Hall of Fame basketball coach Bob Knight returned to Assembly Hall of Indiana University on Saturday after 20 years. He had fired as the Hoosiers’ men’s basketball coach in 2000.
Bob Knight came at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, his home base for twenty-nine seasons, where he coached the Hoosiers.
Knight said in an interview in 2017 that On his dying day, he would think about how great the fans at Indiana were. At Indiana University at that time, he had no respect whatsoever for those people. He had no interest in ever going back to that university.
Knight was invited several times. But he did not come as he was not interested. But his attitude began to change since last spring when he arrived at an IU home baseball game with his friend Bob Hammel (former Bloomington Herald-Times sports editor).
People Remarks at his Arrival
Knight had appeared halftime to the crowd; people welcomed him with standing applause.
Former Indiana All-American Mike Woodson said that that was where he belonged. That was where he had made his name at Indiana. I was just happy he was able to come that day.
IU coach Archie Miller said that that game had been circled on the calendar for a long time. And he thought that was the goal for those guys to make that happen.
But he thought as that the previous week approached; he felt it had been going to come down the line that hopefully, cross his fingers, that everything was able to work out.
Knight’s son, Patrick, escorted him to center court at halftime. Former players Quinn Buckner, Steve Green, and Scott May also joined him.
Knight’s player from 1976, 1981, and 1987 NCAA championship teams stood and roared for more than five minutes at his arrival.
Randy Wittman, a starting guard on IU’s 1981 NCAA title team, said that he loved the fans, and they had responded to him.
Knight led Indiana to 11 Big Ten championships, three national titles and five Final Fours during his glorious career.
After the ceremony, Wittman said that it could not have gone any better. He was still emotional. Wittman could not sleep the previous night. He was the big part of who he was. He had come here as a kid and left as a man, and he owed a lot of that to Knight.
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