Knight to speak at Stepan Center
Erin LaRuffa
News Writer
Famous to some, infamous to others, the man with the red sweater is coming to Notre Dame.
Tonight, before a crowd of Notre Dame students and South Bend community members, college basketball coach Bobby Knight will offer his insights on coaching and motivating students.
"Some people really seem to like him as a basketball coach. Some people seem to hate him, I guess because of his temper problems," said Stephen Christ, the student in charge of organizing the event for the Student Union Board (SUB). "But everyone seems very interested."
Knight was recently fired as Indiana University's head men's basketball coach after nearly three decades and a handful of national championships, but also many well-publicized outbursts. Texas Tech then hired Knight as its head men's basketball coach.
Some students praised the success of Knight's basketball program, while at the same time denouncing some of Knight's actions.
"He is a good basketball coach but some of his methods aren't right," said freshman Mike Vitlip.
"I think that he's a good coach but sometimes he uses a power hungry approach," said sophomore Abbey Coons.
Vitlip and Coons are not planning to attend the speech because of other commitments, but both said they would probably be attending if they could. Sophomore Alex Clark similarly said he wished he was going to be able to hear Knight speak.
"He'll be interesting —controversial, but different is always good for college campuses," Clark said. "You can't just discount him because he's a little outrageous." Some students were even stronger in their defense of Knight and said they were looking forward to listening to his speech tonight.
"I think he'll show a more humane side," junior Harold Johnson said.
"I want to know why he choked someone. I want to know why he threw the chair," said Jae Scarborough, a sophomore.
"All you see is Bobby Knight yelling at people," Johnson said. "There has to be something good about the guy." The public and the media misrepresent Knight, according to Johnson.
Both Johnson and Scarborough pointed to Knight's success as a head coach and his ability to recruit players.
"I think he is a good coach — I like Bobby Knight," Scarborough said. He added that one of his friends from high schools was recruited by Knight to play at Indiana.
Because of his reputation, his speech could lead to a significant discussion on campus, according to graduate student Cristina Mendoza.
"Maybe it's good to get dialogue going on what's appropriate for adult role models," Mendoza said, adding that she was "frankly surprised that Texas Tech would hire him." Whether or not it will start a discussion about role models, Knight's behavior certainly has put him in the headlines, particularly when he was fired as Indiana's coach and then hired to coach Texas Tech.
"Bob Knight's in the news so much, especially recently," said Christ in explaining why he thought Knight would be a popular speaker at the University.
Christ also pointed to the growing popularity of basketball at Notre Dame as a reason why the SUB chose to invite Knight.
"Notre Dame was so into basketball this year," Christ said.
"He's a figure that's definitely had a major impact on NCAA basketball,"said Vitlip.
The SUB's budget and ticket revenue will cover the entire cost of the event, which includes a fee to Knight of an amount Christ said he could not disclose.
Before any of today's ticket sales, 1,200 of the available 1,800 tickets had been sold, according to Christ. He expects to sell most of the remaining tickets today.
All News Stories for Tuesday, March 27, 2001
