Article: FBI investigated complaints that Bobby Knight groped women at US spy agency

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

I can't access the off-topic forum on my phone, but this may fit better there? I can't recall where we put weird CBK stories.

 

"On the morning of July 10, 2015, Knight arrived in Washington by train at Union Station. Accompanying him was Richard Cardillo, his old friend from West Point, since retired from the Army as a brigadier general.

 

The two men were picked up by a female NGA employee who said she was assigned to drive them south to the NGA’s main complex in Springfield, Va. Knight and Richard Cardillo climbed in the back seat of the vehicle, the woman recalled in an interview. She spoke on the condition of anonymity because she said she wanted to protect her privacy.

 

Knight made a comment about how “he could tell I was an athlete from my legs. Then he touched my shoulder, which you really don’t do to a female, you know,” she recalled.

 

The woman said the encounter made her uncomfortable, but she chalked up his behavior to age.

 

“I don’t think he did anything malicious at all,” she said. “I wasn’t really offended by him. These were things that if a 30-year-old man did it in the workplace today, he’d get in trouble.” She said she was interviewed by the FBI but did not press a complaint.

 

She and the other three women who accused Knight of touching them are named in documents from the discrimination complaint filed by one of the alleged victims. The Post generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault or harassment.

 

The second alleged incident occurred as Knight arrived at NGA headquarters. Inside the main entrance, he greeted another female employee by putting his hands on the sides of her chest and lifting her off the ground, according to an NGA official who said she witnessed the encounter and spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.

 

The woman who was allegedly hoisted by the chest declined to comment.

 

Later in the day, NGA officials were preparing to introduce Knight for his speech in the William Allder Auditorium. Knight was waiting backstage with the NGA official who had witnessed the incident at the entrance, documents show.

 

Moments before he walked into the auditorium, Knight suddenly put his arm around her shoulders and groped her on the buttocks, the woman told The Post in an interview. She said she was so startled that she could barely maintain her composure.

 

“You can shake my hand. You can give me a hug. But you don’t get to feel me up on my body,” she said.

 

A male NGA employee, Marc Byers, reported to a supervisor that he witnessed the incident. In a signed statement provided to investigators as part of the discrimination complaint, he said he was standing directly behind the woman when he saw Knight grab her on the buttocks multiple times.

 

As soon as Knight took the stage, Byers said he exclaimed to the woman, “Bobby Knight hit you on your @$$! He is a dirty old man!” or words to that effect, according to his statement. He did not respond to requests for further comment.

 

Knight delivered his speech, which was recorded by the NGA. The agency, however, denied requests to release a copy, saying that the video or audio could expose the identities of intelligence officials present in the audience. Instead, the agency provided a transcript.

 

According to the transcript, Knight lived up to his reputation as an entertaining, if rambling, speaker by sharing old locker-room stories and a few profane outbursts.

 

The audience cheered as Knight recalled how he used to babysit the NGA chief and his brother. “There wasn’t a day that I took care of them,” he said, “that I didn’t at some point say, ‘Goddammit, Robert, sit down and be quiet.’ ”

 

After Knight’s speech, NGA employees lined up to seek autographs. A fourth woman told NGA officials that once she reached the front of the line, the coach greeted her with a smack on the buttocks.

 

In an interview with The Post, the woman was reluctant to discuss the incident. “It happened very quickly,” she said. “It was weird. It was surprising, but it wasn’t surprising,” she added, noting Knight’s age. She likened his behavior to that of “a drunk uncle.”

 

The woman said she was interviewed by the FBI and other investigators but declined to file a formal complaint.

 

“I just let it go,” she said. “Honestly, my job was just more important than what was going on in that situation.”"

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/investigations/fbi-investigated-complaints-that-bobby-knight-groped-women-at-us-spy-agency/2017/07/07/ee1fc318-618f-11e7-8adc-fea80e32bf47_story.html

 

 

 

[Stuhoo 80,548]

 

That's one weird-@$$ article about the...

...

...

... (wait for it)

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...

Greatest Hoosier ever!!! ;-}

 

[HoosierHoops1 5,024]

Has there ever been an ounce of that type of impropriety leveled at Knight; and we get 4 in 1 night?

[Stuhoo 80,548]

1 minute ago, HoosierHoops1 said:

Has there ever been an ounce of that type of impropriety leveled at Knight; and we get 4 in 1 night?

 

Not unless you include groping Neil Reed's neck.

 

[HoosierHoops1 5,024]

2 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

 

Not unless you include groping Neil Reed's neck.

 

How about groping Sherron Wilkerson's foot?

[Stuhoo 80,548]

1 minute ago, HoosierHoops1 said:

How about groping Sherron Wilkerson's foot?

 

Oh yeah, he groped that Puerto Rican police officer too.

 

[RBB89 3,497]

28 minutes ago, HoosierHoops1 said:

Has there ever been an ounce of that type of impropriety leveled at Knight; and we get 4 in 1 night?

Based on how he treats players/people in general? Nothing in that article surprises me. The guy is a great basketball mind, but also a raging hypocrite with a horrific temper. Oh, and he also once told a female reporter that if rape is inevitable, you should lay back and enjoy it.

[Hoosierfan2017 21,328]

The times changed, Bobby didn't. True for both basketball and society. 

[Stuhoo 80,548]

6 minutes ago, RBB89 said:

Based on how he treats players/people in general? Nothing in that article surprises me. The guy is a great basketball mind, but also a raging hypocrite with a horrific temper. Oh, and he also once told a female reporter that if rape is inevitable, you should lay back and enjoy it.

 

From an article on a 2016 RMK speech:

'I've always been a big fan of the state of Pennsylvania,' retired Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight told a crowd in a Philadelphia suburb.

'One of the people – one of the people that I admired most in college athletics was Joe Paterno.'

Paterno knew early on that assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was molesting and raping teen boys and did nothing to stop it, according to court documents unsealed over the summer.

 

[HoosierHoops1 5,024]

5 minutes ago, RBB89 said:

Based on how he treats players/people in general? Nothing in that article surprises me. The guy is a great basketball mind, but also a raging hypocrite with a horrific temper. Oh, and he also once told a female reporter that if rape is inevitable, you should lay back and enjoy it.

I'm talking the type involving allegations of groping women etc.

The Connie Chung interview is disingenuous in the intent and was an off the record remark. In poor taste yes, but he actually didn't just say that to a reporter in an interview. 

[HoosierHoops1 5,024]

2 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

 

From an article on a 2016 RMK speech:

'I've always been a big fan of the state of Pennsylvania,' retired Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight told a crowd in a Philadelphia suburb.

'One of the people – one of the people that I admired most in college athletics was Joe Paterno.'

Paterno knew early on that assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was molesting and raping teen boys and did nothing to stop it, according to court documents unsealed over the summer.

 

It's not hard to admire people for things you believe about them and without knowing what we now know.

How did the rest of that part of the interview go?

[Stuhoo 80,548]

Just now, HoosierHoops1 said:

It's not hard to admire people for things you believe about them and without knowing what we now know.

How did the rest of that part of the interview go?

 

It wasn't an interview - it was a speech RMK gave, and it was given long, long after Paterno's knowledge of the Sandusky situation was revealed.

 

[HoosierHoops1 5,024]

Just now, Stuhoo said:

 

It wasn't an interview - it was a speech RMK gave, and it was given long, long after Paterno's knowledge of the Sandusky situation was revealed.

 

I understand that, I just mean did he further elaborate? Did he elaborate to condone it, not mention it, abhor it?

 

[Stuhoo 80,548]

Just now, HoosierHoops1 said:

I understand that, I just mean did he further elaborate? Did he elaborate to condone it, not mention it, abhor it?

 

 

Nah, he was just trying to suck up to the Pennsylvania audience.

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

Based on how he treats players/people in general? Nothing in that article surprises me. The guy is a great basketball mind, but also a raging hypocrite with a horrific temper. Oh, and he also once told a female reporter that if rape is inevitable, you should lay back and enjoy it.

Yeah, I made sure to quote the part with the actual accusations rather than leaving it in the middle of the article, because they lend a lot of credibility, in my opinion.

The complaints are, unfortunately, a pretty standard result of "old-fashioned" values clashing with the current climate. There was a time when women wouldn't report having their butt grabbed by a public figure at their work, but we're more sensitive to what actually makes people uncomfortable instead of what both genders agree should constitute harassment. It's not a surprise that federal charges weren't pursued, but it's also not a surprise that CBK was accused of this kind of thing. I doubt it's the first time he behaved this way or the last time he will.

I posted it mostly because I happened to see it and thought it was another interesting datapoint in CBK's decline. And it adds another wrinkle to my other posts regarding culture in Indiana and at IU.

Helluva coach though.

[VO5 8,272]

Crean and Knight on the front page. Man, we sure do love to live in the past don't we :)

[Stuhoo 80,548]

2 minutes ago, VO5 said:

Crean and Knight on the front page. Man, we sure do love to live in the past don't we :)

 

It's a slow week. Maybe Musa Jallow to OSU will perk things up?  Nah.

 

[HoosierHoops1 5,024]

16 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

 

It's a slow week. Maybe Musa Jallow to OSU will perk things up?  Nah.

 

Oh it will for the "Where the hell are Archies recruits?" crowd. Holtmann hasn't had near as long as Archie etc etc etc

[schoosier 3,475]

Knight once fondled an LSU fan as he slam dunked him into a trash can.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,648]

3 hours ago, HoosierHoops1 said:

Has there ever been an ounce of that type of impropriety leveled at Knight; and we get 4 in 1 night?

Heck, he groped his own kid's shinbone with his foot.