As reported by the Evansville Courier Press, Damon Bailey will be inducted into the IU Athletics Hall of Fame on November 3rd. De Dee Nathan, David Volz, Ralph Hamilton, Gregg Thompson and Elizabeth Kurpius will also be inducted into the Hall of Fame, bringing the total number of members to just over 150. I have no problem with Damon getting inducted, as he not only was an Indiana legend at 18, but also finished college as the seventh all-time scorer in IU history.

The problem I have is this: the man who recruited Bailey while he was in 8th grade, should be the one being inducted.

Whether they like it or not, Bob Knight and Indiana University are always going to be linked together, like Daniel-san and Mr. Miyagi or Ken Griffey Jr. and torn ACL’s.

I understand that there is some serious bad blood between the University and Coach Knight, but allow me lay out my plan to calm the feud with my brilliant use of bullet points:

• Almost everyone who was in the IU Administration when Knight was fired is now gone. (Sadly one of them is now the head of the NCAA.) If nobody directly related to these “issues” is left at the university, who at IU is upholding their end of the grudge? Case in point.
• I won’t recap all the stats and figures, but if you took away the controversy of the firing, there would be no question that Knight should be in the Hall of Fame. If you don’t agree with this statement, then I think it is fair to say that your SAT score might be lower than Forrest Gump’s.
• The bad blood between Knight and the University is now, well, pointless. Knight has moved on to another job and been able to coerce Texas Tech into hiring his son when he is done (A son who seems to have inherited all of The General’s bad qualities and none of his good). There is no longer anyone on the IU basketball coaching staff with a direct connection to Knight, and IU is moving torward the future with Eric Gordon, Kelvin Sampson, and a Family Minutes plan from Sprint.
• Everytime there is any little problem with the basketball program, people still go into Pro-Knight mode. In this latest cell-phone situation, no sooner had Sampson hung up his last three way call, when players like Kent Benson and Ted Kitchel were ripping the new program and defending Bob Knight’s record of clean programs. Students waving their hands during free throws? ‘Knight wouldn’t have allowed that.’ Lost a tight game? ‘Knight would have found a way to win it.’ –These sorts of things are not good for the overall health of the program.

Because one cliche just isn’t enough, I’m going to use three: IU needs to take the higher ground, do the right thing, and help to put this Knight thing to rest. They should induct him into the IU Athletics Hall of Fame and honor him during halftime of a basketball or football game. Of course, Knight might not show (okay, probably won’t), but that’s fine. IU would still honor him, and then whenever he ripped IU in the press, their response could be something like, “We extended our olive branch to Coach Knight, and he honored him as a legend.” Why should the University continue to hold a grudge? By not moving forward and putting this issue to rest, they are allowing the shadow of Knight to continually hang over the basketball program. It is the white elephant in the room, quietly waiting for its chance to nonchalantly back over IU’s reputation and asphyxiate it with a well-planned settling of its tail-end. By addressing this issue, IU could bring down the elephant (or even put it in their zoo), and would see less of the Pro-Knight comments after every bump in the road.

By continuing to be in this grudge match with Coach Knight, Indiana University is looking as irrational as Coach Knight. They should take the higher ground and do what is RIGHT!

After talking about this theory during a tailgate party in Bloomington this last weekend, here was one response I got, “Why not! They should re-name Assembly Hall after Knight. Right before they tear it down to build the new basketball arena.” Maybe some things will never change.