Bobby Knight has long been both feared and respected in the world of college basketball. The man even made Micheal Jordan cry! The legendary coach is no stranger to antics. I mean, who can forget the infamous chair toss? It looks like you can now add testicle grabbing to the list of methods Knight enlisted to pump fear into his players.
Todd Jadlow, a power forward from the 1987 Championship team, is alleging that his fiery former coach would grab the players’ balls during practice to test their mental stamina. In his book, “Jadlow: On the Rebound”, the former Hoosier details a list of abusive tactics suffered at the hands of Knight.
In addition to grabbing and squeezing players’ testicles, Jadlow claims to have been punched in the back of the head by Knight before an NCAA tournament game. Before a game against Louisville, Jadlow says Knight smashed a clipboard over his head. Knight also alledgedly left bruises by digging his fists into Jadlow’s sides following an NIT game. Jadlow has pictures of the bruises.
Other players mentioned in the book include Daryl Thomas whose locker was decorated with pictures of female genitalia at Knight’s command. Often referred to as a “(bleeping) p***y”, Thomas also had tampons thrown at him by his coach. Following their 1986 NCAA Tournament loss, Knight grabbed and shook Thomas by the neck after destroying the plane.
After telling Dean Garrett and Keith Smart that they were “playing like (bleeping) dogs”, the coach made them run sprints for hours while barking like dogs.
Geesh, that sounds extreme. What do you think of the allegations? How do you think the NCAA would have handled Bobby in 2016?