NCAA: Knight a victim of himself, not anyone else

The man never admitted he was wrong.

Bob Knight never admitted that he did anything wrong. He didn't do anything wrong when he put his hands around the neck of Neil Reed. He didn't do anything wrong when he threw a vase at an Indiana University secretary. He didn't do anything wrong over the summer, or in a confrontation with a IU freshman.

He didn't do anything wrong. He's the one that is being wronged. This action, Bob Knight feels, wronged him.

Once again, Knight is wrong.

Knight wronged himself. He wronged the University. He wronged the fans, the alumni, his players that he cares so much.

"I would have to be an absolute moron" not to obey the zero-tolerance guidelines set back in May by school president Myles Brand, Knight said. On Tuesday night, he said he was never told what "zero-tolerance" was. He didn't call to find out, either. He thought somebody would tell him. Because Bob Knight doesn't go to the mountain, it comes to him. This time, though, the mountain crushed him.

Zero tolerance means don't screw up. It means don't act like you have before, like an out of control coach who doesn't have a grip on his anger. It means don't try to lecture a person on manners by grabbing his arm, when your manners, your lack of manners, are a matter of public knowledge.

Knight thought he was teaching the kid some manners. Instead, the kid now gets death threats. I wonder if Knight's sorry about that.

And spare the sanctimonial stuff about his graduation rate and how Indiana has never been on probation. That's not a virtue; that's something that each coach, each program should do. Graduating players does not give you the right to choke them during practice. Or teach a kid manners.

It wasn't just the incident this past weekend that cost Knight his job; this, in many ways, is a firing begat from his chair tossing, his arrest in Puerto Rico, his comments on rape. Some people get awards based on their history with a school. Bob Knight got fired.

Knight cheated both Brand and athletic director Clarence Doninger, saying, in his own circumstantial way, that he and "other people" have "different philosophies," adding "for me, it's not been the kind of situation that I've been used to here."

It's a shame, how that situation changed on him. It's a shame that Brand and Doninger expect the coach to show respect to those whose authority circumceeds his. It's a shame that Brand and Doninger apparently expect the coach to work on exorcising the demons that lie within him.

It's a shame that Brand and Doninger decided that Knight should be held accountable. It's a shame that Knight is so self-righteous, so full of himself, he belives that is asking too much.

Knight talked about his players and the importance he placed on trying to live a zero-tolerant life, so that he could coach them again. Right now, the players probably feel like they were let down by the university. They should feel let down by their coach.

"I've always felt I've got to be me. I can't be something that someone's trying to construct," Knight said. Well, he doesn't have to be a new type of coach coach, someone with fancy clothes and greased hair. He just has to control his anger.

Knight cheated his players with his conduct. He cheated the alumni who stood behind him, who turned against Indiana. He cheated the fans that will now have to wonder what happens from here, how will this season go with an interim coach.

At least there is now closure, in some way; stories like this never fully are completed. But now, Indiana can move on. Knight, through his bluster, will find another job, another school foolishly thinking that it can change him. Indiana basketball will go on, whether or not it will be as successful without Knight to be determined later by a new coach.

The completion of Knight's career at Indiana has come. It reads 661 wins, 24 NCAA Tournament appearances. Five times in the Final Four, he won it three times, the last coming in 1987. He won 11 Big Ten Championships. He won 353 games in the Big Ten, the most of any coach in the league's history.

History. A subject that Knight has a passion for. General George Patton is a person that Knight admired. Patton's temper was well-known, like Knight's. Patton's temper ended up consuming him, like Knight. It's a pity that Knight, a student of history, refused to learn from it.