Bob Knight and Illinois

Rick Morrissey must have lost his good sense with his column in the Chicago Tribune titled "Illinois fans can consider Bob Knight." This is about as close to a joke as anything I have read in a sports column, and I guess Morrissey is just looking for readers and selling more papers.

He describes Coach Weber as follows: "He might be able to get the best out of his players, but he can't get the best players to come to Champaign."

Then he proposes the following: "With so much dissatisfaction surrounding Weber the last couple of years, would you hire the now free and still loutish Bob Knight, given the chance?"

Then he basically dismisses the idea at the end: If nothing else, it's fodder for a cold February day. What would you do if one of the best coaches of all time expressed interest? You'd be silly if you didn't consider it."

Well, Mr. Morrissey, you are being silly by devoting an article in the Chicago Tribune to such an idea. While Bob Knight might show up at another NCAA program, don't expect him to be in Champaign any time soon. Bob Knight has been a great coach over the years, but we have our own excellent coach in Bruce Weber. And Weber can get the best players to come to Champaign. If you just paid attention to anything going on with Illini basketball, you would know the recruiting has completely changed in the last year, with four top recruits committed for the fall of 2009, and two top recruits committed for the fall of 2010. Have you ever read about Jereme Richmond or Crandall Head? The Illini will be back, and they will be led by their excellent basketball coach, Bruce Weber. And Ron Guenther is not silly enough to be fooled by your column, and Illini fans are against your idea (just check the poll on the Tribune website.)

Finally, the theory which makes more sense is that Bob Knight is headed back to Bloomington, Indiana. The NCAA investigation of Coach Sampson continues, and rumors persist that Sampson and the Athletic Director of Indiana will be dismissed. That opens up the chance for IU to rehire Bob Knight and repair a mistake made years ago when he was fired and replaced by Mike Davis.