APRIL 1, 2010
Bob Knight Named Men’s Basketball Head Coach
By DICKIE VEE
STAFF ANALYST
Fordham has finally done
something right. Executive
Director of Athletics Frank
McLaughlin announced Tues-
day morning that former men’s
basketball coach Bob Knight will
take over the Rams, effective im-
mediately.
“We have said for a while now
that we wanted to push this pro-
gram to the top of the Atlantic
10,” McLaughlin said. “With
the recent increase in the men’s
basketball budget, we wanted to
bring in a guy who would use that
money effectively. Coach Knight
is the best in the history of the
sport, and we expect him to lead
us to where we need to be.”
Fordham had planned to
fill the position by April 1, al-
though many considered that
a flexible deadline. When Tom
Pecora’s Hofstra failed to make
the NCAA field and Mike Rice’s
Robert Morris fell in a close first-
round matchup with Villanova,
it seemed that the school would
name one to the position the day
after the first round. However,
there was no announcement
Monday, and so fans were left
without a clue as to who would
get the job.
McLaughlin then shocked
campus – and the basketball
world – with the announcement
on Tuesday, as it had previously
been reported that Rev. Joseph
M. McShane, S.J., president of
the University, had had spurned
the idea of hiring Knight, likely
due to his infamous temper and
autonomy in leading past pro-
grams.
It had been eroneously report-
Gaston Set to Leave Fordham Next Semester
By LE FOU
STAFF EXPECTORATOR
Freshman forward Chris Gas-
ton has decided to transfer from
Fordham following the spring se-
mester.
“We’re greatly disappointed in
losing Gaston,” Rev. Joseph M.
McShane, S.J., president of the
university said. “We wish him the
best wherever he chooses to go.”
Gaston, who recently won the
Atlantic 10 rookie of the year
award, cited a variety of issues
leading to the decision, ranging
from losing to uncertainty in the
program.
The changes occurring at Ford-
ham are a major factor in Gas-
ton’s transfer. In the last year Jio
Fontan transferred, Derek Whit-
tenburg was fired, the basketball
budget changed and now there is
an ongoing coaching search.
“Fordham is in a transition
period right now,” Gaston said.
“I have to do what’s best for my
career as a basketball player, and
I feel like I would thrive being in a
more stable situation.”
After only five wins in the past
two seasons, and a plethora of
ed on Monday that Pecora was
hired.
Knight, most famous for lead-
ing Indiana to three national
championships over a decade
and the NCAA Division I career
leader in wins (902), has spent
the last two years as an analyst
for ESPN and has been rumored
as a coaching possibility for a
number of programs over that
time. After an unceremonious
and controversial firing from
Indiana, “The General” coached
at Texas Tech for seven-and-a-
half years before leaving to don
his sweater as an ESPN analyst,
handing the Tech job to his head
assistant coach and son.
Knight has been linked to sev-
eral high-profile programs hav-
ing down years since his switch
to television analyst, but he has
repeatedly said that he would
only be interested in returning
to coaching if the “ideal situa-
tion arose,” describing that as an
academic-oriented mid-major
program in a good recruiting
area with a commitment to the
basketball program.
That could be no program
other than Fordham. With an
unusually high minimum-eligi-
bility GPA of 2.5, the recent bud-
get increase and the best possible
recruiting location (North Jersey
and the Metro area are ranked
first and fourth in the nation),
Fordham fits Knight’s criteria
better than any in the nation.
“I’m real happy to be here,”
Knight said after arriving to cam-
pus Tuesday afternoon. “Ford-
ham is in a spot to be pretty
good, and I have no doubt we’ll
be able to succeed.”
Knight said that, upon receiv-
ing the offer late in the previ-
questions going forward, Ford-
ham does not appear to be ready
to compete any time soon.
“The losing wears on you,” Gas-
ton said. “In high school we won
almost all of our games. I don’t
like the situation that we’re in and
I don’t see it changing any time
soon. I watch March Madness. I
want to be apart of it. I want to
win.”
Gaston enjoyed a great deal of
success playing for St. Anthony
(N.J.) High School.
The loss of sophomore guard
Jio Fontan put a sour taste in
Gaston’s mouth at the start of the
season.
“I came to Fordham with the
expectation of playing with Jio
[Fontan],” Gaston said. “We
played together in high school
and really had high hopes to suc-
ceed at Fordham. But once things
broke down for him, I really didn’t
feel that I should still be here.”
Fontan left Fordham follow-
ing the fall semester after playing
in only five games, and is cur-
rently enrolled at the University
of Southern California, where he
will play next season.
Gaston also expressed displea-
ous week, he received calls from
several big-name coaches with
advice on taking or leaving the
job. Among those he mentioned,
Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski coun-
seled him against taking the job,
calling the program a “career-
killer” and a “waste of your time,”
while Villanova’s Jay Wright
(whom Krzyzewski called a de-
cade ago with the same advice)
and Ohio State’s Thad Matta de-
scribed the job as “a heck of an
opportunity” and “the perfect
spot for a young protégé or a guy
like [Knight].”
Knight also said that the com-
mittee formed in November to
facilitate the search for the next
head coach counseled him about
the unusual structure of the ath-
letic program at Fordham before
offering him the job, namely that
Vice President of Student Af-
fairs Jeff Gray is highly involved
in overseeing athletics, but that
he told them that would not be
a problem.
“I’d like to see them try it,”
Knight said. “I do what needs to
be done how I want to do it. My
whole life I’ve done that and suc-
ceeded. When my time on Earth
is gone, and my activities here
are past, I want them to bury me
upside-down, and my critics can
kiss my ass.”
Student opinion was optimis-
tic with the hiring but the team
seemed split, with freshman
forward and A-10 Rookie of the
Year Chris Gaston announcing
plans to transfer but redshirt
freshman forward Brian Free-
man and sophomore guard Al-
berto Estwick saying that they
are excited to play for Knight.
Whether Knight can or even
will attempt to keep Gaston on
sure over the ongoing coaching
search, even though Fordham
has announced its hiring of Bob
Knight.
“I was recruited to play here by
Jared [Grasso],” Gaston said. “I
don’t know if Bob Knight is the
type of coach I would like to play
under, and I want to make the
most of my college career, not just
get through it.”
“We try to do what is best for
all of our players,” McLaughlin
said. “However, our focus is on
the entire program and not just
Chris Gaston. We are more than
just one player.”
The loss of Gaston has no im-
pact over Knight’s hiring.
“I am coming here to coach
Fordham University, not Chris
Gaston,” Knight said. “Certainly
he would be a big loss, but we will
be able to bring in more players,
Gaston isn’t the only talented kid
out there.”
The loss of Gaston essentially
sends Fordham basketball back
to square one. All of the hope and
promise that came with the re-
cruiting classes over the past few
seasons is almost all gone.
Losing Gaston affects more
Bob Knight will replace Jared Grasso as the new head coach of the men’s
basketball team.
campus remains to be seen, but
nothing seems to be out of The
General’s power when it comes
to basketball matters.
“Yeah, I’ll talk to him,” Knight
said. “I haven’t even met the kid
yet, though, so who knows. No
one player makes a program, and
I can sure get along without one
player. If a guy doesn’t fit my
style or attitude, I don’t want
him.”
Although Knight’s ties are
mostly to the Midwest, he did
coach at Army for eight years
(named head coach at age 24) in
than just the current team, which
won only two games with Gaston
this past season. It may lead to
the loss of freshman guard Lance
Brown, who came along with
Gaston after being recruited by
Fontan.
“I haven’t decided what I am
going to do,” Brown said. “It’s
disappointing that Chris left, es-
pecially after Jio, so I am probably
going to talk with my family be-
fore making a decision.”
The loss of a second promising
player this season will also be dis-
couraging to recruits, who have
seen their predecessors with bad
experiences at Fordham.
“We feel that recruits will
still be interested in Fordham,”
McLaughlin said. “Losing Gaston
won’t be the end of the program.”
Meanwhile, the student body
has expressed a great deal of dis-
pleasure.
“[Gaston] was the only reason
to pay attention to Fordham bas-
ketball,” John Jones, FCRH ’12,
said. “I don’t even see a reason to
pay attention next year.”
With Gaston leaving, the focus
turns to the future, not just for
Fordham basketball, but also for
PAGE 20
COURTESY OF RON JENKINS/ FORT WORTH STAR
the ‘60s, and his resumé should
vault him and Fordham to the
top of the New York recruit-
ing pool, where he will face the
likes of Wright and Kansas Head
Coach Bill Self in persuading top
area talent to come to Fordham.
Knight’s track record shows
that fans can expect at least an
NIT bid in his first season, as The
General has made the NIT twice
and the NCAA once in the first
year of each of his three coaching
stints. After two forgettable de-
cades, it appears that Fordham is
on its way back to the top.
Gaston.
Fordham is expected to return
four of its five starters and could
improve; however, it needs some-
one to replace Gaston’s scoring.
Outside of Gaston, senior guard
Brenton Butler was the only Ram
to average more than eight points
per game.
Gaston, on the other hand,
has a variety of options. After a
phenomenal rookie campaign,
averaging 18 points and over 11
rebounds per game, there will
certainly be great interest in ac-
quiring Gaston, including USC.
USC would provide Gaston the
chance to play in a top conference
for a successful athletic program.
It would also reunite him with
Fontan, with whom he wanted to
play from the start.
However, Gaston has not been
connected to any other programs,
unlike Fontan who was almost
immediately connected to USC.
“Right now I just want to see
what my options are and do
what’s best for me and my fam-
ily,” Gaston said. “I have a lot of
time to make a decision; I want to
make sure I make the right choice
for me and my family.”