Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti has “formally” reached out to legendary coach Bob Knight, according to a trusted source who spoke with a person in the Rutgers athletic department.
“They have formally reached out to him,” the source said. “But I doubt it’s going to go anywhere. His name has popped up for every single big coaching opening in the last few years.”
Reached by phone, Gary O’Hagan, IMG’s director of coaching, said, “I have no knowledge of that.”
Knight is an IMG client.
Pat Knight, Bob’s son and the head coach at Texas Tech, said his father would consider coaching again and interested schools should give him a ring.
“If I’m St. John’s or Rutgers, to me, you gotta be an idiot … if you’re an AD or president, it doesn’t hurt to call,” Knight told SNY.tv exclusively last month before St. John’s hired Steve Lavin, Knight’s colleague at ESPN.
Knight, 69, is the all-time wins leader in Division I men’s basketball with 902 and won three NCAA championships during his tenure at Indiana. He last coached in 2008 at Texas Tech and now serves as an analyst for ESPN.
Rutgers coach Fred Hill was given a $600,000 settlement offer and is expected to either accept a financial package or be fired for cause.
“It is an internal personnel matter. We have no further comment at this time,” Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti said in a statement
Other names mentioned as possible successors to Hill are Fran Fraschilla, Jim O’Brien, Jim Baron, Dino Gaudio and Fran Dunphy.
Pat Knight said his father still has an itch for the game and didn’t retire because he was done with basketball.
“He was just tired,” Pat said. “He was tired from everything. But he’s got the best basketball mind around. He was just tired, he was worn out and wasn’t feeling well. Now he feels great.”
The elder Knight still gives coaching clinics and works with Pat’s team from time to time.
“To me, I could see him kind of missing that part, the game situation. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got back in it [coaching], or I wouldn’t be surprised if he kept on doing TV,” Pat said.
Still, the younger Knight said interested parties should call.
“Oh yeah, I think so,” he said. “All he can do is tell you no. He brings an instant recognition to you. You know you’re going to win. I mean, the guy’s better than anyone out there.”
Pat said his father would need “the right situation” to “come around.”
“Once a coach, always a coach,” he said. “So if something intrigued him, it wouldn’t surprise me. He’s got more energy than most guys. It has to be a good situation for him, though.”
Asked if his father would be able to recruit and feel comfortable in the Northeast, Pat said: “He’d have to hire guys to help him out in this area. You have to get some guys that know the area because no one’s better in the home, just sitting with parents and the kids. So that part he’d be great at.
“Just wherever he is, he’d just have to hire people that know the area. But to me, it’s a no-brainer. All he can do is say no.”
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Pirate4Ever / April 12, 2010
OK, so I am a Seton Hall fan let’s get that out of the way. But more importantly, I would be very upset as a New Jersey resident if a State school like Rutgers opened up the bank vault to pay Bobby Knight. With budgets being slashed all over the State and thousands of people losing jobs, it would be a PR nightmare for Rutgers. If the school could prove that Knight’s salary is coming from athletic donors and not taxpayer money, I might be able to live with that. As for the hire itself, like Knight’s son Pat said, “it’s a no-brainer”.
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RockChalkWoody / April 12, 2010
I’d say Rutgers is already dealing with one PR nightmare with this Rosario situation. I’m not sure who’s calling the shots there, but that athletic department looks like a disaster. What will keep recruits away more–Knight as the head coach or the school not allowing kids to transfer?
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MilesCat / April 13, 2010
I would love to see Knight in the Big East. He wouldn’t last three years coaching in that league, but I would love to watch him struggle. I have nothing against Rutgers, but I am not too fond of Knight.
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Blank / April 13, 2010
Uhh… Woody, so an athletic department is a disaster because it’s willing to stick up for itself when another school tampers with its players.
If you want to talk about athletic departments that are disasters, let’s talk about that athletic department where the football and basketball players are actively at each other’s throats.
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RockChalkWoody / April 13, 2010
Uh, Blank, sorry if this touched a nerve. This is a disaster for Rutgers because it kills future recruiting. Do you really think that schools like KU and Florida have to tamper with a kid like Rosario? I don’t even think the Jayhawks could find room for him (even if there was interest).
You’re over-reaching in bringing up a dispute between the football & basketball programs at KU. It was well documented when it happened (months ago). I know you’d love for that to be a current event…it’s not. But back to the topic at hand. Again, the combination of trying to keep a kid from looking at legit programs (that aren’t tampering & not in the Big East) and possibly bringing in a fossil like Bobby Knight looks like a PR nightmare.
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Blank / April 13, 2010
Of course you touched a nerve. You called the athletic department of my school a disaster. It’s not as if you’re a fan of a school with a squeaky clean athletic department like let’s say Navy. You’ve got some big scandals that happened at your school relatively recently. This is like the pot calling the kettle black, when the kettle is a shade of grey, and the pot is jet black.
Of course, you’re going to touch a nerve.
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RockChalkWoody / April 13, 2010
Never said my athletic dept was squeaky clean so you can back off the whole pot kettle black rhetoric–nobody cares. This is about your school making a big mistake & trying to steer a kid away from schools like KU & Florida for no good reason. Will this have a negative impact on future recruiting? Absolutely.
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RockChalk97 / April 13, 2010
College sports have such a high turn over that there’s no way the “Rosario situation” will have an real impact on Rutger’s future recruiting. Calapari now was 2 final fours taken away from him but managed to put together a top recruiting class and walk to the elite 8. Memphis had Derrick Rose cheat on his SATs and any coach would die for their recruiting class coming in this year. As you even state the incidence at Kansas was “months” ago and therefore not an issue. Rutgers recruiting will depend on their new coach and Bob Knight would not be a bad fit. I can guarantee you that none of the recruits now remember anything about him at Indiana. Also contrary to what you say, KU would have room for Rosario especially since he has to sit out a year from transfer. He’s a former McDonald’s All American and any elite school would take him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up with Roy at UNC.
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