Bob Knight Rips Former Indiana Hoosiers Men’s Basketball Brass


Former Indiana Hoosiers men’s basketball coach Bob Knight had some serious words Friday for administrators for whom he worked in his 29-years in Bloomington.

Known as one of the most boisterous and explosive basketball coaches of all time, Knight told radio host Dan Patrick he hopes his former bosses are all dead. He also said he has no plans to return to IU, a place that made him an icon. There are some things, however, Knight said he enjoyed at Indiana, but that is where it ends.

“Well, I think I’ve always really enjoyed the fans,” Bob Knight said on the Dan Patrick Show. “I always will. On my dying day, I will think about how great the fans at Indiana were. And as far as the hierarchy at Indiana University at that time, I have absolutely no respect whatsoever for those people. With that in mind, I have no interest in ever going back to that university.”

“Aren’t those people all out of there, coach?” Patrick asked.

I hope they’re all dead,” Knight quipped.

“Many of them are,” the host said.

“I hope the rest of them go,” Knight continued.

Knight guided the Indiana Hoosiers to three national championships, and was fired in 2000. Late guard Neil Reed claimed the coach choked him during the 1997 season. Athletic Director Clarence Doninger, who had several run-ins with Knight, said Knight physically threatened him.

Knight’s time as Hoosiers head coach were numbered after that. Damage to university property during an outburst with a staffer was another black mark against the coach. Then, on Sept. 10, 2000, two days after a freshman member of the basketball team brought assault allegations against him, Bob Knight was fired as Indiana’s men’s basketball coach.

Knight also coached Texas Tech from 2001-08, and worked for ESPN as a college basketball analyst.

It was the undefeated 1976 season that made Knight a college basketball icon. No other NCAA men’s basketball team has gone unbeaten and won the national championship since.

Knight often propelled himself into controversial situations. In a 1985 game against Purdue, Knight flung a chair onto the court while Boilermakers guard Steve Reid was shooting free throws. Reid was sent to the line after Knight screamed at a referee six minutes into the contest and was called for a technical foul. Knight received two more technicals for the sailing chair and was ejected from the game.

And basketball brass allowed Bob Knight to stay.

The decision turned out to be a good one for the Indiana program. Just as Knight’s Hoosiers of 1981, his 1987 basketball squad emerged from the 1986-87 season with the NCAA men’s title. Knight took his 1991-92 team to the Final Four, only to fall to Duke by a score of 81-78.

Knight recalled other Indiana Hoosier basketball memories Friday.

“There was only one thing that would be the thing that they could always be proud of,” Knight told Patrick. “That was to go undefeated for the entire season. Not winning the Big Ten or winning the national championship or anything, but to go completely undefeated. I told them that the day before practice started. On Friday afternoon, we met in the locker room and I said, ‘This is the goal that you people should get to, because there may be no better group that ever does it. But you are capable of doing it.'”

Todd Jadlow, who played for Knight from 1985-89, said several players were abused by the coach. Indiana officials claim the accusations against Knight are false.

[Featured Image by Gary Mook/Getty Images]

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