Former Indiana basketball player accuses Bobby Knight of punching and grabbing players by the testicles
Gary Mook/AllSport
Former Indiana men's basketball coach Bobby Knight has a long and well-documented history of questionable behavior towards his players that often crossed over into what a lot of people would call abuse.
In a new book, "Jadlow: On the Rebound," former Indiana basketball player Todd Jadlow lays down some of the scariest accusations yet about what he says players had to put up with from the Hall-of-Fame coach.
Jadlow was a 6-foot-9 forward/center for the Hoosiers in the late 1980s. Here are some of the more shocking accusations laid out by Jadlow in his new book, as detailed by Bob Kravitz of NBC 13 in Indianapolis:
- "Knight punched him in the back of the head with a closed fist during a walkthrough for an NCAA Tournament game against Seton Hall."
- "Knight made a habit, with Jadlow and others, of grabbing players by the testicles and squeezing."
- "Inside a sideline huddle during a 1989 game against Louisville — the game when Sports Illustrated famously captured a photo of the coach pushing Jadlow back onto the court — Knight cracked a clipboard over Jadlow's head." [Ed. note: the game was during the 1988-89 season, but actually occurred in 1988. You can see the photo here.]
- "Knight once dug his hands so deeply into Jadlow's sides, he left bruises. Jadlow includes a picture of the bruises Knight left."
In an interview with Kravitz, Jadlow noted that if Knight did these things in 2016, "(Knight) would be in jail."
Jadlow also alleges that Knight continually called one of Jadlow's teammates a "(bleeping) p****," had team managers place pictures of female genitalia in that player's locker, and even threw tampons at the player. In another accusation, Jadlow claims that Knight was so upset after an NCAA Tournament loss in 1986 that Knight "tore up the plane" and eventually grabbed a player by the neck and "shook him violently."
Jadlow, who has a facial tic, also writes that Knight went so far that he threatened to kick Jadlow off the team if he didn't stop "the (bleeping) twitching."
Knight was fired by Indiana University during the 2000 season with the school president citing an "unacceptable pattern of behavior." That pattern included a video that surfaced that appeared to show Knight choking a player in a fit of rage and a later incident in which Knight was accused of physically confronting an Indiana student whom Knight felt had disrespected him.
Efforts by Business Insider to reach Knight for comment were unsuccessful.
NOW WATCH: Sports agents reveal the biggest threat to an NFL player's financial success