Thursday, November 16, 2006
Welcome to Knight School, Texas Tech
Bobby Knight's school of hard knocks is back in session, only in Lubbock instead of Bloomington. Those of us in Indiana have already read the syllabus.
The national media has been all over it, of course, like maggots on a fresh corpse. "The General" chucking one of his players under the chin during a sideline chat during a game. Hoosiers have been there, seen that, before. Actually, so have Texans.
Has this one been blown severely out of proportion, simply because it's Knight? Of course, it has. Has it overshadowed Knight's rapid approach to the record for most wins by a college coach, currently held by Dean Smith, who never struck any player in anger? For the moment at least, it has.
What the folks in Texas need to realize, as we in Indiana already do, is that it is only chapter one, or maybe two or three, in the Texas edition of the Bobby Bully saga. A chair thrown here. A head-butt of a player there. A mock flogging of a black player in front of his own bench. A fan stuffed into a trash bin. A scuffle with a Puerto Rican cop. A choke-hold on a player. All followed by appeasement on the part of university officials (which Texas Tech seems to be taking as its path of least resistance to the history books and better recruitment classes). The bully of the schoolyard isn't likely to stop until his grasp exceeds his reach.
Unless Myles Brand comes to work in Lubbock, it is only the beginning. The folks in Texas should be forewarned. But, if Knight wins a lot of ballgames, they won't notice or remember. Trust me, this will not end well. Just ask Knight's life-long idol, Gen. Patton. Please put B. K. into that jeep and tell him to enjoy his tour of the German countryside before he drives Texas into the same swamp he pushed Indiana into.
The national media has been all over it, of course, like maggots on a fresh corpse. "The General" chucking one of his players under the chin during a sideline chat during a game. Hoosiers have been there, seen that, before. Actually, so have Texans.
Has this one been blown severely out of proportion, simply because it's Knight? Of course, it has. Has it overshadowed Knight's rapid approach to the record for most wins by a college coach, currently held by Dean Smith, who never struck any player in anger? For the moment at least, it has.
What the folks in Texas need to realize, as we in Indiana already do, is that it is only chapter one, or maybe two or three, in the Texas edition of the Bobby Bully saga. A chair thrown here. A head-butt of a player there. A mock flogging of a black player in front of his own bench. A fan stuffed into a trash bin. A scuffle with a Puerto Rican cop. A choke-hold on a player. All followed by appeasement on the part of university officials (which Texas Tech seems to be taking as its path of least resistance to the history books and better recruitment classes). The bully of the schoolyard isn't likely to stop until his grasp exceeds his reach.
Unless Myles Brand comes to work in Lubbock, it is only the beginning. The folks in Texas should be forewarned. But, if Knight wins a lot of ballgames, they won't notice or remember. Trust me, this will not end well. Just ask Knight's life-long idol, Gen. Patton. Please put B. K. into that jeep and tell him to enjoy his tour of the German countryside before he drives Texas into the same swamp he pushed Indiana into.
