| | Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana coach Bob Knight has "one last
chance" to keep his job and control his famous temper.
Suspended, fined and ordered to apologize, Knight saved his job
Monday by saying he will try to change his ways following an
investigation into a claim that he choked a player in 1997.
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Knight's statement
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As read by Indiana University trustees
president John D. Walda at Monday's news conference:
"President Myles Brand, in a meeting with me, gave me a set of
guidelines he expects me to follow if I want to continue as Indiana
University's basketball coach.
"I have absolutely no problem with the guidelines. The
establishment of effective and proper guidelines can in the long
run help me become a better coach.
"As I have said before, I recognize that I have a problem with my
temper. For those times it has ever caused me to do anything that
gave anyone understandable and justifiable reason to be upset, I am
sincerely sorry."
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Any act that violates a supervised "zero-tolerance policy" or
is deemed to be embarrassing to the university will result in his
immediate dismissal, said university president Myles Brand.
Knight's longtime "pattern of inappropriate behavior ... cannot
and will not be tolerated," Brand said.
Knight must sit out three regular-season games next season, pay
a $30,000 fine, and issue an apology to the athletic department
secretary he berated and threatened in two incidents.
"Any failure on Coach Knight's part to meet these standards
will be cause for further sanctions, up to and including
termination," Brand said.
The seven-week investigation followed accusations by former
player Neil Reed, who said Knight choked him during a practice that
was caught on videotape. During the inquiry, other accusations of
verbal and physical abuse emerged.
Knight, who has won three national championships in his 29 years
at the school, did not attend the news conference. Leaving his
office in Assembly Hall in Bloomington shortly before the news
conference, Knight declined to talk to reporters.
"Why talk now when so many things have been said without ever
giving me a chance to talk?" Knight said as he walked away.
However, Knight was repeatedly asked to comment on the events and
the investigation in recent weeks, but consistently declined.
Trustee John Walda read a statement to reporters in Indianapolis
in which Knight said: "I recognize I have a problem with my
temper. ... I am sincerely sorry."
Walda said the inquiry, which included interviews with 29 people
and help from a private investigator and a videotape expert, did
not conclude that Reed was choked.
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But Walda said Knight clearly grabbed Reed by the neck, and that
in itself was wrong.
Reed, appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Monday night,
called the university's handling of his situation "shady."
"I was basically discarded and almost run out of town" after
reporting the choking incident, he said.
"They did conduct an investigation, but it was an oral
investigation and there was no written record of it," Reed said.
Athletics director Clarence Doninger, who was involved in a fight
with Knight after a loss to Ohio State in February, expressed
skepticism the coach will be able to change his behavior. Doninger
also
said he was annoyed that he had not been included in the
decision-making process.
Doninger, assigned to head the committee that will set
boundaries for Knight's behavior, said he hasn't decided whether he
will stay at IU.
Some faculty also were skeptical that Knight will change.
"It's going to continue and continue," said English professor
Murray Sperber, an outspoken critic of Knight. "This is a horrible
hit for the image of the university."
An expert in anger management said Knight will find it
"extremely difficult" to control his temper over time.
"The real test of his behavior will be six months from now when
he's got his team behind closed doors," said psychologist Dennis
Marikis, an anger management consultant in Ohio.
Yet Brand felt it was important to allow the 59-year-old coach
to return.
"I think the ethical approach is to give him one last chance,"
he said.
"He has given me his word that he will take extraordinary steps
to change behavior. We have established tough, specific guidelines
to send a clear message that abusive and embarrassing behavior will
not be tolerated."
Brand detailed the sanctions one day after trustees met in
private to discuss their investigation into Knight's behavior. The
trustees then turned over Knight's fate to Brand.
"There are no sacred cows at Indiana University and that
certainly includes the basketball program," Walda said.
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Going forward for Knight
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Speaking to ESPN.com before Monday's announcement, assistant coach Mike Davis was confident Knight would retain his job.
"He's going to stay," said Davis, a three-year assistant who is one of the key recruiting members of the staff.
Davis said he spoke with Knight on Sunday and the two discussed recruiting and the 2000-01 team. Davis said the staff met with Knight on Monday to go over their assignments before Knight leaves on a scheduled trip to Scotland. Knight spent Monday morning on a turkey hunt.
Davis said he and Knight talked Sunday about the Hoosiers' chances to win next year and in the future.
"He wants to get this team to a national championship and nothing he said indicated he wasn't planning on being here," Davis said of the 59-year old Knight, who is 116 wins shy of former North Carolina coach Dean Smith's all-time win record of 879.
The Hoosiers have the bulk of their team returning with forwards Jeff Newton and Kirk Haston joining incoming forwards George Leach and McDonald's All-American Jared Jeffries. Guards Dane Fife and Kyle Hornsby and newcomers Andre Owens and A.J. Moye will be in the lineup, too.
The Hoosiers also have a commitment from forward Kei Madison at Iowa Western College and are on the verge of landing a "big-time guard," according to one source close to the program.
"Coach wants to stay because this group will be too good the next couple of years," Davis said. "They would be too good to break up. Coach loves coaching. Coach has a commitment to the players coming in and they have a commitment to him."
-- Andy Katz, ESPN.com
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Brand said he met with Knight on Saturday to discuss his future,
then met with him again before making a decision.
"The conversation I had with Bob was clearly unique," he said.
"I had never seen him before contrite and apologetic."
He said he had considered firing Knight.
"As the discussion proceeded and Bob expressed the view that he
very much wanted to change his behavior ... then we began to talk
about sanctions," Brand said.
On Saturday, the day before the trustees' meeting, Knight issued
a statement in which he first apologized for his temper and
acknowledged he needs to be "more diplomatic." He did not
apologize to individuals or for specific episodes.
The Hall of Fame coach guided the U.S. Olympic team to a gold
medal in 1984. But his successes often were overshadowed by his
bullying behavior on and off the court _ from throwing a chair to
profane outbursts against the media, players, fans and university
employees.
In March, Brand appointed two trustees to investigate Reed's
accusation.
Reed left the program in 1997 and transferred to Southern
Mississippi after claiming he was physically and mentally abused by
Knight. He did not elaborate in public at the time, but an
interview with CNN/Sports Illustrated, aired just before the start
of this year's NCAA tournament in March, led to the investigation.
Indiana ended up losing its first-round NCAA game against
Pepperdine, putting Knight's overall record, including six years at
Army, at 763-290. He is 661-240 and has won 11 Big Ten titles with
the Hoosiers.
Other charges that surfaced during the investigation included
one in which Knight allegedly attacked assistant coach Ron Felling
in November. Felling left the team five days later.
Knight also reportedly clashed with Doninger after a loss late
last season. A university secretary, Jeanette Hartgraves, said that
12 years ago Knight threw a vase that shattered near her, and that
in 1998 he cursed her and had to be restrained by Doninger.
Brand said Knight would apologize to Hartgraves and Doninger.
"I'm happy," said Jarrod Odle, one of three Indiana players at
the news conference. "Coach is going to have to make a change, and
he's going to have to do things different. But overall we've still
got our coach and we've still got our team, and I think we can work
through it."
Knight's flare-ups are storied. Among them:
In 1979, Knight was convicted in absentia and sentenced to six
months in jail for hitting a Puerto Rican policeman during the Pan
Am Games. Then-Gov. Otis Bowen refused to extradite him, and the
government of Puerto Rico in 1987 dropped efforts to have him
returned.
Two years later, at the 1981 NCAA finals in Philadelphia,
Knight was involved in a hotel shoving match with an LSU fan who
said Knight stuffed him in a garbage can.
During the 1984-85 season, he threw a chair across the court
during a game against Purdue. Knight was ejected and suspended for
one game and later apologized.
He was suspended for one game in 1993 after a sideline tirade
in a home victory against Notre Dame. Knight screamed at his
player-son, Pat, and then appeared to kick him in the leg. When
fans behind the Indiana bench started booing, Knight turned and
responded with an obscenity.
The next season, he accidentally head-butted player Sherron
Wilkerson during a timeout at Michigan State. After the next game,
the Hoosiers' home finale against Wisconsin, Knight took the public
address microphone and recited a profane verse directed at his
critics.
In 1995, he was reprimanded and fined $30,000 by the NCAA for
a profane outburst at a postgame news conference in the NCAA
tournament.
He was fined $10,000 by the Big Ten in 1998 for berating
referee Ted Valentine, whose officiating Knight called "the
greatest travesty" he had seen in his coaching career. | |
ALSO SEE
Katz: Trustees change tune
Forde: Reliving 'ChokeMania'
Knight's son on ordeal: 'This will never be over'
Indiana AD says rift with Knight exaggerated
Ratto: Hoosiers had no choice
Garber: Belichick sees different Knight
 Aldridge: Knight, Spree, why is it different?
Vitale: Time to move on
Kreidler: Promises of another dark Knight
Bilas: Knight, IU both to blame
Katz: All eyes on Knight starting now
Henson backs Indiana's decision to keep Knight
Players relieved to hear Knight still on job
On campus, they're glad Knight's still in charge
User comments on Bob Knight's punishment
What they're saying
Stats Class: Knight in the NCAA Tournament
Bob Knight career timeline
Audio chat wrap: Digger Phelps 
AUDIO/VIDEO
 IU president Myles Brand announces sanctions against Bob Knight.
RealVideo: 28.8
Gary Miller goes Up Close with Dick Vitale and Murray Sperber to discuss Bob Knight.
RealVideo: 28.8
 Indiana president Myles Brand explains the university's policy on Bob Knight.
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Myles Brand explains why Knight was not fired.
wav: 247 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Recruit Jared Jeffries just wants to play for Bob Knight.
wav: 298 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
John Walda talks with ESPN's Bob Ley about Bob Knight.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Dr. Murray Sperber is disappointed that Bob Knight still has a job.
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Andy Katz answers questions from Shelly Smith on the punishment of Bob Knight.
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Michael Jordan points out Bob Knight's knowledge of basketball.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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