I can understand your frustration. RMK did a lot of great things for the University and for his student athletes. But you can’t dispute anything the original poster said that has set you off. He was his own worst enemy. He did try to tear down the program after he left. He did thumb his nose at the administration. He took a microphone onto the court during a game to tell his critics to kiss his ass. And then he committed his worst offense. He stopped winning championships.
No, you saw only what you chose to see, and that view is incomplete, at best. Knight saw fit to spin out of control and trash everything in his path, including a number of his staunchest defenders and advocates. He has only himself to blame, and his nearly two decades grudge is an example of his pettiness. His decline is sad, but it’s coincidental to the great damage he’s done to both IU and himself.
Many of the Trustees and senior administrators who were at IU during his tenure, as well as a number of former players, and other close-in alums and fans. If you had any proximity to the program as a fan, you would know who most of these people are. It’s a “who’s who” of IU through the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s. These are names anyone close to IU would instantly know, and he trashed his relationships with nearly all of them. If you’re unaware, as I strongly suspect is the case, then you really don’t have any valuable insight and have simply crafted a false narrative of his conduct that allows you to justify his awful conduct. Either way, it confirms your views are, at best, uninformed. Impossible to consider you a fan as a result.
And, as I explicitly stated, anyone with even a passing understanding of IU and Knight during his tenure in Bloomington would already know most, if not all, of the names. As you’ve now confirmed, your views are the product of your admitted ignorance, a trait typical of the most diehard Knight sycophants.
Only the ignorant would speculate because they’re not concerned with facts. Anyone who knew anything about IU or Knight wouldn’t be in your position of having to offer a weak and uninformed defense of something and someon you don’t understand. Your list is, I’m certain, laughable.
So it's okay that someone in the IU athletic department, after JJ committed to IU, told JJ he should reconsider his choice? Per JJ's father, that happened, and the person that did that continued to be employed at IU for years after that without repercussion.
Of course that wasn’t okay, and I never claimed that it was. It was no more okay than Knight’s open rebellion against anyone in the University who merely expected him to behave like an adult. Why make a false claim in defense of Knight, unless that’s your only possible method of defense?
Thank you for taking a stand on "irregardless." It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
Dead horses here but your premise I do not agree with about Knight not behaving like an adult. I find that description cowardly. He may have had instances where his comment or action was less than a positive reflection on the University. But the majority of the time ...overwhelmingly majority of the time his actions were a positive reflection. You can say that his missteps were not forgivable. But you are saying he was a child basically all the time and that just isn’t accurate at all.
What false claim did I make in defense of Knight?
I’ll give you an “A” for deflection but, if deplorable conduct is the standard, Knight loses in a landslide every time. He claimed he never grabbed Reed by the throat until a video showed it occurred, then he claimed he knew all along about the incident. He used rape as an analog to inevitability and, as a result, offended a great many people. He publicly proclaimed his support for Zero Tolerance and then claimed it was unjust. He often discussed his disgust for disrespectful behavior and then behaved in a disrespectful manner (intimidating employees, even throwing a plant at a wall in anger directed at an employee, going well past what would be considered acceptable coaching tactics by leaving toilet paper and other unmentionables in lockers . . . The list is endless. What isn’t and never has been endless is any acceptance of responsibility from him or any remorse or contrition, which is why he finds himself ostracized from the community of IU basketball fans who would love to honor him before he passes.
I didn’t say he was a child all the time, but your defense or rationalization of his numerous childish and petty acts is a non-starter for objective adults who will never celebrate that sort of destructive conduct.
Truth be told, Brand was looking for a reason to not fire him. In fact, he wanted nothing to do with the entire situation, which is why he concocted the ridiculous Zero Tolerance policy that Knight praised. Brand, if you’ll recall, was pilloried in the media and in academic circles for not taking a tougher stance due to the imposition of Zero Tolerance. After the dust settled, Knight realized he’d been outflanked by Brand’s version of modern discipline, and he defiantly pushed back, enlisting his fiercest defenders as a basis of support. When those people urged him to find common ground with Brand, Knight rebelled against them and isolated himself, even as they tried to help him. In so doing, he sowed the seeds of his ultimate dismissal, bit it was his rage and hubris that sold him out. So, no, Brand wasn’t looking for any excuse to fire Knight. In reality, he was looking for any excuse to not deal with any of it.
Hmmmmmm...... they have lost more since he left.... so, was it Knight or the University? He went to Texas Tech and took the same team that won like 5 games the previous season and made them 20 game winners. He took them to 4 straight NCAA bids. I personally don’t buy that the 1990’s was that bad. He had his first recruiting class in the 1990’s that didn’t win a Big 10 Championship. His first! Had we not experienced injuries to Henderson etc we would have probably added a banner. Here is a run down I found:
I didn’t rationalize anything....
I didn't mention the teams of today at all and, seeing as how no one can see the future, that wasn't taken into account at all when Knight was fired. They were mediocre seasons at the end of his time at IU. Not competing for regular season B1G titles, not ding anything of note in the B1GT, low seeds in the NCAAT followed by getting upset in the first round year after year. Were they better teams than we've seen the last few years? Sure. Were they great teams? Far from it. Rather mediocre, actually.
Long time fan and graduate, two characteristics that likely aren’t applicable to you. Of this I am certain.
Like many, your emotional investment to Knight clouds your ability to comprehend facts. Nowhere did I claim Brand was a victim of Knight, only that Brand wasn’t out to get him. Your “Indiana Hoosier”, rather than “Indiana University (or any other seat of higher learning) Hoosier” characteristics, are on full display.
Lifetime fan and graduate. But I’m from the era of Indiana Hoosiers. Raised here and my parents still call Bloomington home. Your certainty in your statement displays your propensity to be incorrect.
And your posts display the traits of a casual fan rather than someone who possesses any deep knowledge of IU basketball during the Knight years. I strongly suspect there’s an obvious reason for that.
The actions you mentioned were those of exactly one person. That’s it. Your lie was in your implication that I somehow endorsed that conduct and / or was dismissive of it. It was classic deflection by you and inherently disingenuous. Your continued focus on that while entirely dismissing any responsibility or culpability by Knight reveals your inability to provide an objective or intelligent view of the issues that led to his dismissal. Your continued efforts at deflection underscore that fact, even as I’ve offered nothing but facts in counter to your selective position. The only pitiful take is your own.
I was in elementary school (Indiana University Elementary) in the mid 70’s. I lived through it. I saw first hand what Knight did for the community and the State. It was far more than just basketball. You bore me now. Unfortunately, the move to bring the east coast to Bloomington by the educational elite has brought us people like you. To be kind I refer to those as Indiana University Hoosiers. No tie to the State other than the University. That’s fine. It is what it is. But there is a difference and we know what it is....
If you really are from Bloomington, you display an alarming lack of insight into Knight’s tenure. And I witnessed far more of it than what you claim. Your continued deflections and willingness to see only an isolated side of it prove this u equivocally. Again, it’s likely you saw much less than you claim, based on on your posts. And it was always “University Elementary”, not “Indiana University Elementary”. You’re confirming what I strongly suspected.
Again, your inability to see the entirety of the Knight situation would lead you to that conclusion. Your ignorance has already been noted and confirmed. Hacks never take rational or intelligent views.
Again, your inherent bias doesn’t make room for any intelligent thought. You see nothing because you’re unable to understand anything on this topic. Your lack of insight regarding Knight’s tenure at IU has already been confirmed. More simply put, you aren’t what you claim, and you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.
If I didn’t believe RMK had any culpability in his own dismissal, why did I state this .....
