Bob Knight CNN/SI Report

Three gear games, I mean, you know, yeah, it seems like we've been like we've been the last few years, three four wins at Anna University basketball and it's famous and sometimes infamous, the coach at boss Bob Knight, it seems so strange that the only weapon I have. To fight this battle is the truth and it seems like such a small weapon. You know, I mean, you would think that the truth is what everyone wants to know and everyone wants to hear, but it's not what everyone wants to know. It is worshiped virtually. of life for an entire state, but according to some who have gone through coach Bob Knight's program, a high price had to be paid to be part of the legend.

The following story was written by producer Robert Abbott and narrated by Mike Galanos. He must warn. contains some harsh language, this is Indiana University's Bob Knight, the only active coach with three national titles, a man who in his 29 years at Indiana has seen seven of his former Hoosiers move on to head coaching positions in the Division One or NBA and has been a mentor to hundreds of young men like Charlie Miller, who played for Knight for years and graduated in 1998 behind closed doors. Coach Knight is genuine, I mean, he jokes, you know he's a down-to-earth person and this is Bob Knight, intimidating and temperamental. fayn and my critics can kiss my ass a coach boos referees his players and the medium so why doesn't he come talk to me too if it's a damn offense?

Some of you should look for another way to live. This is Bob. night a tenured professor of health, physical education and recreation a man who has helped raise some five million dollars for his university library the object of almost fanatical devotion on the part of his former players and citizens throughout the state of Indiana the spent summer at a basketball camp at home, while the money raised is for boys and girls in third through eighth grade. I caught him maybe on Wednesday, he came on Thursday and talked to my kids in a taxi and this is Bob Knight, he had me by the throat.

I'm probably saying that little situation lasted. about five seconds, oh, I grabbed his wrist and started walking backwards and at that point the people coached Dan Dockage, grabbed him, grabbed Coach Knight and pulled him away. Neil Reed says his childhood dream was to play basketball in Indiana for Bob Knight and in 1994 he accepted. a scholarship to play for the Hoosiers a read had been an all-american high school student and two-time state MVP playing for East Jefferson High in a New Orleans suburb the son of a coach Reed was the type of gritty, mentally tough player and worker that night he loves but during his three years in Indiana Reed says he saw a Bob Knight very different from the man he had idolized each year there is a term they use there called scapegoat there is no doubt that Neil was the scapegoat based on the fact that everyone felt like he could endure anything Neil is a very tough guy and Noah Knight's coach knew that about new people, well you knew how good it was, I didn't know that was going to happen, nobody knows what will happen, nobody you will believe it. that it's going to happen and that's okay, they don't have to, but it happened to me and it's something I have to live with.

Reed says that at practice during his junior year in 1997, Knight confronted him for not yelling his teammate Larry Richardson's name after him. Reed had made a pass at him. Reed stood his ground with a knife insisting that he had indeed yelled Richardson's name when Richardson took Reed's side. Reed says that Knight attacked him and at that moment the koats just attacked me and came straight at me. I wasn't far enough away to know I could see anything coming. He was close enough to come over to me, reach out, and put his hand around my throat. He only had one hand.

He came out with two hands but grabbed me with one. In fact, I strangled him. I don't think he did it, but he put his hands around it. I thought it was too much. You probably know he shouldn't have done it, but he called it whatever you want and it doesn't matter what. people call it I call it choking, you put your hands around someone's throat, I mean there's no other reason why you would do it, that's just their way of expressing themselves, some guys can handle it and some guys can't, people came to separate us like this.

We were in the schoolyard we were going to fight, you know, I actually have respect for adults and I certainly have respect for coaches and that certainly won the case, but I wasn't going to let him hold me by the neck for too long or squeeze me. strong CNN Sports Illustrated has corroborated Reed's account of the choking incident with three other people who were at practice that day, refused to appear on camera and asked that their names not be used because they feared speaking out against Bob Knight could damage their careers by describing the incident one said quote if he touched me like that it would have been all over the news there would have been a fight it would have ended with a black eye and he would have ended up in the hospital this is the first time Reed has spoken publicly about the incident, I'm just trying to put it behind me, tell my story and put it behind me because I don't want to live with this story for the rest of my life, it's too painful for me and it's too painful. for my parents the same sport you sing that stop I'm not against Bobby Knight in the game of basketball what he has done to my son is bad what he has taken from his son is bad Reed started 72 games and averaged just under 10 points per year game during his three years at Indiana, he now says he didn't have the courage to leave at the time he says Knight choked him, but at the end of that season, when Knight told him he wouldn't be able to play in the last year.

Reed took Knight's word and transferred to Southern Mississippi less than a year later, another former seven-foot All-American high school center, Jason Collier, left Indiana just 9 games into the season, calling his transfer to Georgia Tech, where he just completed his college. career Collier also declined a request to be interviewed on camera, saying only I don't want to talk about it, but when he left the show Collier said he could no longer stand the nights of relentless yelling and constant criticism in this audio tape of a 1991 practice. that has been widely circulated on the Internet shows how volatile the night can be.

You've heard the tape on the Internet. Hmm, how often is that what you hear during a year? That's what I wish everyone watching this could hear so they could really understand. what it's like to play there or when things go bad there, that takes away the love of the game or the enjoyment of the game, when you hear something like that you just get to the point where you're like screwed. This just turns you off Richard Mandeville spent five years playing basketball at Indiana and graduated in 1998. You see, he can be the best guy, the friendliest, the kindest, but suddenly he can be the craziest, the meanest, the last person you want to be with. when they get there and when they enter the isolated environment of their practices, then dr.

Jekyll is gone mr. Hyde shows up and he's not very pretty. Jerry Donna has been covering basketball in the state of Indiana for 30 years. I think it is a degrading, dehumanizing and debilitating situation. I think you constantly play with fear. I think they intimidate you if you do it. you're being like things I've heard if you're choked if you're grabbed if you're pushed if you're head-butted if you're kicked if you're spit on if you're being slapped, I think those are things that are beyond the ordinary realm of discipline these days. , he picked on me, sometimes I can attack everyone, but he knew I could handle that and I never let him.

Put me down and I kept pushing and now that I'm done we stay in touch, I mean when I was done he actually wrote me a letter, just tell me how much he appreciated that idea for the show. Statistics provided by Indiana indicate that the number of early departures from the night program is no higher than other Division One schools, but in the last three years the Hoosiers have seen three key starters leave a program that seems made for CNN Sports Illustrated. It has been learned that the year Jason Collier left the freshman show Luke recorded a former Mr.

The Indiana high school star and ideal of a night athlete met with Night at the end of the season and told him he wanted to transfer according to three sources. Knight exploded, threatened to quit, told his coaching staff to look for new jobs, and told the wrecker. It was all his fault after talking to Coach Knight, he came to my house and it was a disaster, he said, "Oh my God," I mean, he felt like he was going to ruin all the assistant coaches that live the program, the entire state of Indiana, he thought that if he left, he would probably never be welcomed back to Indiana, the state, or anything.

Recker also declined our interview request. The day after the night's tirade, Coach met with Wrecker and told him that he would change his ways. Wrecker decided to stay one more year and led the Hoosiers in scoring, but at the end of his sophomore year, Recker faxed his decision to transfer while Knight was out of the country at a level. Bob Knight has led a model program, a graduation rate that is among the best in the country and not a single one. recruiting violation for nearly three decades and Knight is well known for helping his players find jobs when their careers end.

His determination to run a clean program has allowed him to survive some notable public embarrassments as he was convicted in absentia for punching a police officer in Puerto Rico. in 1979 threw a chair during a game in 1985 and accidentally headbutted a player in 1994, but former players who decided to speak to CNN Sports Illustrated say similar episodes occur behind closed doors in our locker room, there is a bathroom, since you know, attached to He pulled his pants down to his ankles and just wiped his butt and said that's how you guys are playing and just stuck out his hand with that toilet paper after he'd wiped himself and just showed it to everyone and then went back to get in. since it's just his way of I guess you know how to express yourself if I can't tell you I have to show you and what other way to show you instead of pulling down my pants, biting my ass, that's how you play like you know he's around Knight is like that acceptable for a professor at this university, a coach at Indiana University, well, I don't think it's acceptable for an adult, in fact, I wouldn't accept it for a child.

Maurice Ferber is a senior lecturer in English and American studies at Indiana. and during his 29 years in Bloomington he has become one of the few vocal critics of the Knights on campus. Sperber says the Knights' success on the court and their statewide hero status has created one set of rules for Bob Knight and another for the rest of the faculty. It is reason to lose his position. I know that if I did it in this classroom here in Indiana, I would probably lose my job when I returned to my office on the fourth floor, seen in Sports Illustrated, has requested several interviews with the president. from the university dr.

Myles Brant, the athletic director, Clarence Doneger, Coach Knight, and for current players who were on the team when some of these incidents occurred, the athletic department said it would not make Coach Knight or the players available for interviews, the president's office said if coach

knight

wouldn't agree to an interview, the president wouldn't either, according to neil reed, president bran has caved to bob

knight

before allowing himself to be publicly kicked out of his own team's practice coach, naked here , I mean, just stop practicing like, damn, you know, stop talking. I don't go to your office and talk while you're working, get out of here and the president just looked and grabbed his things, walked out and left, he threw his spokesperson away, president brand denies being kicked out of practice by Knight, did he ever kicked the president out of practice?

He kicked him out. I know I'm not sure what he told him, but the president was always hanging around and he didn't even kick him out. He kicked people out of practice during practice. he is angry. I think if you had professors, if you had teachers, if you had administrators, if you had office staff, anyone who has acted the way he has done and done the things that he has done. I can't think of anyone else in a position. those who wouldn't have been fired, I call him the Emperor of Indiana and there's really no one in this state who will stand up to him and there's certainly no one at this university who will, and in a sense, if you're the Emperor, you can do whatever you want you want to wipe your butt in front of your team have the toilet paper Bob well, Sperber is outspoken, he's not the only one among Indiana teachers concerned about the Knights' abusive behavior since 1987 after John Feinstein's book The Season Edge of the Abyss revealed the Knights' training methods.

The Bloomington Faculty Council adopted a statement on the rights of student-athletes. It says that athletes should not be subjected to abusive, intimidating,coercive, humiliating or degrading. He goes on to say that athletes should also be encouraged to

report

any violations of these policies to the appropriate university authorities Derrick Donna says some players may fear the consequences of speaking out, what are they going to gain from this, you know, I mean, if someone He's really angry and wants to get Coach Knight, I don't. I know who that person is that has the power that is coming to you or has some means to make that happen.

I mean, if I were the most vengeful person, I still think I'd be whistling in the wind if you crossed paths with Bob Knight and left the show early and were vilified like most people who have left the show, you have to do it on your own. Life becomes a little more difficult for you. There are fewer of these young people, that's the point, and they have no power. They have no forum to talk. They have no platform. no one, his children, his children, often did not have the opportunity to express the reasons why they left or what happened in their lives, his children, that's Bob Knight University, he just puts it on the state sometimes , I do not know what it is.

I think when someone rises to positions of power he says no. Neil Reed graduated from Southern Mississippi in May and played professionally in the Netherlands last year before deciding his heart was no longer in basketball after leaving Indiana. Richard Mandeville played professionally in Australia last year. and he is currently training in hopes of getting a tryout with an NBA team. The guys who leave that program make the best decision. If I had to do it all over again. I would have left after my freshman year. I would have gotten out of there. You know, everyone who's going to be in this or the bad guys, we're the criminals, we're the guys, he never worked hard, we were lazy, we didn't want to win, you know, we're going to get cheated. to be the bad guy in this whole thing I'm not out to get anyone, it seems so strange that the only weapon I have to fight this battle with is the truth and it seems like such a small weapon, you know, I mean, you would.

I think the truth is what everyone wants to know and everyone wants to hear, but it's not what everyone wants to know before you see the article you just saw and in response to the advanced publicity of the story, Indiana officials held a conference press to respond. to the accusations, Bob Knight was not present, but others, including current Indiana players, defended the program while questioning the character of Neil Reed, the guys who have transferred from here and had reasons to transfer from here and, you know , the coach's reasons, I mean, that just shows that you know.

I have no development as a man and I think that is the main reason why this guy you know, Reid, is making these statements regarding the accusations. You know I played with Neal for a year and you know I was here when he was voted out. out of the team, you know he didn't leave by choice, he was sent off and playing with new one year, you know, I learned that anything he did wrong was never his fault and whether it was a bad pass or being out of position, you know. It's never his fault, it's always someone else and I think you know the things he says now and the things he said when he was gone or you just know that he can't take responsibility for his actions, former basketball player Indiana and current.

Bowling Green head coach Dan Dockage also disputed read claims: I was an assistant coach when Neal Reed played at Indiana and his accusation that I ever had to separate him from Coach Knight is completely false. Anyone who has seen the coach in practice knows that he will physically move a player by the waist or shoulders from one spot on the court to another to make a coaching point, but for Reed to say that I have ever had to separate him from the coach it's false. CNN Sports Illustrated will continue to follow this story and be sure to tune in on the newsstand Wednesday at 10 p.m.

ET on CNN for more news. Sports Tonight will continue in a moment. The market, of course, viewed this very favorably and the resulting increase in our share price brings our market capitalization to within 10 percent of year-end projections. To detail what this means for the company I would like to give you the floor to our president, former media player Neil Reed, and allegations about a program. His show was a classic performance. Scott Walker was there to witness it. Bob Knight arrived at Marine Midland Arena exuding. business-as-usual aura, in fact, he made a point of saying he wouldn't mention the broadcast

report

or former players Neal Reed and Richard Mandeville accused Knight of physical and mental abuse, but in a scheduled 15-minute interview session, The coach spoke a 20-minute filibuster defending himself in typical late-night fashion.

I don't know if you and other people understand this: a kid who was kicked off the team by the returning players by eight votes to zero, another kid who was laughed at by the players because of his work ethic and the way he played Knight defended his motivational style. He's done about a thousand things to motivate kids as individuals or teams, and I guarantee that many of them I wouldn't want to talk about at a church social or a PTA meeting or a park garden, but we are not teaching children how to play Canasta. I mean, this is a game where kids get nosebleeds, broken legs, get hurt, and have to compete, and I found humor at the expense of the media anonymous sources tell me what an anonymous source is, someone can do that, we can't, what the hell is it, you know you're going to ask me questions, let me, what is an anonymous source?, there was an anonymous source of mine standing here and saying that.

Someone who does not wish to be identified just told me outside that 65% of the men in this room have extramarital affairs with sheep and that an anonymous source Knight said that the positive thing about the situation has been the former players who have rallied behind he, support he compared to an encounter with Isiah Thomas in November, walked up to me and grabbed my shirt. I proudly showed him that, as a player, he grabbed my shirt and looked me in the eyes. and he said coach, never change, I needed you and the kids need you not to change, so who thinks I will?

While Knight and his players did so, the controversy did not affect his preparation for Pepperdine, he found fault with his team's performance Friday night. He has long said that no team should play a game that starts after 9 p.m. The night marks the ninth time in 12 NCAA Tournament games Indiana will start a game after 9:00 in Buffalo Scott Walker ESPN spring CNN Sports Illustrated set out to learn why in the last three years three high school basketball players have had gone the Indiana University team, one of the country's most storied college basketball programs, on March 14 we conveyed those findings in a report that focused on the conduct of head coach Bob Night for the first time, some of the nights the former players spoke openly about physical and verbal issues. abuse they say they endured during coach night here's our follow-up to that report.

This article was reported and produced by Robert Abbott and is narrated by Larry Smith Neal Reed, a former high school All-American who started 72 games for Indiana, alleged that during his third year in 1997, head coach Bob Knight strangled him. Reed said the incident occurred in practice when he didn't agree with something Knight had said and at that point the coach just pushed me right away and came right at me. Was he far enough away that where you know he could see something coming, was he close enough that he could come towards me, reach out and put his hand around my throat, he only had one hand, he came out with two hands but he grabbed me with one Like many schools, Indiana videotapes its basketball practices. and rumors have circulated for months that a tape of the choking incident existed after our report was broadcast.

CNN Sports Illustrated received this tape, it was me. Oh, although the incident happened three years ago, Neil Reed had not seen the tape until now, what was his initial reaction when you first saw that what went through your head is disgusting to me. I don't need a tape to tell me what happened to other people. I mean, it could help with other people's. Yes, I see it enough in my head and when I see it. it's just disgusting for me to be attentive if it were me, I would be disgusted if your arm was even before the reading accusations first aired last month, the university held a press conference in which current Indiana players who They had played with reading and denounced their exes.

Teammates and challenges, accusations from guys who transfer from here and who had reasons to transfer from here and from the coach, and I think that's the main reason why this guy Reid is coming out with these statements. You know, I've never seen the coach grab a neo around the neck or choke them in any way I've never seen the coach touch anyone or grab the body in any way trying to physically harm them that same day, Tim Carl Indiana's basketball coach during the last 19 years he said quote that the choking thing never happened give me a lie detector in quotes the following The day Bob Knight did something he rarely does, he allowed a local television news crew to film the practice with cameras on March.

Knight proceeded to move his players around the court by their necks during subsequent interviews with that station, reads another local station and the true direction of HBO's sports night. accusations maybe I grabbed Neil Read by the shoulder maybe I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck I don't know, I mean, I don't remember everything I've done in practice, the specific charges, did you grab Neil Reed, hey, me? I've probably grabbed every player that ever played for me at one time or another Mike, I mean, I've grabbed guys, I've put him in a position, I've tackled him, I've put him here, I've blocked the guy, I've blocked someone, I mean , I have trained that. for 36 years, but by the neck, I could have grabbed him by the back of the neck.

I might as well have moved it. I mean, if you strangled a man, I'd think he needed hospitalization. If you were like that, no. I don't remember, I'm sure I've done it with kids. I do not do it. I will tell you this in everything I did with a child that I didn't do with many other children. I have no apologies to offer at all. or whatever he did in an attempt to motivate the kids the next night, the next night he refused to answer questions about the allegations at Indiana's press conference before the first round of the NCAA tournament, but the night He went around for almost 22 minutes defending his training techniques.

If my kids left and were unsuccessful and didn't have degrees and were destitute or sold drugs or were in jail for one thing or another, then I would really have a lot of questions about which one. Hell, all my methods were leading up to March 17 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Knights Hoosiers were defeated by Pepperdine 7757. I'm not talking to the greatest group of basketball minds I've ever met before. I don't think so, but you. All of us guys have had to realize that we just got beat up after our initial story aired.

Three former Indiana players called CNN Sports Illustrated to say they had witnessed incidents similar to the one described by Reed Rickey Callaway, a forward on the 1987 Hoosiers national championship team, said he saw the Knights beat former forward Daryl Thomas and hit the two-time All-American guard Steve Alford. Alford and Thomas denied being physically attacked during the night, but Callaway told CNN Sports Illustrated that, based on one he had experienced in his years in Indiana, he had every reason. believe that Neal Reed was telling the truth. He wanted to give some validity to what Neal Reed said. I felt like he was taking a bad hit.

What he said was true. I've seen some of the things that happened to him. on our team like some of my teammates On March 23, Indiana President Myles Brand was named to the university's board of trustees to investigate all of the allegations in the CNN Sports Illustrated report, which included the claim of Reid that he had been choked and an accusation that he had brandished dirty toilet paper at his players that night and an accusation that Brand himself had been kicked out of practice for the night. These are serious charges and we owe it to everyone involved, including Coach Knight.

We arrive at the definitive truth. I want to emphasize one thing: there are no sacred cows in Indiana. University including the basketball program immediately after Reed's account of the choking incident aired. Walnut told the Indianapolis Star. Quotes I'm speaking as a board member as an attorney. I wouldn't put any action at the end. Quote in a March 27 editorial in theUniversity. The student newspaper called for an independent investigation into the charges in the first report. Reed had said assistant coaches had to take the night away from him. The tape does not confirm this. I know what happens and that proves what happens.

I think in the moment after something. like that especially 20 year old kid being in that situation, I don't think you can find fault and a little bit of yeah, I'm not lying, that's how I remember them happening and Fehlings five feet away from me as far as people. in the middle I remember the people I'm with among us Tuesday night Walda and I flew to Atlanta to watch the tape on CNN Sports Illustrated. Nights was offered the opportunity to join them, but his spokesperson declined on his behalf and said the night would defer until The Trustees' tape appears to shed some light on the reported incident between Coach Knight and Neal Reed.

Now it will be up to us to continue and complete our investigation. We will compare what we have seen on the video with witness accounts, continue to take more evidence from witnesses, and ultimately issue a final report that will include the videotape as part of the evidence reviewed. I have taken this task very seriously, we will proceed to complete our review in a very professional and comprehensive manner, the results of the official investigation will be delivered no later than the third week of June, despite the storm surrounding Coach Knight , his followers are many as evidence on Sunday in Bloomington, Indiana, where around 500 Knight Packers gathered on the steps of Assembly Hall and their mission was not only to support the coach but to denounce what they call negative press reports on Coach Knight He didn't attend at this time we went to baseball and Santa