It turns out that April appearance at an Indiana baseball game might have been a house hunting trip.
“It’s nice being here,” Bob Knight said as he arrived at Bart Kaufman Field on the IU campus on April 6th.
He meant it.
After months of rumors, The Bloomington Herald Times is reporting that the former IU head basketball coach and his wife Karen have acquired a home in Bloomington based on that outlet’s acquisition of recently filed property transfer records in the Monroe County Assessor’s Office.
Out of respect for the privacy of the Knight family, we won’t disclose the location of the home, although that information is unfortunately being circulated by other outlets.
Several recent reports have indicated that Knight’s health is in decline, and a recent public appearance at Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Ind. reinforced those accounts.
Knight appeared to struggle at times to recall certain information, but his affection for Bloomington was still top of mind. He told the crowd at Center Grove that “the best days of my life were when I was at IU.”
It is The Daily Hoosier’s understanding that Knight was previously living primarily in Montana and Texas. Although the move back to Bloomington may feel nostalgic for IU fans, it likely has more to do with proximity to preferred medical care and other family preferences.
Knight coached at IU from 1971 to 2000 and is the school’s all-time winningest coach. The now 78 year old Knight led the Hoosiers to three national titles, five final fours and eleven Big Ten crowns.
Knight was memorably fired by IU in September of 2000 and had vowed to never return to the school before that April trip to Bart Kaufman Field.
While Knight had an apparent change of heart three months ago, Indiana Director of Athletics Fred Glass cautioned against reading too much into the public appearance.
“We enjoy the fact that he came and he had a good time,” Glass told the Fort Wayne Journal and Gazette this week.
“I hope he comes back again. But I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves if we think this signals anything more than coach was in town, he’s a baseball fan and he was interested in coming. But we were more than happy to host him.”
Knight finished his coaching career at Texas Tech. The Ohio native’s 902 career wins are the third most all-time among NCAA Division One coaches.
See also: IU baseball coach Jeff Mercer on Bob Knight’s appearance — “It brought tears”
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