUDIO VIDEO
 Bob Knight's statement from Texas Tech.
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 Bob Knight would hope that the Texas Tech faculty would reserve judgment of him until they meet him. (courtesy HBO Sports)
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The Tony Kornheiser Show: After Tony admitted to once having wanted to hit Andy Katz with a snow shovel, the two chat about Bob Knight.
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