64 Creds - Leadership

Games three gears I mean you know they yeah figures to be like we had been over the past few years three four wins the Anna University basketball and it’s famous and at times infamous head coach Bob Knight’s it seems so strange that the only weapon that I have to fight this battle with 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 what everyone wants to know worshiped a virtual way of life for an entire state but according to some who’ve been through coach Bob Knight’s program there was a heavy price to pay to be a part of the legend the following story was written by producer Robert Abbott and narrated by Mike Galanos it must warn you it does contain some harsh language this is Bob Knight of Indiana University 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 Division one or NBA head coaching jobs and has been a mentor to hundreds of young men like Charlie Miller who played for years for Knight 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 temperamental ful fayn and my critics can kiss my ass a coach of boos referees [Applause] his players and the medium then why doesn’t he come speak to me too if it’s such a goddamn offense some of you people ought to go find another way of living this is Bob night a full professor of health physical education and recreation a man who has helped to raise some five million dollars for his University’s library the object of near fanatical devotion from his former players and from citizens throughout the state of Indiana last summer at a basketball camp at home while raised money is for boys and girls third to eighth graders I caught him like on maybe Wednesday he came Thursday and spoke to my kids a cab 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 back and at this point people coaches Dan dockage felling grab grab coach Knight and pulled him away Neil Reed says it was his childhood dream to play basketball at Indiana for Bob Knight and in 1994 he accepted a scholarship to play for the Hoosiers a read had been a high school all-america and two times state MVP playing for East Jefferson High in a New Orleans suburb the son of a coach Reed was just the sort of gritty mentally tough hard-working player that night loves but during his three years in Indiana Reed says he saw a far different Bob Knight than the man he had idolized each year there’s a term that they use up there called whipping boy there’s no question Neil was the whipping boy based on the fact that everybody felt like he could take anything Neil’s a really tough Noah’s guy and coach Knight knew that about new people say well you knew what it was like well I didn’t know that was gonna happen no one knows that’s gonna happen no one’s gonna believe that that’s gonna happen and that’s fine they don’t have to but it happened to me and it’s something I have to live with Reed says that at a practice during his junior year in 1997 Knight confronted him for not shouting out teammate Larry Richardson’s name after Reed had made a pass to him Reed stood his ground with knife insisting that he had indeed yelled out Richardson’s name when Richardson sided with Reed Reed says Knight attacked him and at that point koats just just thrust right at me just came right at me wasn’t far away enough to where you know I could see something coming it was close enough to just come at me reach and put his hand around my throat he only he had one hand he came out with two hands but grabbed me with one hand did he actually choke him I don’t think he did but he did put his hands around him I thought that was too much you probably you know he shouldn’t have done it but he did call it whatever you want and it doesn’t matter what people call it I call it choking you puts your hands around someone’s throat I mean there’s no other reason why you would that’s just his way of expressing himself some guys can put up with it and some guys can’t people came in to separate us like we were in a in a schoolyard gonna fightin it you know I actually have respect for adults and I certainly have respect for coaches and that that’s certainly won the case but I wasn’t gonna let him hold me by the throat long or squeeze hard CNN Sports Illustrated has corroborated Reed’s account of the choking incident with three other people who were at practice that day they declined to go on camera and asked that their names not be used because they were afraid that speaking out against Bob Knight could damage their careers in 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 I would have ended up with a black eye and he would have ended up in the hospital this is the first time that 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 I don’t want to live with this story for the rest of my life it’s too painful to me and it’s too painful to my parents the same sport you sing that stop I’m not against Bobby Knight in the game of basketball what he’s done to my son is bad what what he’s taken from her son is bad Reed started 72 games and averaged just under 10 points a game during his three years at Indiana he says now that he didn’t have the courage to walk out at the time he says Knight choked him but at the end of that season when Knight told him that he would not get to play a senior year Reed took Knight at his word and transferred to Southern Mississippi less than a year later another former high school all-america seven-foot center Jason Collier left Indiana just 9 games into the season call your transfer to Georgia Tech where he has 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 program Collier said he could no longer take nights relentless yelling and constant criticism this audio tape from a 1991 practice which has been widely circulated on the Internet shows just how volatile night can be [Music] [Music] you’ve heard the tape on the internet hmm how often is that what you hear during a year that right there is what I wish everyone watching this could hear so they could really understand what it is like playing there or when things are going bad there that that take away the love from the game or the enjoyment of the game where you hear something like that you’re just like you get to the point where you’re like screw this it just turns you off Richard Mandeville spent five years playing Indiana basketball and graduated in 1998 you see him he can be the greatest friendliest nicest guy but then all of a sudden he can be the craziest meanest just the last person you want to be around when they get there and they when they get in the isolated environment of their practices then dr. Jekyll is gone mr. Hyde appears and it’s it’s not very pretty Jerry Donna has been covering basketball in the state of Indiana for 30 years I think it’s a demeaning dehumanizing debilitating type situation I think you’re constantly playing in fear I think you’re being intimidated if you’re being as things that I’ve heard if you’re being choked if you’re being grabbed if you’re being pushed if you’re being head-butted if you’re being kicked if you’re being spit on if you’re being slapped I think those are kind of things that are kind of beyond the ordinary realm of of discipline in this day and age he got on me sometimes I can got on everybody but but he knew I could take that and I never let it get me down and I just kept on kept on pushing through it and now that I’m done we stay in touch I mean when I when I finished actually he wrote me a letter just let me know how much he appreciated what idea for the program down there statistics provided by Indiana indicate that the number of early departures from night program is no greater than that of other Division one schools but over the last three years the Hoosiers have seen three key starters leave a program that they seem made for CNN Sports Illustrated has learned that the Year Jason Collier left the program freshman Luke record a former mr. Indiana high school star and the very 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 blew up threatened to resign told his coaching staff to find new jobs and told wrecker it was all his fault after he talked to coach Knight he came to my house and was a mess he was like oh my god I mean he felt like he was gonna ruin all the assistant coaches lives the program the whole state of Indiana he thought if he left he would probably never be welcome back to Indiana the state or anything Recker also declined our interview request the day after night’s tirade the coach met with wrecker and told him he would change his ways wrecker made up his mind to stay another year he led the Hoosiers in scoring but at the end of his sophomore year Recker faxed in his decision to transfer while Knight was out of the country on one level Bob Knight has run a model program a graduation rate that is among the best in the nation and not a single recruiting violation in nearly three decades and Knight is well known for helping his players find jobs when their careers are over his determination to run a clean program has enabled him to survive some notable public embarrassments his being convicted in absentia of punching a policeman in Puerto Rico in 1979 throwing a chair during a game in 1985 and accidentally head-butting a player in 1994 but former players who decided to speak to CNN Sports Illustrated say similar episodes take place behind closed doors in our locker room there’s a bathroom right you know attached to it he came out pants down to his ankles and just wiped his ass and said this is how you guys are playing and he just stuck his hand out with that toilet paper after after he had wiped and just kind of showed everyone and then walk back into the stall that’s just his way of I guess you know expressing himself if I can’t tell you I have to show you and what other way to show you rather than pull my pants down bite my ass that’s how you play like you know that’s close Knight is 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 in a child Maurice Ferber is a tenured professor of English and American Studies at Indiana and during his 29 years in Bloomington has become one of Knights few vocal critics at the university Sperber says that Knights success on the court and his hero status throughout the state has created one set of rules for Bob Knight and one for the rest of the faculty its grounds for losing your tenure I know if I did it in this classroom here at Indiana I would probably lose my tenure by the time I got back to my office on the fourth floor seen in Sports Illustrated has made several requests for interviews with the president of 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 that he would not make coach Knight or the players available for interviews the president’s office said that if coach Knight would not agree to an interview the president would not either according to Neil Reed president bran has deferred to Bob Knight before allowing himself to be publicly thrown out of his own team’s practice coach naked here I mean just stop practice like goddamn it you know quit that talking I don’t come to your office and talk while you’re working get the hell out of here and president kind of just looked and grabbed his stuff got out and walked out threw his spokesman president brand denies ever having been thrown out of practice by Knight has he ever kicked the president out of practice he’s kicked him out I know that what he said to him I’m not sure but President was always coming around and and he’s not even kicked him out he’s kicked people out of practice during practice if he’s pissed I think that if you had professors if you had teachers if you had administrators if you had office personnel anybody that acted as he has done and and has done the things that he has done I I can’t think of another person in a position there who would not have been terminated I call him the Emperor of Indiana and there’s no one in this state really who will stand up to him and certainly there’s no one in this university who will and so in a sense if you’re the Emperor you’re allowed to do what you want you want to wipe your ass in front of your team have the toilet paper Bob well Sperber is outspoken he is not alone among Indiana faculty concerned about Knights abusive behavior as far back as 1987 after John Feinstein’s book a season on the brink revealed Knights coaching methods the Bloomington faculty Council adopted a statement of student-athlete rights it says athletes shall not be subjected to physically or verbally abusive intimidating coercive humiliating or degrading behavior it goes on to say that athletes shall 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 gonna win from it you know I mean if someone is really angry and is out to get coach Knight I don’t know who that one person is that has the power that approaches his or has any means of making that happen I mean if it were the most vengeful person I still think they’d be whistling in the wind if you cross Bob Knight and you leave the program early and you’re vilified as most people who have left the program are I you got to make it on your own life gets a little harder for you there are fewer fewer of these young boys that’s the whole point and they have no power they have no forum to speak they have no platform they’re no one their kids their kids they’d often don’t get a chance to express reasons that they left or what’s happened in their life their kids that’s Bob Knight University he just loads it to the state on occasions I don’t know what it’s believed when somebody steps up in positions of power it says it duh 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 is currently working out in hopes of getting a tryout with an NBA team the guys who leave that program make the best decision ever 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 gonna be on this or the bad guys we’re the lowlifes we’re the guys he never worked hard we were lazy we didn’t want to win we you know we’re gonna we’re gonna be made out to be the bad guys in this whole thing I’m not out to get anyone it seems so strange that the only weapon that I have to fight this battle with 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 what everyone wants to know prior to viewing the piece you just saw and in response to the advanced publicity of the story Indiana officials held a press conference to respond to the allegations Bob Knight was not present but others including current Indiana players defended the program while questioning Neil Reed’s character guys that have transferred from here and had reasons for transferring from here and from you know reasons from coach I mean that just shows that you know have not development to a man and and I think that’s the main reason why this guy you know Reid is coming out with these statements as far as the allegations you know I played with Neal for a year and you know I was here when he was voted off the team you know he didn’t leave by choice he was voted off and by playing with new a year you know I learned that anything that he did wrong was never his fault and whether it’s a bad pass or being out of position you know it’s isn’t never his fault is always somebody else and I think you know things that he’s saying now and the things that he said when he left or you know just him not being able to take responsibility for his actions former Indiana basketball player and current Bowling Green head coach Dan dockage also disputed reads claims saying quote I was an assistant coach when Neal Reed was playing at Indiana and his allegation that I ever had to separate him from coach Knight is totally false anyone who has seen coach at practice knows that he will physically move a player by the waist or shoulders from one spot on the floor to another to make a coaching point but for Reed to say that I ever had to separate him from coach is false CNN Sports Illustrated will continue to follow this story and be sure to tune in to newsstand Wednesday at 10 p.m. Eastern Time on CNN for any further developments Sports Tonight will continue in just a moment the market of course looked upon this very favorably and the resulting surge in our stock price brings our market capitalization to within 10 percent of year-end projections to elaborate on what this means for the company I’d like to turn the floor over to our Chairman the media former player Neil Reed and accusations about a program his program it was a classic performance Scott Walker was there to witness it Bob Knight arrived at marine Midland Arena exuding the aura of business as usual in fact he made a point to say he would not 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 went on a 20-minute filibuster defending himself in typical night fashion I don’t know if you and there’s people understand this a kid that was voted off the team by returning players by an eight to nothing vote another kid who the players kind of laughed at because of his work ethic and his approach to play Knight defended his motivational style have done close to a thousand things to motivate kids as individuals or teams and I’ll guarantee you that a lot of I wouldn’t want to talk about it a church social or the PTA meeting or a garden park but we’re not teaching kids how to play Canasta I mean this is a game where kids get bloody noses and they get broken legs and they get hurt and they got to compete and I found humor at the expense of the media unnamed sources tell me what’s an unnamed source anybody do that we don’t what the hell is you know you’re gonna ask me questions let me what’s an unnamed source there was an unnamed source of me standing up here and saying that that I just was told outside by somebody who doesn’t wish to be identified that 65% of the men in this room are having extramarital affairs with sheep is that an unnamed source Knight said the one positive to the situation has been the former players who have rallied behind him support that he likened to an encounter with Isiah Thomas in November he walked up to me and he grabbed the hold of my shirt I proudly taught him that as a player he grabbed the hold of my shirt and he looked me in the eye and he said coach don’t you ever change I needed you and kids need you don’t change so who think I will while Knight and his players did the controversy did not affect their preparation for Pepperdine he did find fault with his team’s late Friday start he has long said no team should play a game that starts after 9 p.m. night points out for 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 over the past three years three high school all-america basketball players had left the Indiana University team one of the most storied college basketball programs in the nation on March 14th we aired those findings in a report that focused on the conduct of head coach Bob night for the first time some of nights former players spoke openly about physical and verbal abuse they say they endured from coach night here is our follow-up to that report this piece was reported and produced by Robert Abbott and is narrated by Larry Smith Neal Reed a former high school all-america who started 72 games for Indiana alleged that during his junior year in 1997 he was choked by head coach Bob Knight Reed said the incident occurred at practice when he disagreed with something Knight had said and at that point coach just just thrust right at me just came right at me was it far away enough to where you know I could see something coming it was close enough to just come at me reach and put his hand around my throat he only had one hand he came out with two hands but grabbed me with one hand like many schools Indiana videotapes its basketball practices and for months rumors have circulated that a tape existed of the choking incident after our report aired CNN Sports Illustrated received this tape it was me Oh though the incident occurred three years ago Neil Reed had not seen the tape until now what was your initial reaction when you first saw that what ran through your head it’s disgusting to me I don’t need a tape to tell me it happened other people I mean it might help with other people’s yes I see it enough in my in my head and when I watch it it’s just disgusting for me to watch it out if it were me I’d be disgusted if your arm is even before reads allegations first aired last month the university held a press conference at which to current Indiana players who had played with read denounced their former teammates and challenges accusations guys that are transferred from here and had reasons for transferring from here and from coach and I think that’s the main reason why this guy Reid is coming out with these statements you know I never saw coach grab a neo around the neck or choke him in any way never seen coach touch anybody or grabbing body in any way trying to physically harm them that same day Tim Carl Indiana’s basketball trainer for the past 19 years said quote the choking thing never happened give me a lie detector in quote the following day Bob Knight did something he rarely does he allowed a local TV news crew to shoot practice with the cameras rolling Knight proceeded to move his players around the floor by their necks during subsequent interviews with that station another local station and HBO’s real sports night address reads allegations maybe I grabbed Neil read by the shoulder maybe I took him by the back of the neck I don’t know I mean I don’t remember everything that I’ve ever done in practice the specific charges did you grab Neil Reed hey I probably have grabbed every player’s ever played for me at one time or another Mike I mean I grabbed guys I put him in a position I put him down I set him here I block out the guy I block out somebody I mean I’ve coached that way for 36 years but by the neck I might have grabbed him by the back of the neck I might as well the guy moved him over I mean if you choked a guy I would think that he needs hospitalization did you go like this I don’t remember that I’m sure that I have with kids I don’t I’ll tell you this there in anything I ever did with one kid that I didn’t do with a lot of other kids I have no apologies to make whatsoever or anything that I’ve done in an attempt to motivate kids the next evening night refused to take questions about the allegations at Indiana’s press conference before the first round of the NCAA tournament but night did spins nearly 22 minutes defending his coaching techniques if my kids left and they weren’t successful and they didn’t have degrees and they’re on the breadline or they were selling drugs or they were in jail for one thing or another then I’d really have a lot of questions about just what the hell my methods were all leading to on March 17th in the first round of the NCAA tournament Knights Hoosiers were thumped by Pepperdine 7757 I’m not talking to the greatest assemblage of basketball minds I’ve ever been before I don’t think but you guys have all had to figure that out we just got pounded after our initial story aired three former Indiana players called CNN Sports Illustrated to say they had witnessed incidents similar to that described by Reed Rickey Callaway a forward on the Hoosiers 1987 national championship team said he saw Knights lap former forward Daryl Thomas and punched two-time all-american guard Steve Alford wolf Alford and Thomas denied being physically attacked by night but Callaway told CNN Sports Illustrated that based on one he had experienced in his years at Indiana he had every reason to believe Neal Reed was telling the truth I wanted to to put some validity to what Neal Reed said I felt that he was getting a bad end of the stick what he said was true I’ve seen some of the things that happened to him happened on our team as some of my teammates on March 23rd Indiana president Myles brand appointed to University Trustees to investigate all of the allegations in the CNN Sports Illustrated report these included Reid’s assertion that he had been choked an accusation that night had brandished soiled toilet paper at his players and an allegation that brand himself had been thrown out of practice by night these are serious charges and we owe it to everyone involved including coach Knight the we get to the ultimate truth I want to emphasize one thing there are no sacred cows at Indiana University that includes 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 a lawyer I would put no stock at its end quote in an editorial on March 27th at the University student newspaper called for an independent investigation into the charges in the first report Reed had said that to assistant coaches had to pull night off him the tape does not bear that out I know what happens and that proves what happens I think at 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 a yeah I’m not lying that’s how I remember that they happening and Fehlings five feet from me as far as people coming in between I remember people I’m in between us on Tuesday evening Walda and I corn flew to Atlanta to view the tape at CNN Sports Illustrated nights was offered the opportunity to join them but his spokesman declined on his behalf say night would defer to the trustees the tape does seem 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’ll be comparing what we’ve seen in the video with the accounts from witnesses we will pursue the taking of more evidence from witnesses and finally we will issue a final report which will include as part of the evidence reviewed the videotape I’ve taken this assignment quite seriously we will proceed to complete our review in a very professional and thorough manner the findings of the official investigation are due no later than the third week of June despite the firestorm around coach Knight his supporters are many as evidence Sunday in Bloomington Indiana where around 500 Knight Packers gathered on the steps of Assembly Hall their mission was to not only support the coach but denounce what they call negative press reports coach Knight did not attend right now we turn to baseball and the Santa

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