One Hoosier's Plea to Coach Knight

A little over a week ago, Indiana University announced it would be inducting Bob Knight into its Hall of Fame. In the nine days since then, there has been no shortage of discussion around the state of Indiana, message boards, newspapers and local talk radio. Normally, the induction of someone with Knight's accolades wouldn't cause such a stir. He won three national championships, 12 Big Ten titles and went to the Final Four fives times in 29 seasons at Indiana. He's currently the winningest coach in Division-I history.

But that doesn't tell the whole story, of course.

Everyone who follows college basketball knows the general story of Knight's ugly divorce from Indiana, as he was dismissed by then-President Myles Brand in September of 2000. Since then, Knight has refused to acknowledge anything about Indiana University or his time there in any public forum. Thus, it's pretty easy to see why there is such a debate on whether or not he'll attend his own induction.

There are a few circumstances that should matter. First of all, everyone who had anything to do with his firing is long gone from the University's administration. The two coaches who followed him didn't do much to embrace the tradition and legacy of Indiana's program. Kelvin Sampson, in particular, reportedly didn't care at all for the history of the great program. Tom Crean, the current head coach, is doing everything he can to stress the program's prestigious past while also looking to the future. He recently spoke about Knight's induction to the University's Hall of Fame.

"I was all for it. It's just a matter of looking out and saying 'Let's get it done.' I think it will be fantastic to be able to walk into that building and have people walk into that building and know that their coach is honored with all of the other greats at Indiana, because certainly it's one thing to have him in the Naismith Hall of Fame, but with everything he did at Indiana, the shelf's not full yet. Let's get the shelf full and get him in there."

Still, will this be enough? Even Knight's biggest fans -- like myself -- have to admit he's among the most stubborn people to ever walk the hardwood, and that's saying something. He feels that everything he built was taken away from him unfairly and is obviously having a hard time putting that behind him. One would hope the athletic department considered his reaction before inducting him to their Hall of Fame. Is it worth inducting someone who will turn his nose up at you? With that question in mind, I personally hope they contacted him before the announcement and told him they wanted him to come. But we don't know if they did that because no one in the know is talking.

The people who are talking seem to all agree on one thing: We don't have the first damn clue whether or not coach will be coming back on November 6 (Induction day).

Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star asked Dick Vitale, who is currently a colleague of Knight's at ESPN. Vitale's answer? "I really don't know." Kravitz also asked Bob Hammel, long known as Knight's most-trusted confidant in a media for whom he mostly carried an outward disdain.

"Ultimately, I don't know what he's going to do, and whatever I eventually tell him, he's going to make up his own mind," said Hammel, who is part of the board that chooses Hall of Fame inductees. "My hope is that he comes and a lot of things can be tied together finally. I think he knows that I'd love for the cloud of tension to lift, and this is a step that might help achieve that."

Insidethehall.com, my favorite Hoosiers basketball blog, has a good compilation of excerpts from around the web.

Peegs.com, the rivals network Indiana affiliate, has posted a few thoughts from fans.

I asked a few of my friends -- fellow alums who attended every home game with me while we were enrolled -- what they thought.

"When I think about whether I want him to show up, I'm conflicted," said one of them. "On one hand, I want the fractured fan base to heal and him publicly acknowledging IU by attending would go a long way in doing that. On the other hand, I'm not sure I want him to show up because his presence would be taking away a lot of attention from the other inductees that certainly deserve considerable attention, too (example: former soccer coach Jerry Yeagley who won SIX national titles and made Indiana University one of the gold standards for college soccer in America). That said, I think the only real acceptable compromise is for him to make a public acknowledgment of thanks and then come receive his induction somewhere down the line at a basketball game or something so that everyone wins. I don't think he'll do that, though, and I also don't think he'll show up. It will be just one more chapter in the tumultuous history of Bob Knight and Indiana University."

"Do I want him to show up? Yes," said the other friend, my college roommate. "He is a hero to all IU fans and should be a part of the big day. The meaning behind the induction wouldn't be the same unless he was there. Many people will show up to see his induction ... I'd think it would be crazy.

"Will he show up? Yes. If he didn't show up I think it would hurt his legacy a bit and would be viewed as a slap in the face to Hoosier fans. He will show up and he will give a great speech and provide some entertainment."

This last quote is kind of an outlier. Through all these debates on message boards and over the radio, from what I can gather, most people either believe Knight will refuse to attend the festivities or just have the same feelings as Vitale (the "I don't know" camp).

Yes, Knight, like everyone else, has flaws. But he's not the monster many, from afar, think he is. I had the pleasure of meeting him once and was too intimidated to say anything. If you didn't grow up in Indiana in the late-80s, you don't know why I should be intimidated. You see, the Indiana Pacers and Indianapolis Colts were both irrelevant at the time. The Indianapolis 500 was a huge event but happened only once a year. In the State of Indiana, Bob Knight was king, a deity of sorts. You could identify his picture before you could read. So, yeah, I clammed up. I did get a second chance, though, the next week as I was walking to my locker room (I played baseball, and our locker room was in Assembly Hall). We arrived at the front door at nearly the same time. I made sure to be respectful, saying, "Hi, Coach Knight, how are you?" He replied and was incredibly nice. He asked what I was doing, then asked how I was adjusting to college ball. He didn't have to respond. Instead, he was genuinely caring and offered up a few nuggets of advice on adjusting to college life during our short conversation.

I tell this story to illustrate what I've heard from many who have met him. He was a nice person to legions of people, and the times he wasn't were the ones plastered across sports pages across the nation. If he was the out of control maniac many believe him to be, why is he showing such respect and being so nice to the Matt Snyders of the world? I'm a nobody, as are thousands of others he treated well.

Knight, on the other hand, is definitely somebody. A big somebody. He used to be the most famous person in Indiana. He's still toward the top of the list. Sure, he's a polarizing figure, but no one can deny what he meant to the university for nearly three decades. As they look to pay their respects to him as a Hall of Famer, his fans can only hope he's able to turn the page on what happened nine years ago. At some point, you have to move on, no matter how hard it might be.

I'm still hoping he's able to separate one thing from another. The fans who want to see him show up are not the ones who forced him out. We are the ones who stormed Brand's office that September evening (and, yes, I was there). We are the ones who gathered in Dunn Meadow September 11, 2000 to hear his farewell speech to the student body. We want to see him in Bloomington again, wearing that trademark red sweater.

My prediction in my heart of hearts: Knight shows up after having remained silent the entire time -- in a surprise entrance. If he waits until introductions at halftime of the Hoosiers' tilt against Wisconsin the following day, it will surely be the loudest that stadium gets all day -- and probably all season.

My realistic prediction: He's not going and he probably will never go back.

Which is such a shame. There are so many people who still revere him in these parts, and none of them have ever done anything wrong to him. If he wants to hate Brand and Clarence Doninger (the athletic director at the time of his firing who is not working for the university), that's fine. Neither of them have anything to do with this Hall of Fame ceremony. It's just a bunch of people who want to honor him. The words "Indiana University" shouldn't be offensive enough to Knight on their own, because they are just words. The overwhelming majority of the people in the Indiana Hoosiers' fan base want him to come back, if only for a few days.

Please attend, Coach Knight. If for no other reason than to prove that your feelings for the fan base still remain. We haven't forgotten about you, so please don't forget about us.