Well, Latrell Sprewell, I think you've met your match.
He's your ideal coach. He's a man who can relate to you unlike your current coach with the New York Knicks, the painfully balding, Patrick Ewing-loving Jeff Van Gundy. Sure, Van Gundy could talk to you about hair loss, but he can't talk to you about the hardships of being publicly ostracized for assault. Alas, no worries, I think there's someone better suited out there. Spree, meet Bobby Knight, Head Basketball coach at Indiana University.
After years of reports and allegations that Knight abused his players or used crude motivational techniques, there is finally indisputable visual evidence that Coach Knight physically attacked one of his players.
CNN/SI.com has obtained and run a tape from 1997 of Knight grabbing former Indiana University basketball player Neil Reed by the throat in a choking motion and pushing him back over a period of a few seconds.
Knight has no defense. He's got no real respectable way out of this one except to resign. The university may go easy on him, but I doubt it. If they do, it'll be because Knight is an Indiana legend, one whose stature is comparable to native son and NBA legend Larry Bird.
In this chess game, Knight's career hangs in the balance and it's his move now. Knight is a proud man and a staple of the college basketball environment. He's kind of like the Dennis Rodman of the coaching fraternity. You're not so sure if he's got a screw loose in his brain or something. Sometimes his tirades and badgering of officials during games are amusing, but sometimes he gets out of control.
If Knight decides to fight for his job, he'll probably use the defense that his actions were a motivational tool. I don't know if I'd classify this as a way of motivating an athlete.
In the coaching profession, there are multiple ways to get the most out of your players. At the two extremes, Bobby Knight, Mike Ditka, and Bill Parcells are the yellers, while Phil Jackson and Joe Torre are the stoic, cerebral type. Both types of coaching produce results, but now Knight has gone too far.
Before the tape was released, Knight claimed on numerous occasions that he "might have grabbed Reed by the back of the neck to reposition him during practice." He also stated that it's nothing he hasn't done to all his other past and present players. Really Bobby?
I guess all those allegations about Knight physically attacking his players are true if Knight himself acknowledges that what he did to Reed is something he's done to all his players. This incident is not a simple case of instruction or motivation, it's assault.
If Knight thinks his actions are tools for instruction or motivation, then he is sorely mistaken. I wonder what Knight would define assault as, if asked. He'd probably say that a man starting a bar fight or beating his wife is assault, but that what he did to Reed isn't.
While what happened between Reed and Knight isn't as severe as a man beating his wife or starting a bar fight, it is assault and Knight should be ashamed of himself. He's crossed a line and the only way to salvage some public dignity is to resign.
If Knight resigns or is fired, I must say that many will miss his sideline antics and those red IU sweaters that he wears all the time. But, it's time for Knight to go. He's left himself exposed, and the best move for Indiana University in this game is to fire him or force him to resign.
We'll see what happens, but all the pieces are setup for a checkmate.
