Knight Gets Refs In Tizzy Over Bold, Absurd Statement

Bob Knight has gone over the line many times. Even he might have gone too far over the line this time. The Indiana basketball coach might have stepped into the abyss.

In the midst of a five-part interview with ESPN’s Digger Phelps last week, the subject of gambling and college basketball came up.

“Gambling is still an issue in college basketball,” Phelps said.

At first, Knight said: “The only thing you can do is constantly remind kids” about the potential problems.

Then, he said: “We’re on gambling, then. You and I have always thought this. The most susceptible guy in any gambling scheme is an official, without any question. I mean, if we only knew the truth about games that were controlled by officials having gambling interests, I think it would be amazing.”

The tough follow-up question by the fawning Phelps?

“Well, let’s get into recruiting …”

Huh?

How about this follow-up:

Got any proof, Bob? Name some names.

Or this:

What did you know and when did you know it?

Instead, Phelps, the former Notre Dame coach and Knight’s friend for years, said nothing, just let it stand there.

Hank Nichols, the chair of the education and human services department at Villanova, as well as the national coordinator of men’s basketball officials, immediately started getting phone calls from officials. So did Gerry Donaghy, of Havertown, Pa., who, until he retired after the 1996-‘97 season, had worked 19 consecutive NCAA Tournaments and been in four Final Fours.

Nichols, who did a number of Final Fours and his share of big games in 20 years as an active official, said he plans to get in touch with someone from the NCAA about the whole matter.

“I’m going to tell him I would like him to get the FBI guy that came to my clinics to talk to the refs, to go to Knight and say, `Give me some names or retract it, one or the other,”’ Nichols said. “That’s outrageous, absolutely outrageous.”

Nichols said one group of refs already went to their commissioner and their supervisor wanting to know what will be done about it.

Donaghy wasn’t terribly surprised by Knight’s remarks.

“My first reaction was it’s typical of Bobby Knight,” Donaghy said. “Doesn’t know what he’s doing and he just wants to cause controversy.”

Donaghy first started officiating games in 1963, “from the little guys all the way up.”

In all that time, Donaghy said: “Nobody’s ever even approached me. It’s been brought to my attention at many meetings by FBI, by administration.”

And he had suspicions only twice.

“One game I thought a guy cheated, one time, college level,” Donaghy said. “And I had suspicions of another guy. But it’s like everything else. It’s so gray. How can you make those decisions? It’s just like coaches putting in subs. How do you know they’re doing the right thing? You don’t know what it’s in their mind.”

It would be naive to think it’s never been done, but to make a blanket statement as Knight did is pretty outrageous.

“You have to know the combination between (Knight) and Digger,” Nichols said. “Digger has always hated refs, always thought they cheated, way back when he started coaching. So that was right up his alley.”

Donaghy agreed an official “could probably do things to influence a point spread.”

“But you’d have to know what it is before the game. You have to know a lot of features,” he said. “Coaches control it better than referees. They can put guys on the floor.”

If he has any proof, Knight hasn’t made it public. Several phone calls to Indiana basketball contact Gregg Elkin, who has access to Knight, were not returned.

Phelps has no ESPN assignments this week and Dean Diltz, ESPN’s communications coordinator for college sports, couldn’t locate him.

“I refereed for 20 years and don’t know one guy that ever bet on a college basketball game,” Nichols said.

Knight apparently thinks something’s up. What he thinks exactly is unclear. His original comment on “games that were controlled by officials having gambling interests” just screamed for amplification.

Donaghy wasn’t too impressed with Phelps’s follow-up, either.

“I know Digger,” Donaghy said. “It’s not even worth discussing. His last few years at Notre Dame indicates what he knows about basketball.”