Easy Or Difficult Decision?

I feel sorry for Gerald Myers. The Texas Tech athletic director took a BIG chance on Coach Bob Knight. A friend of mine was just appointed to the Texas Tech Board of Regents. Bob Stafford is a good guy and I feel sorry for him, too. Coach Knight needs to check into an anger management program. I am sure that there is more to this story than just a chance encounter between Knight and the Texas Tech chancellor. However, only Coach Knight and Gerald Myers know of any such additional factors. The easy thing to do is to fire Coach Knight. Yet the most difficult thing to do is to fire Coach Knight. If this is (fair & balanced) hand-wringing, so be it.

[x NYTimes]
Knight Is Under Review After Incident at Market
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LUBBOCK, Tex., Feb. 2 (AP) — Texas Tech Coach Bob Knight got into a verbal spat with the university's chancellor at a grocery store on Monday, prompting a review by university officials.

A Texas Tech spokeswoman, Sally Logue Post, said she did not know details of the encounter between Knight and the chancellor, Dr. David Smith. No one was injured, she said.

Smith declined to elaborate on what happened.

"This is obviously an issue that is internal to the university," he said. "Right now the athletic director and the president's office at the university are looking into the incident. We'll wait to hear more in the next few days about their review."

Asked whether there was any discussion of removing Knight, Smith said, "I can't comment on any of those things right now."

Gerald Myers, the athletic director, who was instrumental in bringing Knight to Tech in 2001 after he was fired at Indiana, witnessed the encounter, Post said.

The men were getting food around lunchtime at Market Street, a grocery store about two miles from the university, said Dan Sanders, chief marketing officer for United Supermarkets, which owns the store.

"Apparently, there was some sort of disagreement," Sanders said. "It took place very quickly."

While at Indiana in March 2000, Knight was investigated by the university after a former player said Knight choked him at a practice in 1997. In May 2000, Knight was fined $30,000, suspended for three games and placed under a zero-tolerance behavior policy.

In early September 2000, Knight was accused of grabbing a student by the arm, cursing and lecturing him about manners after the coach was addressed "Hey, Knight, what's up?" Knight was fired later that month for what Indiana's president, Myles Brand, called a "pattern of unacceptable behavior."

In December 2003, Knight went into a profane tirade after an ESPN reporter asked about a perceived rift with his former player Steve Alford, who was also participating in the interview. He later apologized for the incident.

Texas Tech is 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference this season. The Red Raiders had been unbeaten in the league until last week, when they lost to Texas and Oklahoma State.

Copyright © 2004 The New York Times Company