INDIANAPOLIS — Myles Brand, who fired Bob Knight as Indiana University basketball coach and went on to become NCAA president, died Wednesday of pancreatic cancer. He was 67.
The first former university president to run college sports’ largest governing body, Brand worked to change the perception that wins supersede academics and earned accolades for his efforts.
Brand broke the news that he had cancer in January at the NCAA convention and continued to handle the organization’s day-to-day operations, despite undergoing treatment. NCAA officials were not ready to say who would replace Brand or when they may begin searching for a successor.
“Myles Brand’s passing is a great personal loss of a dear friend and an even greater loss to the NCAA and collegiate athletics,” Georgia president Michael Adams said.
Brand gained national attention in May 2000 when, as Indiana president, he put Knight on a zero-tolerance policy after a former player alleged the hugely successful but hotheaded coach had choked him during a practice years earlier.
Four months after that announcement, freshman Kent Harvey accused Knight of grabbing him, and Brand did what fans considered unthinkable — he fired the coach who won three national championships in Bloomington.
Knight later moved on to Texas Tech, stepping aside for his son, Pat Knight, in February 2008. Texas Tech spokesman Randy Farley said Bob Knight left Lubbock on Tuesday and wouldn’t be back until next month.
“Just because he fired us doesn’t mean we want anything bad to happen,” Pat Knight said. “That’s shocking. I don’t wish death upon anybody. That’s sad, no matter who it is.”
