Transcription: Knight profile will be fair
By Tom Brew
Daily Student Columnist
The bright lights have been dimmed, the cameras have stopped. There are no more producers around to say “roll ‘em.”
Everything returns to normal in the IU basketball program today. The crew from “60 Minutes,” the CBS television news-magazine show, has left – their filming for a profile on IU coach Bob Knight has ended.
They concluded their filming Monday with the actual interview between Knight and Dan Rather, the nationally acclaimed correspondent for the popular show. Plus, they did a few other interesting things, according to Ann Bastianelli, public relations director for the IU basketball program.
“They came in early this morning and set things up in the outer hallway,” Bastianelli said. “Dan talked with Tommy Miller (an IU assistant basketball coach) and Tom recalled a story about recruiting. They had the team picture from last year’s NIT team behind them.”
Following that short interview, Knight and the “60 Minutes” crew, led by producer Steve Glauber went down to courtside and set things up for the one-on-one interview between Knight and Rather.
But a one-on-one of another sort took precedence.
“They went down to set up the interview and Dan was concerned that Bob was uneasy about the interview,” she said. “The coach was very quiet. And Steve Glauber – and this shows how good a producer he really is – suggested that Knight and Rather play one-on-one. They had talked about it earlier so they went ahead and did it.
“It was a real ice-breaker for coach.”
So there they were: Dan Rather, in his 40s and one of the best in his own business, against Bob Knight, a superb coach who should win his 300th career game this week. At 39, he will be the youngest coach to do so.
Neither of them are world-renowned basketball players. But, according to Bastianelli, it was still a great game.
“Coach couldn’t hit a thing at first,” Bastianelli said. “He was still pretty quiet, too. But coach finally hit about three in a row and everyone in the crew just started cracking up. Pretty soon everyone was laughing. It was a riot.
“Right after that, Knight gave Rather a lesson on defense from the ground floor up and it was just hilarious,” she said. “It really settled the coach down.”
After changing clothes, the two then had the interview, which lasted about 75 minutes. According to Bastianelli, the interview went well.
“I thought the questions were well chosen and the dialogue was very natural and revealing,” she said. “It will be something the public will be interested in, I’m sure.”
With the many hours of interviews, Rather has learned a lot about Knight, but Rather wasn’t the only one who learned.
“Bob told them when they left that he had learned as much as they did,” Bastianelli said. “He said that the let them do some things he would have never let anyone else get away with.
“He likes Steve very much, mainly because he did all the preliminary work. But he also likes him because Steve is so thorough and dedicated to what he’s doing. Bob likes that in a person.”
And so, weeks of work have ended. They have filmed Knight hunting and lecturing and coaching – both at practice and during games. They have filmed press conferences where Knight has been a veritable riot.
What will eventually end up in the 15-minute profile is yet unknown but, according to both Rather and Glauber, don’t expect a scathing piece on the controversial coach. They reiterated several times during their visit that it was a profile on a basketball coach – and nothing more.
It seems that they will profile Knight in a manner in which Knight will look good. But that’s the way it should be, at last for now, because Knight has been a gracious host and in a courteous mood for most of this season – whether the cameras are there or not.
It won’t take a “60 Minutes” profile to tell most Hoosier basketball fans that Bob Knight really is an honest and sincere person, but now the nation will see him in a way that we have known him to be for a long time.
Beyond the occasional yelling and screaming that most people see at the game itself, there is a sincere person behind those actions. Fortunately, thanks to the in-depth work of these “60 Minutes” people, it looks like the real Bob Knight will shine through. And the entire nation will get to see it.
