The Interwebs and the Atlanta sports-talk radio universe are ablaze tonight with speculation that the eternally furious Bobby Knight may be the next coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. Personally, I would love to see the General in Athens. I don't particularly like him, but it would sure add some excitement and entertainment to the league.
The speculation began to really heat up this past Saturday, when the 209-year-old Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) columnist Furman Bisher published an online report that quoted a "friend" of Knight's as saying the following:
"He doesn’t want it to look as if he’s pursuing the job. He’d like to be offered it, and if offered, he’d take it. He doesn’t want it to look as if he’s looking for work, but I can assure you that he’d like to have the job. It’s the idea of coaching a team in the Southeastern Conference that appeals to him. There are just so many things he could do for Georgia basketball. This would be his last stop, and he likes that."
Today, Knight told ESPN Radio today that he has not been contacted by anybody from Georgia, but he wouldn't not rule out a return to coaching, according to this AP report. AJC columnist Mark Bradley says such a hire would be a bad move for the Bulldogs, writing:
"Bobby Knight has won more games than any men’s Division I coach ever, but the unfortunate reality is that he has done it while acting like a little boy ... He would use Georgia the way he used Texas Tech — to win a few more games and draw a hundred more huzzahs from his amen corner on ESPN, and then he’d wake up on the wrong side of the bed and decide he’d rather go off and kill some animals."
In the clip below, however, ESPN's Mark Schlabach says Bradley shouldn't worry. I suspect he's right.