Bob Knight hopes his Indiana bosses 'are all dead'

Former college basketball coach Bob Knight said Friday that he hopes the Indiana administrators who were at the school when he was fired in 2000 “are all dead.”

Knight made the comments on The Dan Patrick Show after Patrick asked if he’d ever return to Indiana. Knight has not appeared at the school since he was fired in September 2000.

“As far as the hierarchy at Indiana University at that time, I have absolutely no respect whatsoever with those people,” Knight said. 

“Aren’t all those people out of there, Coach?” Patrick replied.

“I hope they’re all dead,” Knight responded. 

Patrick then pointed out that some school officials present at the time of Knight’s firing are, in fact, dead. “I hope the rest of them go” was Knight’s reply. 

Myles Brand, the Indiana University president responsible for firing Knight, died of pancreatic cancer in 2009. 

In March 2000, a former player accused Knight of choking him during practice in 1997. When video of in the incident surfaced a month later, Brand said the school was adopting a zero-tolerance policy with regard to Knight’s behavior. He was fired in September after a student accused Knight of grabbing his arm. Brand said at the time that Knight was fired for his “unacceptable pattern of behavior.”