Geyer denies quitting team

Interim head basketball coach Mike Davis and former player Tom Geyer were the only two people in the basketball locker room Oct. 5, Geyer's last day on the team. \nBoth have different versions of what happened.\nGeyer, a walk-on senior, said he and Davis got into a heated argument in which Davis kicked him off the team. Davis said Geyer quit.\nInitially, Geyer also said he quit. He told reporter Terry Hutchens of The Indianapolis Star that he quit the team the same evening he and Davis exchanged words. Geyer was quoted in an Oct. 6 Star article saying, "The administration made a change when they got rid of Coach Knight, and I guess now I feel that I need to make a change in my life and move in another direction."\nAbout two weeks later, Geyer came to the IDS and told a different story.\n"We had some type of argument, and then he told me that if I was ever going to speak to him in that manner again, then I should just get my fucking shit and get the fuck out," Geyer told the IDS. "And then he goes, 'As a matter of fact, get your shit and get out and don't come back.' To me, that meant that I was kicked off the team."\nDavis said that is a lie.\n"Why would he meet with me the very next morning and say, 'Coach, my heart is not in it; I don't want to play anymore.' He wasn't off the team. He's no longer a part of this team because he decided that, not me.\n"You don't come meet with me and say that you don't want to play any more if you think you're off the team. You come to me and say, 'Coach, am I off the team or can I come back or what should I do?' That tells you there that he's lying."\nGeyer said the coaches offered him the chance to rejoin the team, but he would have to change his loyalties, which are with former coach Bob Knight.\n"What the coaches wanted from me -- in order to get back on the team -- was I was going to have to change the attitude that I had, and my loyalties would have to change, and I would have to give them 100 percent backing," Geyer said. "I couldn't do that. My loyalties are set with Coach Knight and the way Coach ran the program, and that's what I believe in. That's what I came here to do, play for Coach Knight. After this whole situation, I couldn't see myself playing for anybody but Coach."\nGeyer said his heart wasn't into practice the day he and Davis had the disagreement. His play was sluggish and so was his form.\n"This is what I want Tom," Davis yelled during the practice, crouching low to show a defensive move, waving his hand to the side. "This is what I want, Tom, and if you can't do it, get on out." \nGeyer retreated to the locker room with his chin to his chest.\nJunior guard Dane Fife, Geyer's roommate, said later that evening that Geyer quit, but not because he was kicked out of practice.\nGeyer said frustration with athletics director Clarence Doninger and Davis regarding his unused financial aid led to him getting kicked out of practice, but Geyer added that he deserved it because he wasn't giving Davis the effort asked for.\nGeyer has been on unused aid, not a scholarship, for the last three years. He said he met with Doninger to discuss the status of his financial aid for the second semester and Doninger told him "it was up in the air." \n"I asked him why, and he said, 'because you quit the team,'" Geyer said. "And I said, 'That's not exactly what happened in practice.' Even after telling him the story, he did not give me any reassurance I would have full financial aid for the second semester, and he said he would make the decision later.\n"After contemplating this for a couple of days and talking it over with my family, we decided to call (Doninger) and tell him that I was going to be paying my own way for next semester and not to worry about the financial aid."\nThe NCAA allows 13 scholarships for basketball. Geyer was the 12th man on the team. The Hoosiers received verbal commitments this year from two recruits, Donald Perry and Sean Kline. Geyer said he knew he most likely wouldn't receive any aid next year, but that he wanted it for next semester.\n"We got a commitment from Donald Perry, and that eliminated all chances of me getting financial aid for this upcoming semester," Geyer said. "I knew that would be the case even if Coach Knight was here. I was expecting that Coach Davis would sit down and talk with me and tell me what was going to happen and that I may not have aid because someone committed. He never did. Coach (Bob) Knight would've handled that differently than Coach Davis did."\nGeyer received a notice from the athletic department informing him of the end of his financial aid. The athletic department has the right to revoke a player's aid if an athlete quits a team, but not if he or she is kicked off. Doninger said he was considering giving Geyer the money but that his parents called before the decision was made and said they would pay for next semester.\n"I wanted to do a little checking before I committed one way or the other," Doninger said. "I like Tom, and we discussed that notice for next year, and he said he understood that. That should not have been a surprise. When I talked to him, he said he understood.\n"There was no discussion about whether he quit or he was terminated. Whether he quit or was kicked off, he didn't want to get into that. I have no idea why Tom would write this now."\nDoninger read the full version of Geyer's story on www.peegs.com, an IU fan-based Web site. Geyer published his story there Monday because the IDS had made an editorial decision not to run his story while gathering more information. \nBefore the decision regarding whether the IDS would publish Geyer's new account, Knight's lawyer, Russell Yates, e-mailed the IDS because Geyer told him the story would not run. \n"I have no idea if (Knight) and Tom talked," Yates said. \nDoninger said that he wanted to move forward and that speculation whether Knight influenced Geyer's decision was fruitless. Geyer said he did not come forward to help Knight's cause.\n"I've always said from the beginning my loyalty was with Coach Knight," Geyer said. "I would support anything I hope would be to the betterment of Coach. I think the truth definitely aligns itself with Coach in this situation. People may think this may be for Coach, but it's not. I've decided to come out because of the way Clarence decided not to give me aid."\nGeyer said he waited two weeks to tell his side because he "wanted to take the high road" and not be a disruption to his teammates.\n"I don't want this to destroy the team," Geyer said. "This is something I thought was handled badly by the administration and by the coaching staff. But I've got to look out for myself first.\n"My point is I got kicked off because of what happened in the locker room. I was told to leave, and I was given a set of circumstances much like Coach (Knight) that I didn't think were livable and therefore I came in and I told them that that was fine, I accepted that, and it was time for me to go."\nDavis said Geyer told him that he didn't want to be a part of the team anymore and that to come out with a new statement two weeks later is nothing but a distraction to the team.\n"I shouldn't even be discussing Tom Geyer," Davis said. "If he thought I kicked him off, why not say, 'Coach Davis kicked me off the team.' Say that immediately. Don't wait two weeks to try to have a distraction. Ask him why all of a sudden he changed his mind. If he wants to be a distraction to this team, fine. That's his decision"