Maybe if he was younger, maybe if he was still in his salad days, Bob Knight would have a bigger appetite for the Ohio State basketball job. Knight will be 64 in October.
On second thought, maybe we shouldn't use the "salad days" metaphor given Knight's salad bar confrontation with Texas Tech chancellor David Smith in an "upscale" Lubbock grocery store last February.
(Upscale? The key to the outdoor rest room was attached to a wooden paddle decorated in school colors.)
Knight was reprimanded but not suspended for his role in the incident - the highlight or lowlight of which was Smith's assertion that Knight came "charging up behind me furious with fists clenched."
There's nothing more infuriating, after all, than soggy lettuce or a pushy chancellor.
To patch their differences, Knight has invited Smith to be his guest on a grouse-hunting trip to northern Wisconsin. (Insert rim shot here.)
In case you were wondering, the salad days metaphor dates all the way back to Shakespeare, who used it in "All's Well That Ends Well."
And that very well could be the legacy left by Knight, who needs 48 victories to pass Dean Smith and become the winningest coach in Division I history.
With Shakespeare in mind, any potential courtship between Ohio State and Knight could turn out to be "A Midsummer Knight's Dream."
Or Knightmare.
Ask yourself this: If you were Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger, would you call Knight? And if you were Knight, would you listen to Geiger? To answer a question with a question, does a Neil Reed turn blue when choked?
Yes, yes, yes.
How could this work? For starters, Knight is a Buckeye, a native of Orrville, Ohio. He's also an Ohio State graduate. He majored in history and government while lettering on teams that won a national championship and went 78-6 over a three-year period.
"I have a great feeling about Ohio State and some great memories," Knight told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
The scarlet-and-gray flashback was triggered in January, prior to Knight bringing his Texas Tech team to Columbus for a game against the Buckeyes at Value City Arena. The Red Raiders won 80-72.
During his interview with the Lubbock paper, Knight admitted that Ohio State officials previously had approached him about the possibility of coaching the Buckeyes. On several occasions, in fact.
"I've had several chances but I just thought where I was and what I was doing was fine," Knight told the Avalanche-Journal. "I was set in my ways. I had what I wanted. But if I was going to go there, the last time I had the chance would have been the best."
Knight didn't divulge when that opportunity presented itself, whether it was in 1990 when Randy Ayers replaced Gary Williams or 1998 when Jim O'Brien replaced Ayers.
"That was the biggest mistake I ever made as a coach," Knight conceded of his decision at the time to not pursue the Ohio State job. "The time to have done it would have been then, but oh well."
Well, what about now? Ohio State has an opening, now that O'Brien has been fired for his role in shady recruiting practices that could result in NCAA probation for the Buckeyes.
Is timing an issue? Last week, Knight verbally agreed to a three-year contract extension at Texas Tech that will run through the 2009 season.
"I look forward to doing this a long time," Knight told the Avalanche-Journal. "This is the best possible situation for me as long as I coach."
Knight has won 20 or more games in each of his three seasons with the Red Raiders. And there's no questioning his loyalty to Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers, who gave Knight a second chance after he was dumped by Indiana.
Myers kept the door open for Knight while they were being shut all around him. Myers has been a staunch Knight defender, and apologist.
But what about Knight's loyality to Ohio State and the spirit of his former coach, the late Fred Taylor? What about Knight's loyalty to some of his close friends, like John Havlicek, a former teammate and an influential Buckeyes alum?
What about the opportunity to return to the Big Ten and stick it up Indiana's...
"I personally think a person would have to be nuts not to be interested in that (Ohio State) job," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo opined to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Izzo, incidentally, has vehemently denied any interest in the vacant Toronto Raptors coaching position. "I can swear to you on 6,000 stacks of Bibles that I've never met with them, ever," Izzo insisted to the Lansing State Journal.
MSU officials reportedly released the Big Ten championship balloons suspended from the ceiling of the Breslin Center to celebrate Izzo's denial.
At that, Toronto doesn't make any sense, not when Izzo can hold tight and wait for Larry Brown to move on from the Detroit Pistons, which, true to his history, would seem to be only a matter of time.
"I guess now, if you're Ohio State," Izzo opined to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "you go out and find the cleanest coach in America."
Knight has that reputation. So, if you're Geiger, who's a couple of years away from retirement, wouldn't it make sense to show the NCAA that you're serious about cleaning up the O'Brien mess? This might appease the NCAA and head off tougher sanctions.
As it is, the Buckeyes skated on the Maurice Clarett mess. (Mess is a relative term, of course. Whether the fact that 14 Ohio State football players have been arrested in 15 incidents since Jim Tressel's hiring is a mess, or not, is in the eyes of the beholder, or A.D.)
Could Knight, who casts a very long shadow of his own, live with being in the shadows of football? That's the case now at Texas Tech. For that matter, his men's basketball program shares the spotlight with the Lady Red Raiders.
Could it work? Or would Xavier coach Thad Matta be a better fit for the Buckeyes?
A Matta or a Mike Anderson (Alabama-Birmingham) might be more inclined than some of the other "name" candidates to make such a move at such a late date on the calendar.
If you're going to drop a name, though, there's none bigger than Bob Knight's.
In the end, to quote Shakespeare, again, the ESPN report that Knight is seriously interested in the Ohio State vacancy might be a case of "Much Ado About Nothing." Little more than salad dressing, er, window dressing.
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On second thought, maybe we shouldn't use the "salad days" metaphor given Knight's salad bar confrontation with Texas Tech chancellor David Smith in an "upscale" Lubbock grocery store last February.
(Upscale? The key to the outdoor rest room was attached to a wooden paddle decorated in school colors.)
Knight was reprimanded but not suspended for his role in the incident - the highlight or lowlight of which was Smith's assertion that Knight came "charging up behind me furious with fists clenched."
There's nothing more infuriating, after all, than soggy lettuce or a pushy chancellor.
To patch their differences, Knight has invited Smith to be his guest on a grouse-hunting trip to northern Wisconsin. (Insert rim shot here.)
In case you were wondering, the salad days metaphor dates all the way back to Shakespeare, who used it in "All's Well That Ends Well."
And that very well could be the legacy left by Knight, who needs 48 victories to pass Dean Smith and become the winningest coach in Division I history.
With Shakespeare in mind, any potential courtship between Ohio State and Knight could turn out to be "A Midsummer Knight's Dream."
Or Knightmare.
Ask yourself this: If you were Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger, would you call Knight? And if you were Knight, would you listen to Geiger? To answer a question with a question, does a Neil Reed turn blue when choked?
Yes, yes, yes.
How could this work? For starters, Knight is a Buckeye, a native of Orrville, Ohio. He's also an Ohio State graduate. He majored in history and government while lettering on teams that won a national championship and went 78-6 over a three-year period.
"I have a great feeling about Ohio State and some great memories," Knight told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
The scarlet-and-gray flashback was triggered in January, prior to Knight bringing his Texas Tech team to Columbus for a game against the Buckeyes at Value City Arena. The Red Raiders won 80-72.
During his interview with the Lubbock paper, Knight admitted that Ohio State officials previously had approached him about the possibility of coaching the Buckeyes. On several occasions, in fact.
"I've had several chances but I just thought where I was and what I was doing was fine," Knight told the Avalanche-Journal. "I was set in my ways. I had what I wanted. But if I was going to go there, the last time I had the chance would have been the best."
Knight didn't divulge when that opportunity presented itself, whether it was in 1990 when Randy Ayers replaced Gary Williams or 1998 when Jim O'Brien replaced Ayers.
"That was the biggest mistake I ever made as a coach," Knight conceded of his decision at the time to not pursue the Ohio State job. "The time to have done it would have been then, but oh well."
Well, what about now? Ohio State has an opening, now that O'Brien has been fired for his role in shady recruiting practices that could result in NCAA probation for the Buckeyes.
Is timing an issue? Last week, Knight verbally agreed to a three-year contract extension at Texas Tech that will run through the 2009 season.
"I look forward to doing this a long time," Knight told the Avalanche-Journal. "This is the best possible situation for me as long as I coach."
Knight has won 20 or more games in each of his three seasons with the Red Raiders. And there's no questioning his loyalty to Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers, who gave Knight a second chance after he was dumped by Indiana.
Myers kept the door open for Knight while they were being shut all around him. Myers has been a staunch Knight defender, and apologist.
But what about Knight's loyality to Ohio State and the spirit of his former coach, the late Fred Taylor? What about Knight's loyalty to some of his close friends, like John Havlicek, a former teammate and an influential Buckeyes alum?
What about the opportunity to return to the Big Ten and stick it up Indiana's...
"I personally think a person would have to be nuts not to be interested in that (Ohio State) job," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo opined to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Izzo, incidentally, has vehemently denied any interest in the vacant Toronto Raptors coaching position. "I can swear to you on 6,000 stacks of Bibles that I've never met with them, ever," Izzo insisted to the Lansing State Journal.
MSU officials reportedly released the Big Ten championship balloons suspended from the ceiling of the Breslin Center to celebrate Izzo's denial.
At that, Toronto doesn't make any sense, not when Izzo can hold tight and wait for Larry Brown to move on from the Detroit Pistons, which, true to his history, would seem to be only a matter of time.
"I guess now, if you're Ohio State," Izzo opined to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "you go out and find the cleanest coach in America."
Knight has that reputation. So, if you're Geiger, who's a couple of years away from retirement, wouldn't it make sense to show the NCAA that you're serious about cleaning up the O'Brien mess? This might appease the NCAA and head off tougher sanctions.
As it is, the Buckeyes skated on the Maurice Clarett mess. (Mess is a relative term, of course. Whether the fact that 14 Ohio State football players have been arrested in 15 incidents since Jim Tressel's hiring is a mess, or not, is in the eyes of the beholder, or A.D.)
Could Knight, who casts a very long shadow of his own, live with being in the shadows of football? That's the case now at Texas Tech. For that matter, his men's basketball program shares the spotlight with the Lady Red Raiders.
Could it work? Or would Xavier coach Thad Matta be a better fit for the Buckeyes?
A Matta or a Mike Anderson (Alabama-Birmingham) might be more inclined than some of the other "name" candidates to make such a move at such a late date on the calendar.
If you're going to drop a name, though, there's none bigger than Bob Knight's.
In the end, to quote Shakespeare, again, the ESPN report that Knight is seriously interested in the Ohio State vacancy might be a case of "Much Ado About Nothing." Little more than salad dressing, er, window dressing.
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