Northwestern men’s basketball coach Kevin O’Neill said Monday he was pleased legendary Indiana coach Bob Knight would remain in the Big Ten, but called the university’s sanctions against Knight “humbling.”
“I’m glad he’s still going to be in our league, but I thought he got hit pretty hard,” O’Neill said. “Not being able to coach your team for three games and a zero-tolerance policy — for Bob that’s pretty humbling.”
At a news conference in Indianapolis on Monday, Indiana president Myles Brand announced that Knight would be fined $30,000, be forced to sit out the first three games of next season and would abide by a “zero-tolerance” code of conduct.
The announcement concluded Indiana’s seven-week investigation into allegations of Knight’s improper behavior. The investigation began March 23 after former player Neil Reed accused Knight of choking him during a 1997 practice.
“He has given me his word that he will take extraordinary measures to change his behavior,” Brand said of Knight. “We have established tough, specific guidelines to send a clear message that abusive and embarrassing behavior will not be tolerated.”
Knight, who has won 763 games in his Hall of Fame career, will be fired immediately if he has any inappropriate physical contact with players or university officials, Brand said.
O’Neill, an acquaintance of Knight, said he expected the coach to abide by the new code.
“I think he’ll be able to continue as an effective coach and will finish his career at Indiana,” said O’Neill, who added that he had spoken with Knight during the investigation, but declined to comment about what was said.
In addition, O’Neill said he didn’t think Indiana had cut Knight any slack because of his success over the years. Knight has won three national titles and 11 conference championships in 29 years at Indiana.
“If you look at his sideline demeanor during games, there are a lot worse guys in this league — myself included,” O’Neill said.
NU President Henry Bienen declined to comment Monday on what he would have done in Brand’s position. Athletic Director Rick Taylor was out of the office and unavailable to comment.
During his career, Knight has displayed his combustible side against NU. In February 1999, Knight objected to the Welsh-Ryan Rowdies’ cheer of “Who’s your Daddy?” during the game and got into a scuffle with O’Neill during their postgame handshake.
And in Indiana’s 77-75 win in February 1987, Knight reached over a railing to grab sophomore band member J.R. McCullough while heading to the locker room at halftime. McCullough had been taunting Knight; the two were quickly separated by security officers.
Knight’s 50-3 record against NU is his best against any school. The Wildcats haven’t beaten Indiana since a 66-64 win at home on Jan. 11, 1988 — a span of 22 contests.
Knight did not attend Monday’s news conference but issued a statement.
“I have absolutely no problem with the guidelines,” Knight said in the statement. “The establishment of effective and proper guidelines can in the long run help me become a better coach.”
Brand said he had considered firing Knight but elected to give the coach another chance after a conversation the two had late Saturday night.
“The conversation I had with Bob was clearly unique. I had never seen him before contrite and apologetic,” Brand said.
“As the discussion continued and Bob expressed the view that he very much wanted to change his behavior — then we began to talk about sanctions.”
After the Reed allegation surfaced — along with charges that Knight once kicked Brand out of a practice and once waved soiled toilet paper at his players — Brand appointed two members of Indiana’s Board of Trustees to investigate Knight’s behavior.
But new charges came in a flurry.
In the end, Knight was accused of trying to fight Indiana Athletic Director Clarence Doninger in February, hitting former assistant coach Ron Felling in November, cursing at an athletic department secretary in 1998 and knocking out an Indiana sports spokesman in the 1970s.
Board of Trustees President John Walda said the investigation found proof that Knight had grabbed Reed, but could not substantiate the toilet paper incident and concluded that Knight did not kick Brand out of practice.
As part of the sanctions, Brand also said Knight would apologize to the secretary, Jeanette Hartgraves, as well as Doninger.
“There are no sacred cows at Indiana University and that certainly includes the basketball coach,” Walda said.
Indiana guard Dane Fife, who had said he might transfer if Knight were fired, attended the news conference and said he was pleased with the outcome.
“Everyone should be happy,” Fife said. “We got our coach and the people who made the allegations got him in trouble.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
