September 10, 2000 is a date I'll never forget. That was the day when Bob Knight was fired from Indiana University. I was devastated. My idol and hero was no longer the basketball coach for the team and university I grew to love. The coaching legend, a god in the state of basketball-crazed Indiana, was dismissed by an egocentric bureaucrat looking to make a name for himself. IU President Myles Brand was intent on becoming Bloomington's new sheriff in town by taking the reins away from the man who had held that title for 29 years. Think of the western movie without John Wayne or Mount Rushmore without Thomas Jefferson. Or about Rock & Roll without Elvis or The Beatles. Think about the paintbrush being taken out of Michelangelo's hand before he had finished his work as an artist. This was the significance of Coach Knight being ousted from a program synonymous with college basketball greatness. The coach who oft-quoted Abraham Lincoln was now taken out by a man synonymous with John Wilkes Booth. The man who was my inspiration for coaching basketball myself no longer had a home. Without him coaching, I felt a bit homeless myself.
