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For more than 90 minutes Thursday night, Bob Knight recounted tales from his coaching days, stories from the recruiting trail, lessons he passed along to players and, oh yes, even a new critique of the NCAA.
Bobby Knight said integrity is lacking in college basketball and cited Kentucky coach John Calipari as an example.
"We've gotten into this situation where integrity is really lacking and that's why I'm glad I'm not coaching," he said. "You see we've got a coach at Kentucky who put two schools on probation and he's still coaching. I really don't understand that."
Knight also criticized a proposed tournament expansion to 96 teams, saying nobody should get a bye in the NCAA tournament.
He urged the governing body's administration to require tournament teams to submit eligibility reports, an effort to assure that players who are competing in postseason games have been attending classes and earning acceptable grades.
"And very few people know this, but a kid can play the first semester as a freshman, pass six hours of anything and play in the NCAA tournament without ever attending a class in the second semester. I don't think that's right."
Knight also said he was glad to be out of coaching because he no longer had to deal with poor officials or incompetent administrators.
Just like old times, except this speech had some poignant moments, too.
"You know, I've always been a Kenny Rogers fan and I always liked that song where he says 'You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run,"' Knight said. "I've tried to follow that philosophy, and I should have run at Indiana when the trustees and the administration had gotten too far apart and that's probably as much my fault as it was theirs."
Knight, who wore a green sweater, instead of his trademark red one, said he had been advised by three different people early in his career that he was too strong-willed to stay at Indiana forever. Instead of heeding that advice, though, Knight said he couldn't find a better basketball environment and stayed right up until the moment Myles Brand fired him in September 2000.
It's close as Knight has gotten to admitting he may have made a mistake in Bloomington.
Those who paid $50 for the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame didn't come to hear Knight offer regrets, they came to hear the man they still revere and Knight welcomed the two standing ovations he received.
"I'll always take great pleasure in having been part of the heritage of basketball in Indiana," he said.
It was a rare trip to the state where Knight was treated like a royalty, and it was his first public appearance in Indiana since skipping his own induction into the Indiana University Hall of Fame last month.
Before the induction, new athletic director Fred Glass made a personal plea to reunite The General and the university, to no avail. Knight said then that he didn't want to distract from the induction of others into the Hall of Fame.
It may not have been the only reason he didn't go.
"I would have loved to have seen him back for the induction," said longtime broadcaster Chuck Marlowe, who writes to Knight on a regular basis. "But he explained to me that 'You do know there are still reasons why I cannot do it."'
Marlowe was one of the friends hoping Thursday night's appearance may open the door to getting Knight and the university back together.
"I think somewhere along the line, there will be a relationship renewed that will bring him back into a relationship with IU," Marlowe said.
But Knight is in town on a business trip. He is scheduled to be an analyst on ESPN's broadcast of the Xavier-Butler game Saturday afternoon.
The fiery coach set a Division I record with 902 wins before retiring at Texas Tech, winning three national championships at Indiana and the hearts of many Hoosiers fans with his outspokenness.
Before dinner, Knight took pictures with fans and signed autographs, and he spent much of the speech telling tales about former players, like Quinn Buckner and Scott May, who were in attendance and some, like former Army player Mike Krzyzewski, who were not.
That drew plenty of laughter from a loyal fan base that nearly sold out all the tickets in less than three weeks.
"He was very gracious and easy to work with," Hall of Fame executive director Chris May said. "I think he's very excited to be back with his old friends from Indiana."
Clearly, though, Indiana basketball carries a special fondness.
"There is nobody in the history of coaching who knows how hard and how intelligently his players played," Knight said. "That was my joy in life."
Photo: Bob Knight speaks at a fund-aising dinner for the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. (AP / Tom Strickland)
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of course, that particular coach who got his schools in trouble, wasn't the actual reason those schools got in trouble..a fact that keeps getting omitted from these rants of those who would like to continue to defame Calipari...Camby took money from an agent (without Calipari's knowledge or involvement) after his career at UMass was complete (much like Roy Williams giving post-career gifts to his graduating Seniors at Kansas, getting in trouble for it...but not being put on probation...which seems a bit slanted...but then again, the NCAA has not been fair in it's handing down of punishments before, so why change)...and as for Calipari's latest "troubles"...Rose takes an SAT (or in fact, doesn't) gets cleared by the NCAA to play...Calipari then plays him...only to find out that the NCAA made a mistake and then wished to punish the school for following what the NCAA told them...huh???...Memphis is appealing, and should win their appeal...now..Colin Cowherd even stated that Calipari should have been at the testing site when Rose took his SAT (not realizing of course that that would have been a major recruiting violation--in which Calipari would have been in trouble for--and lost Rose as well)... so it's clear that the National Media (at least most who continue to rant on about Calipari being a cheater) have no idea what they are talking about...and seeing as how Calipari still has 0 infractions with the NCAA, only factual evidence should be used to convict the man of a crime he obviously hasn't committed...but that wouldn't be Bob Knight now would it...I think it's funny that this is the type of man that can give advice to someone who is innocent, all the while being the one who was fired from his job as IU's coach for behavior un-becoming...maybe if Calipari just slapped or choked his kids he could shake the unfair label he has acquired...then, and maybe only then would the "quality" individuals like Bobby Knight would leave him alone...it's a joke... I have decided to write a book detailing all of the infractions made by coaches in Division I basketball programs (and surprisingly Calipari's name isn't one of them--while some more luminous names are)...funny...
As usual, whenever Knight is in the news, the litany of "sins" is rolled out...usually a mixture of things that did happen (flung a chair onto the court) to head-scratchers ("punching players"? Maybe confusing him with Woody Hayes?). But all of the ad hominem attacks don't change the validity of his points in this speech: 1) Why CAN a coach who gets a school in to hot water just pack up and go on to the next lucrative stopover?, and 2) The "one-and-done" rule is obviously a joke. How about addressing those issues here instead of more useless mewling about what an awful bwute Bobby is?
I was never a fan of coach Knight but he is who he is and that's that. He says what he has to say and that's fine.
I must admit that he is not a fan of mine. (ha ha)
Remember Greg Oden @ OSU a few years back? In the 2nd semester of his freshman (only) year he had two courses - Sociology and the History of Rock and Roll.
Source - Sports Illustrated.
Some role model, kicking players, punching players, choking players, tossing chairs on the court and then quitting on his team in order to nepotism his son into the job at Texas Tech.
Knight's criticism of Kentucky Coach, Cal, are laughable coming from one of the most abusive people in the history of coaching at any level of any sport! He is as close to a dispicable human being as they come!
Despite several of Bob Knight's coaching motivation "tools" in the past, how can you not have the upmost respect for him? I know I do because he knows what is right for college basketball and isn't afraid of saying it. He is totally correct in saying "how does this guy (Calipari) still have a coaching job (after putting two schools on probation). There are a lot of things wrong with college basketball and it keeps going downhill. He is also correct about the referring. It has gone downhill really fast and is totally influenced by rankings and TV ratings.
Great comments Bobby. Why is Caliperi aloud to coach? How can kids fail or not take courses and play in the tournament?
These, mostly african american kids, needs to be given an education. They earn so much money for their schools. This is part of the problem in America!