Lubbock, Texas — A divided campus awaits Bob Knight.
Anticipating his arrival today, at least 58 Texas Tech faculty members added their names to a petition against hiring the former Indiana coach with the infamous temper and knack for winning.
Vendors selling T-shirts in favor of Knight, meanwhile, cashed in on the dispute.
"Mr. Knight, we love your style!" read one. "Techsans for Knight! Supporting discipline and the American Work Ethic!" Shouted another: "Put the kids to bed and glue down the chairs, KNIGHT TIME, is coming."
Fired six months ago after 29 years with the Hoosiers, Knight was to arrive in Lubbock this afternoon. He will tour the campus and meet with administrators about possibly succeeding James Dickey, who was fired last week after Tech's fourth straight losing season.
The Hall of Fame coach is coming at the request of his friend, Tech athletics director Gerald Myers. Knight planned to address the media at an early evening news conference but will not take questions.
"I think he's excited about coming and visiting and taking a look at Texas Tech," said Myers, adding that he spoke to Knight Wednesday morning.
Not everyone was excited.
Walter Schaller, associate professor of philosophy, turned in a petition Wednesday afternoon with the names of 50 faculty members opposing Knight. Others continued to sign the e-mail petition later.
In the 2,000-plus-word e-mail, Schaller argues that Knight's ability to build a clean and winning program should not outweigh his repeated misconduct. Schaller turned in the letter at Tech president David Schmidly's office. Schmidly was not in Wednesday.
"Having Mr. Knight as the basketball coach at Texas Tech would bring much negative publicity and damage our reputation in ways that are completely unnecessary," Schaller wrote. "At a minimum, the announcement of his hiring would be accompanied by the film clip in which he throws a chair across the basketball court, except this time the name of Texas Tech would be attached to such antics."
Knight was informed about the petition when he appeared Wednesday on Bob Costas' "On The Record" TV show.
"I'm not sure I know a single person or have ever met a single person on the Texas Tech faculty and I would certainly, if I coached there, reserve judgment about the faculty until I met them," he said.
Myers would not comment on the petition because he hadn't seen it, but some Tech alumni agree with Schaller. They've written letters to the Lubbock newspaper to protest Knight, who was fired by Indiana for violating a zero-tolerance behavior policy.
But others have praised Tech officials for pursuing Knight. One T-shirt vendor said he had sold about 1,200 shirts in support of Knight at two Lubbock shops, by phone and online.
"They're excited about having a winner here at Tech," said Stephen Spiegelberg, vice president of retail operations for Red Raider Outfitter.
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