Last Wednesday marked the 20th anniversary of a certain unforgettable moment in college basketball history. In a rivalry game between Purdue and Indiana on February 23, 1985, then-Indiana head coach Bobby Knight hurled a chair toward the basket to show his anger at a questionable foul call. Looking back, this event was not too surprising because it was a prime example of Bobby Knight being well... Bobby Knight. What can you expect from a guy who went on to attack one of his own players before eventually getting fired by Indiana?
Now jump ahead to 2005. The scene was similar: a rival game between St. Joseph's and Temple. On the eve of the anniversary of the chair-throwing incident, illegal screens were supposedly missed by the refs and this time it was Temple coach John Chaney taking things a little too far. Instead of hurling metal chairs across the court, he decided to have one of his bench warmers, senior forward Nehemiah Ingram, hurl into his opponents to \send a message."" That message resulted in five hard fouls within four minutes for Ingram, a broken arm for St. Joseph's John Bryant and Chaney's new title as ""Crazier Than Bobby Knight.""
Since when did NCAA basketball turn into a battlefield? I know that accidents happen and injuries are common, but Chaney's decision to send in his player with malicious intent was uncalled for. Chaney has since apologized and made a respectable decision to suspend himself for a game following the incident (Temple suspended him for the rest of the regular season) and has also taken himself off the sidelines for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Chaney even met with Bryant's family to deliver his apology and also offered to pay for the medical expenses.
While his apology seemed sincere, I think it may be time for this crazy coach to permanently remove himself from the game and consider getting some anger management. This is hard to argue because Chaney has produced a 721-294 record over 33 years, but last week's incident was not the first for him and if he is to stick around, expect more to come. Chaney has stormed into former UMass coach John Calipari press conference threatening to kill him. He has said if he had a baseball bat, he would have beaten his players after Temple's game this year against Xavier, and even wanted to pick a fight over his political viewpoints. It sounds like this guy either needs a leash or a really long vacation.
There is no doubt that Chaney is a successful coach-his record speaks for itself-but at 73 years of age, it is time for him to opt for that long vacation for the good of his team, opponents and blood pressure.
Betsy is a sophomore majoring in sociology and hopefully journalism. She can be reached for comment at eagolomski@wisc.edu.
