Last season Jason Collier called Indiana coach Bob Knight “the smartest man I’ve ever met.”
On Thursday, after completing his fall final exams, Collier told Knight he was leaving Indiana.
“Certain people can play for him, but not me,” Collier told the Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun on Thursday. “I have nothing against the man but I couldn’t adapt to his coaching style.
“I tried different tactics–blocking out the yelling, like people told me to do–but when people yell at you, you take notice. After a lot of that, you just snap.
“I felt bad for the team,” he added, “but I had to do what was best for me.”
“His decision is in his best interest as well as ours,” Knight told reporters in Bloomington.
It’s the second time since the end of last season the once-mighty Hoosier basketball program has lost a key player. Star guard Neil Reed’s decision to transfer came after a publicly acrimonious relationship with Knight, whom the player accused of oral and physical abuse.
When Reed left, it created a storm of controversy and left some Indiana loyalists questioning Knight’s methods.
Unlike Reed, Collier has yet to reach his sizable potential and he had given few indications that he was preparing to bolt.
Preseason scouting services picked Collier, a 7-foot sophomore from Springfield, Ohio, as the Big Ten’s next dominant big man. After starting 26 games as a freshman, he started the first eight this year.
The 1996 Ohio Mr. Basketball was dogged by inconsistency early this season. He was averaging 10.7 points a game this year but scored only two against Kentucky and got shut out against Temple. The Hoosiers lost both those games.
The timing of the transfer seemed obvious: By leaving this week, Collier will be eligible to play for another school in the second half of the 1998-99 season.
Speculation in Bloomington had Collier looking to Georgia Tech, which was one of the finalists in the national recruiting battle that also involved North Carolina, Duke and Notre Dame. Collier’s father, Jeff, played basketball at Tech.
“I don’t know if I want to go far away or stay close to home,” Collier said Thursday.
There had been rumors in Bloomington that Collier was unhappy, but he denied last season that he was considering transferring.
At the time, Collier told a reporter, “I have so much respect for coach Knight. He’s the smartest man I’ve ever met. He’s the best motivator I’ll ever meet in my life. He’ll scream at you and yell at you. But while he’s screaming at you, if you listen, he’ll tell you what you’re doing wrong.”
But Collier’s father, who often attended Indiana games, said Knight’s approach “bothers me. It would have bothered me as a player. I guess I’m not as abstract.”
Collier’s departure is a blow to the 6-3 Hoosiers’ inside game as they prepare for the bruising Big Ten season. The transfer will mean more minutes for senior 7-footer Richard Mandeville, a capable backup who hasn’t shown he can handle an upgraded role. Another senior, 6-8 Andrae Patterson, also will be asked to make a larger contribution.
Coincidentally, Knight had called Mandeville and Patterson, along with Reed, into his office at the end of last season to tell them to consider transferring because they were likely to see diminished roles this year. Only Reed acted on the request.
