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'One last chance' Trustee president defends IU decision
Posted: Tuesday May 16, 2000 07:37 AM
The investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Indiana coach Bob Knight fell on the shoulders of the school president Myles Brand and the board of trustees headed by president John Walda. Following Monday's announcement in Indianapolis of sanctions against coach Knight, CNNSI.com's John Giannone spoke with Walda about the decisions they made and why. John Giannone: Does this decision by [IU president] Myles Brand concur with the trustees in particular and the president of the trustees specifically? John Walda: Yes, the decision which we announced today was really a decision which was made with the president conferring with the trustees. It represents the combined advice of the board and the advice of the president. Giannone: What we had heard all along was that this was an investigation that may go into mid-June. Explain the time line. Why was it concluded on Sunday? Why was this decision announced [Monday]? Walda: We followed every lead that we encountered in investigating the original accusations regarding Neil Reed and then accusations which became apparent during that process. Frankly, we worked on it almost full time for the last several weeks with the aid of an investigator and we were able to finish expeditiously. Giannone: Myles Brand said individually none of the allegations, none of the incidents rose to the level of termination. Why collectively did they not and how close did the trustees get to recommending that Bob Knight be terminated? Walda: The sanctions which we imposed and the guidelines that we imposed are about as strong a statement as you can make short of termination, in my view. Frankly, it got to the point where you had to determine whether or not you thought the coach was able to conform his conduct to our standards. We decided it was appropriate to give him one last chance to do that with very strict guidelines and with the imposition of the sanctions which you heard about. Giannone: How does the university plan to monitor and police Bob Knight's conduct? Walda: That's a very good question. We are going to utilize a commission that will be headed by a faculty member to give specific guidelines, to put some meat on the bone if you will, on what his conduct needs to be. You can bet that the trustees and the upper-level administration will keep a close eye on the basketball program. Giannone: We heard [IU spokesman] Christopher Simpson say on Sunday, "What will be done, will be done in the best interest of Indiana University." Why, as the president of the board of trustees, do you believe this is the best thing for Indiana University? Walda: Coach Knight has been an important part of Indiana University for 29 years. He's contributed greatly to the basketball program. He's contributed in other very positive ways to the university. The ideal thing is to be able to continue with those contributions, but to make it possible for him to conform his conduct so that [he] no longer provides times of embarrassment. I am very hopeful that that can occur. I think that's the best thing for the institution.
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