9 years later, Bob Knight still has presence on IU's campus

It is Sept. 13, 2000, and a sea of fans populate Dunn Meadow. There is anticipation and tension in the air. And then, all of a sudden, the cheers erupt.

Finally, “The General” has arrived.

Bob Knight, coach of the IU men’s basketball program from 1971-2000, is finally getting the recognition he got that September evening – this time, from IU Athletics.

The coach, who was fired in 2000, was placed in the founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Now, he has earned a place in the 2009 IU Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame, along with former IU soccer coach Jerry Yeagley and several other greats in IU sports history.

Knight stands at the podium silently, taking it all in.

“We love you!” a member of the crowd shouts.

Knight tries to begin, but the roar of the crowd drowns out his words.

After a few minutes, it dies down.

“The General” prepares to speak.

Knight, the winningest coach in NCAA men’s basketball history, won three national championships in his 29-year tenure at IU. After being fired in 2000, however, there was much resentment on Knight’s part for members of the IU administration, which he made clear during his speech to fans in Dunn Meadow that night.

Although relations with the higher-ups were tense, Knight always had a group he could count on for support – the student body.

“His relationship with the students was always terrific,” said Bob Hammel, a friend of Knight and former sports editor for the Bloomington Herald-Times. “That was a given from the first day he coached here.”

That support has lasted despite his absence from IU, even among younger students who never saw him coach a game, speak or walk around campus.

“It is rather remarkable,” Hammel said. “I’m not sure I can explain it except that he was that big a figure nationally.”

“I think over all of the years that I’ve been here, one of the things that I’ve tried to keep uppermost in my mind with the basketball program is that the students are a very big part of it,” Knight says. “Sometimes when maybe I slip a little bit...”

A fan interjects.

“You never slip, Bobby!”

The cheers begin again, and “The General” can’t help but smile and chuckle a little.

Hammel said he doesn’t understand why it took so long for Knight to earn a spot in IU’s hall of fame.

“It never made sense to me,” Hammel said. “From my point of view, I don’t know how you could deny that particular honor to a guy with the record he had.”

The current administration is hoping to correct what Hammel sees as a mistake.

“I think there’s some genuine sincerity on the part of many of those people in the administration now ... to correct that omission,” Hammel said. “I don’t really see how you could argue in any sense that he doesn’t belong there.”

“The General” commends his troops for their support of him and his teams during his 29-year tenure.

“The one thing that I’ve taken great pride in with the student body is how hard the students have always rooted for us,” he says. “I remember games when we were trying to get back from having lost ... And the students sensed that we needed something a little bit extra, and they gave it to us. There were times when we had to win two or three games in a row, and, as the players rose to the occasion, so did the students.

“Just as I’ve always wanted our players to be a part of the student body, so too have I always wanted our students to be a part of our team. And I think that our students have been that.”

IU’s current men’s basketball coach, Tom Crean, also commended the University and panel who picks the members of the hall of fame class for their decision to induct Knight.

“I think you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who is more deserving of this honor than Coach Bob Knight,” Crean said in a press release. “I know that so many Hoosier fans, and especially his former players who visit our campus each year, will be thrilled to visit our Hall of Champions and see that the winningest coach in the history of the sport is recognized for his contributions to the game of basketball and Indiana University.”

Knight reminds fans they must remain committed to supporting their basketball program, even without “The General” in Assembly Hall.

“What I want to ask of you is this – the same support that our teams have had for 29 years from you students is the same support that these kids playing on this team in this year should get from you students.

“People change over the years, and that changes situations – for good, for bad. Don’t let the student body, the energy, the enthusiasm that the student body has had for basketball – please don’t let that change. If you want to do something to remember me by, do that. Continue the same energy, the same enthusiasm that the students before you have given to basketball. I’ll be very proud of you for doing that.”

There were sides of Knight that many didn’t see. Despite his harsh demeanor and rough image, many call him the most respected coach of his generation.

There is reason for that, Hammel said.

“He was certainly a fiery coach,” Hammel said. “That was evident to anyone that was in that arena or watched him on the television. But to say he didn’t get along with anybody would be absurd.

“He had sides that a lot of other people saw that were meaningful as far as describing Bob Knight.”

The crowd is hushed now. The speech is drawing to an end, and “The General” prepares to make his final address.

“I want to wish you all the best at whatever you do,” he says. “But to be the best, and not even to be the best, but to have the best opportunities, you have to work to be the very best student that you can. You’ve got to get the most out of being here.”

Now, he asks his fans – his troops – for a final favor.

“As I wish each of you the very best and I thank each of you for your support ... I ask something from you. I have, from this board of trustees and this administration after 29 years, not ever received a wish of any kind for good fortune in the future. What I’d like you to do, to do one thing for myself and my family because I haven’t retired, I don’t intend to retire...”

The applause set in again. Now, it is time for him to give his final order.

“As I leave here, I’d like each of you to just take a minute, a full minute, to bow your heads and, in whatever way you do, wish myself and my family the very best as I wish you the very best.”

The cheers and applause begin again, but, this time, they last only a few seconds. The troops do their duty and do as Knight wishes.

IU Athletics Director Fred Glass has sent a letter to Knight asking him to come for the ceremony Nov. 6, and several others who knew Knight well, including Hammel, have worked to try to convince him to put his past behind him and accept the invitation.
Knight’s return is questionable, Hammel said. But, as with all things, if Knight comes, it will be on his own terms.

“He’s not the most persuadable guy in the world, but he certainly is a pressurable guy,” Hammel said.