Bob Knight's Thoughts On N.C.A.A. Reforms
Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2004 7:10 pmTimes Record News
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Knight scoffs at proposed NCAA reforms
By SID HARTMAN
August 5, 2004
NCAA officials are talking about adopting a new system in which colleges will be penalized for athletes who don't graduate and be rewarded for those who do.
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Bobby Knight, the Texas Tech men's basketball coach who was in the Minneapolis area this week helping raise money for the Boys and Girls Clubs, calls this a smokescreen.
"I said 25 years ago that if presidents are really concerned about NCAA eligibility, that they would only give scholarships to replace kids who have graduated," Knight said.
"I think college presidents are just simply afraid at how teams would be decimated," he said. "They've done such a poor job with it. I've been a head coach in college basketball now for 39 years and at three different institutions. We've had three kids in that period of time who were seniors who had completed their eligibility who don't have a degree. And two of them have enough hours.
"If I can do it by demanding that kids go to class, any coach in America can do exactly the same thing. And we don't need a lot of smokescreen to cover what we ought to be doing as our primary responsibility, and that's seeing that kids get an education." On another subject, Knight said he doesn't recruit a kid who plans to play a limited time in college and then jump to the pros.
"What I want is a kid who wants to try to have a team that is as good as it can possibly be. Not a kid who thinks about this as a one-year or a two-year stopover to get to the NBA," he said.
Knight also is against an NCAA plan that would allow every athlete five years of eligibility rather than the current four in five years.
"I think it's a real mistake," he said. "I think five years of eligibility, among other things, we'll see a lot more kids transfer. They come in for a year, they know they can leave and still play three years under the existing five-year rule. Some of the rules that we have now would have to be changed to six years.
"Another problem would exist is that you are bringing a kid out of high school, 17 or 18 years old, and he is playing on a team where kids might be 23 or 24 years old. I think for college athletics, that's far too great a disparity in age to put a team together."
Regarding the Ohio State coaching vacancy, Knight is convinced Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger never considered him a candidate.
"I was called by several people with Ohio State ties or interests to see if I would be willing to talk to them about the job," Knight said. "I said I would talk to them, but I in no way would make a commitment. But as it turned out, they were not interested in talking to me, which is their prerogative. The situation that I have at Tech is extremely good. I really like it."
Ohio State had one basketball sellout last year - against Texas Tech. Knight not only has turned around the Red Raiders program in three years, but with his son Tim as marketing director, they have increased fundraising and overall basketball income (including television revenue) by $10 million.
E-mail Sid Hartman at shartman(at)startribune.com.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)
Copyright 2004, Times Record News. All Rights Reserved.
To print this page, select File then Print from your browser
URL: http://www.timesrecordnews.com/trn/sp_m ... 12,00.html
Knight scoffs at proposed NCAA reforms
By SID HARTMAN
August 5, 2004
NCAA officials are talking about adopting a new system in which colleges will be penalized for athletes who don't graduate and be rewarded for those who do.
Advertisement
Bobby Knight, the Texas Tech men's basketball coach who was in the Minneapolis area this week helping raise money for the Boys and Girls Clubs, calls this a smokescreen.
"I said 25 years ago that if presidents are really concerned about NCAA eligibility, that they would only give scholarships to replace kids who have graduated," Knight said.
"I think college presidents are just simply afraid at how teams would be decimated," he said. "They've done such a poor job with it. I've been a head coach in college basketball now for 39 years and at three different institutions. We've had three kids in that period of time who were seniors who had completed their eligibility who don't have a degree. And two of them have enough hours.
"If I can do it by demanding that kids go to class, any coach in America can do exactly the same thing. And we don't need a lot of smokescreen to cover what we ought to be doing as our primary responsibility, and that's seeing that kids get an education." On another subject, Knight said he doesn't recruit a kid who plans to play a limited time in college and then jump to the pros.
"What I want is a kid who wants to try to have a team that is as good as it can possibly be. Not a kid who thinks about this as a one-year or a two-year stopover to get to the NBA," he said.
Knight also is against an NCAA plan that would allow every athlete five years of eligibility rather than the current four in five years.
"I think it's a real mistake," he said. "I think five years of eligibility, among other things, we'll see a lot more kids transfer. They come in for a year, they know they can leave and still play three years under the existing five-year rule. Some of the rules that we have now would have to be changed to six years.
"Another problem would exist is that you are bringing a kid out of high school, 17 or 18 years old, and he is playing on a team where kids might be 23 or 24 years old. I think for college athletics, that's far too great a disparity in age to put a team together."
Regarding the Ohio State coaching vacancy, Knight is convinced Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger never considered him a candidate.
"I was called by several people with Ohio State ties or interests to see if I would be willing to talk to them about the job," Knight said. "I said I would talk to them, but I in no way would make a commitment. But as it turned out, they were not interested in talking to me, which is their prerogative. The situation that I have at Tech is extremely good. I really like it."
Ohio State had one basketball sellout last year - against Texas Tech. Knight not only has turned around the Red Raiders program in three years, but with his son Tim as marketing director, they have increased fundraising and overall basketball income (including television revenue) by $10 million.
E-mail Sid Hartman at shartman(at)startribune.com.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)
Copyright 2004, Times Record News. All Rights Reserved.