Knight Incident Will Be Forgotten

In the aftermath of Bob Knight lifting a player’s chin, Texas Tech is playing great basketball and Knight is approaching Dean Smith’s victory mark.

Legendary college basketball coach Bob Knight draws more attention than a streaker at Wimbledon. Knight grabbed Neil Reid’s shirt, while coaching at Indiana, and critics wanted him hanged by a flagpole in downtown Bloomington.

Knight kicked his son’s chair during a timeout, in order to get his attention, and the coach was scrutinized on national TV. When an Indiana student called, "Hey Knight" to him on a campus sidewalk, the fiery coach pointedly explained how he should be addressed, and he was subsequently fired.

Now, years later, Knight is being vilified for a light tap of a player’s chin, asking the player to look at him. Neither the player nor his parents were upset by Knight’s action. Yet the media continues to debate this issue, as if it were a new abortion law being passed through congress.

While the critics are consumed with how Knight deals with players, his Texas Tech team continues winning basketball games. After registering the worst season in Knight’s coaching career during the 2005-06 campaign, the Red Raiders are cruising early in 2006, behind stellar play of Jarrius Jackson.

The senior guard almost didn’t get to play this year, due to low grades, but a kick in the pants from Knight (figuratively speaking, of course) got Jackson to raise his academic work to the standard of his basketball. At 23 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists early, Jackson is a Player of the Year candidate.

Meanwhile, Knight is chasing Dean Smith’s all-time college basketball win mark – he should surpass Smith’s 879 victories before Christmas.

With this remarkable record and another excellent year for his Texas Tech team seemingly on the horizon, it shouldn’t be long before the most recent edition of so-called Knight player abuse is forgotten.