Posted on 02/04/2004 5:30:55 AM PST by Theodore R.
Knight's outburst draws reprimand Raider fans throw support behind coach
BY PATRICK GONZALES A-J SPORTS EDITOR
Texas Tech head basketball coach Bob Knight was on the sidelines Tuesday night — a day after a highly publicized verbal spat with the university's chancellor threatened to put another dent in his coaching career.
After a day of deliberation among school officials, Tech athletic director Gerald Myers said in a press release distributed Tuesday afternoon that appropriate personnel action had been taken in regard to Knight. No suspension was involved, Myers said, but the action did include a reprimand.
Knight was greeted with a standing ovation by 9,385 fans during his trademark walk to the bench just minutes before the Red Raiders' 7 p.m. tipoff against Baylor on Tuesday. Tech won the game 83-63 and fans once again rose to their feet in appreciation as he left the court.
"This thing is over with and it's passed," Knight said during his post-game news conference. "I'm too tired of it. I didn't eat for 48 hours and I didn't sleep very much, either."
Myers and Smith were not available for comment at Tuesday's game. Their only statements came in the news release.
"This is a misunderstanding and has now been rectified," Myers said. "The matter has been resolved in the best interest of the university."
Added Smith: "We look forward to the continuation of what is already a successful season."
When board of regents chairman Robert Black was asked about the resolution, he said, "My position is that this is something that is internal and Texas Tech University has handled it."
The incident occurred during the noon hour Monday when Smith was having lunch with another Tech employee at United Supermarkets' Market Street at 50th Street and Indiana Avenue.
Two witnesses told The Avalanche-Journal that Smith was finishing lunch when he noticed Myers in the store.
Smith greeted Myers and was overheard saying, "I really appreciate the way coach Knight has handled himself, in particular at the Texas game when he quieted down some overzealous Tech fans. Let Coach know that I really appreciate his efforts."
According to one witness, Myers said Knight was in the restaurant and suggested to Smith, "Why don't you tell him yourself."
Smith and Myers walked over to the salad bar area, and Smith repeated his comments to the coach, the witness said.
At that point, Knight and Smith spoke in lowered voices and witnesses could not hear what was being said until Knight loudly commented, "Are you calling me a liar?"
One witness told the newspaper that he was startled by Knight's degree of rage, provoked or unprovoked. "This was unprovoked," the witness said.
At that point, Smith backed away and turned to leave the area. Knight followed Smith, who stopped and told Knight that as chancellor of the university Smith deserved more respect from Knight.
There was no physical contact between the men and nothing was thrown, one witness said.
Myers and Knight left the store together after the confrontation.
The A-J also has learned that Knight and Myers both got out of Knight's car as it was stopped at a red light at the intersection of Indiana Avenue and 50th Street. They were seen having a discussion outside the vehicle before both returned to the car.
Knight confirmed Tuesday that the incident occurred when Smith confronted him about his recent behavior at the eatery's salad bar, but he did not discuss the rest of the episode.
"I just simply said, 'David, as long as I've been here for the most part ... I think I've done pretty well (with my behavior),' " Knight said. "I go around to fix my salad. He came at me pretty hard saying, 'You've got issues, what are they?'
"Right then is where I think I was at fault. I should have just shook my head, walked away and done a lot of other things and I didn't. I went on to tell him what one of those issues was and it went back and forth a little bit. But the one thing there was, that I absolutely did not instigate anything."
Knight did not elaborate on the issues and did not field questions on the matter.
A source close to the university told The A-J earlier Tuesday that Knight was asked to sign a letter placing him on immediate three-day suspension.
In addition to the suspension, the letter addressed future behavior of the Red Raiders' coach.
"But I will tell you this, suspension was a thing that was talked about and I told Gerald (Myers) that I would not agree to that," Knight said. "I would not think it was fair, but because of my feeling for the university, about people here, my feelings about the players I got here, players that we recruited and my feelings about living in this city ... .
"I have thoroughly enjoyed (living in this city) and so has my wife, and we decided (Monday night) that if that's the way it went with the suspension, I would go through every means available to fight that. But I would have stayed through the suspension simply because I feel so strong about this situation, this community and these kids. That would not have been easy for me to do, but I would have. I'm just glad everything is behind us and we can go on from here."
Some Tech players shared the same sentiments.
"Like last year, we had way too may altercations or events that happened that shouldn't have happened," senior guard/forward Mikey Marshall said. "Basically, we just try to block everything out; we know not to listen to hearsay, and we just try to go out there and get another win."
patrick.gonzales@lubbockonline.com 766-8735
I don't think the guy actually called Knight a liar, but Knight took it that way. The guy meant to compliment Knight and for whatever reason Knight misunderstood and assumed a different intent of the comment.
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