Here
is a very interesting article from the Louisville Courier-Journal about IU
President Myles Brand's meeting with Bob Knight, starting with the basic
suggestion that Bob Knight came to him as a humbled man who wanted to keep his
job.
It's an interesting article in a number of ways, not least of all because it
shows that Knight, despite his flamboyant, take-no-prisoners persona - Camille
Paglia would probably make a comparison with Liberace here in terms of
flamboyance, but then would also bring in the hunter-gatherer thing, The God Of
War, the impact of feminism on males, and a raft of pop culture references and
it would probably be really interesting, and a commentary on how sports, in our
time, has become a lesser form of war for the Warrior Class - but we digress
This article really underscores what drives a lot of people nuts about
Knight. Is he brilliant? Without question. Does he have good sides
as well? Beyond a doubt. Why, then, has he continously rubbed the world's
nose in it? It's just so unnecessary. Here's a guy who has everything -
brains, talent, charm, a humane impulse - and he buries it. It's as if he
comes out of the stall of his mind with soiled paper in hand, ready to rub the
world's nose in it, when the world, on a lot of levels, would just like to say
"hi, Bob," and instead has to deal with these angry, bullying
outbursts. At the end of it, though, is a guy who doesn't want to lose his
job, and we can probably all identify with that. Obviously it was
distressing to him, and he seems to accept the need to change. The
question now is can he get away from Bobby Fisher behavior and still be Bob
Knight.