Bob Knights wins record #880, Still not in IU athletic HOF Options

[madisonsmadhouse]

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Basketball/NCAA/...3116316-ap.html

Knight not yet Indiana University's Hall of Fame

By MICHAEL MAROT

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - Bob Knight won 662 games and three national championships at Indiana.

Apparently, those are not yet Hall of Fame credentials.

The longtime face of Hoosiers basketball has already been bypassed twice for induction into the school's hall of fame, and his supporters think it's a befuddling omission.

"For what he's done for Indiana, absolutely he belongs," former player John Laskowski told The Associated Press. "I'm not sure what the qualifications are, but he's certainly won enough games."

Knight, now at Texas Tech, got victory No. 880 on Monday - passing North Carolina's Dean Smith for the most in Division I history.

His greatest success came at Indiana, where he celebrated more than three-quarters of his career victories. Knight's 1976 national championship team is the last Division I school to complete an undefeated season.

Over 29 seasons, Knight kept Indiana's basketball program in the headlines, whether for his team's success on the court or his much-publicized temper off it.

Coaches become eligible for induction five years after leaving the school, said assistant athletic director Kit Klingelhoffer, a non-voting member of the school's Hall of Fame committee who declined to give details of the committee meetings.

Knight was fired from Indiana in September 2000, making him eligible in the fall of 2005.

Since then, the university has attempted to mend the rift between Knight's loyalists and the school. In November, the athletic department held a banquet honouring former Indiana basketball players and there's now a photo of Knight hanging near a ramp in the main lobby of Assembly Hall.

On Monday, shortly after Texas Tech's 70-68 victory over New Mexico, Indiana president Adam Herbert issued a statement congratulating Knight.

"Indiana University fans have always been proud of the record of team success that coach Knight achieved here in Bloomington," Herbert said. "On behalf of the IU family, I wish coach Knight continued success."

Athletic director Rick Greenspan tried to explain Knight's exclusion by citing the procedural process, although he wasn't sure whether Knight had yet been nominated.

One factor going against him may be that Knight sued the university to collect back pay after his firing, a case that was dropped in February 2004.

Greenspan, who took over at Indiana in 2004, believes Knight will eventually get in.

"I would be shocked if, at some point in time, he was not a member," Greenspan said. "I think he'd have to be nominated just because of the sheer magnitude of what he's done."

Indiana usually announces new Hall of Fame inductees in the fall.

Greenspan, like Knight, left Army for Indiana. He has seen both schools embraced Knight's legacy.

"He's highly revered there (at Army) because I think they take pride in being the institution that gave him his start," Greenspan said. "But I think his stature grew as the magnitude of Indiana basketball grew. . . . His records, I think, are somewhat mind-boggling."