CNN.com - Bob Knight could be fired after latest allegations
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University investigating student claim that coach grabbed him, screamed profanities
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana (CNN) -- Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight could be fired if allegations that he grabbed a 19-year-old freshman, restrained him and screamed profanities at him are proven, a spokesman for the university said on Saturday.
In an interview with CNN Sports Illustrated, Christopher Simpson, vice president of public affairs and government relations at Indiana University, said that investigations by campus police would be completed within 72 hours.
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Knight is already under the constraints of a zero-tolerance policy imposed by the university after an investigation in May found the coach had been abusive to a former IU basketball player.
"It had four points, one of which, of course, was any inappropriate physical contact that can be verified," Simpson said of the zero-tolerance policy.
"We'll take whatever actions necessary up to and including termination."
'I would have been an absolute moron ... to grab a kid'
Knight has called the allegations by student Kent Harvey "totally untrue," and described a far milder encounter. He said he only held Harvey by his arm as he talked to him.
"I would have been an absolute moron, an absolute moron, with the things that have been laid down on me, to grab a kid in public and curse at a kid in public as apparently it's been said that I did," Knight said.
"And that is absolutely, totally untrue," Knight added, adding that it was an "interesting coincidence" that his accuser was the stepson of one of his most vocal critics.
An assistant coach at the university, Mike Davis, said he was only a few feet away when the incident occurred and agreed with Knight's account.
"He never said a cuss word," Davis said. "He never raised his voice."
'Why does Kent Harvey have these 3 marks on his arm?'
But Mark Shaw, Harvey's stepfather, dismissed Knight's denial of wrongdoing. "If coach Knight's version is correct, why does Kent Harvey have these three marks on his arm? Why are they there?
"They were there the night after the incident," Shaw said. "They were even there last night when police took photographs. The physical evidence just doesn't match with what coach Knight said."
Shaw, a former talk show host in Bloomington who has been critical of Knight, said he felt the spring controversy should have resulted in the coach's dismissal rather than just sanctions and a warning.
But he said his opinions in no way affected his stepson's charge. "That's absolutely absurd. There are 40,000 kids here. Those boys of mine don't agree with me in regard to everything," Shaw said.
They don't even know about my comments with coach Knight. To in any way insinuate that there's a connection there is absolutely absurd."
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Close encounter at the Assembly Hall
By all accounts, Harvey and four others, including his two brothers, encountered Knight on Thursday in a doorway at the university's Assembly Hall where they were getting football tickets.
Both the students and Knight agree that Harvey addressed the coach by his last name, yelling, "Hey, what's up, Knight?"
From there, accounts diverge. Harvey said Knight grabbed him roughly, held him against the doorway and screamed obscenities at him for what he said was a lack of respect.
Harvey said on Friday that Knight "wasn't yelling at me" but that "he used force against me and restrained me. I don't know, he scared the hell out of me, basically."
"He didn't have to touch me," Harvey said, adding that Knight could have asked that he be addressed in a different manner.
Knight claims he did just that by saying, "Son, my name isn't Knight to you, it's coach Knight or it's Mr. Knight. I don't call people by their last name and neither should you."
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Knight warned after spring investigation
Four months ago, university officials warned Knight they would fire him if he was abusive to any students, players or colleagues.
That zero-tolerance warning and sanctions, including a $30,000 fine, a three-game suspension and Knight's promise to keep his cool, came after an investigation prompted by a CNN Sports Illustrated report last spring that detailed a former player's charge that he was choked by Knight during a 1997 practice.
In his press conference on Friday night about the latest allegations, Knight said his temper had nothing to do with the incident.
"Don't even think that you can enter anger into this thing," he said. "This was simply a matter of manners and civility."
CNN CHAT TRANSCRIPTS:
TalkBack Live: Did Coach Knight Get the Punishment He Deserved?
May 16, 2000
Morning News: Feinstein: Indiana University Officials 'Scared Mice'
May 16, 2000
Larry King Live: Can Getting Old Mean Getting Better?
May 15, 2000
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