Georgia should avoid bad recruiter Knight

Bob Knight to Georgia?

No way, I say.

Which is the exact thing Georgia athletic director Damon Evans needs to say, too, or else he'll end up looking more foolish than he did when he kept Dennis Felton in place on the merits of a good weekend last March only to remove him this January.

Talk about getting caught up in the moment. And if Evans goes this route he's again getting caught up in the moment (plus the possible headlines and ESPN attention), because there is no good reason for a school like Georgia to hire a man like Knight, and the main reason I feel that way is because I've never seen Knight at an AAU game.

Allow me to explain.

The only way to consistently win at the high-major level is to get good players, and the only way to get good players is to recruit with a passion. Problem is, Knight has no passion for recruiting, evidence being that I've never seen him at an AAU game in my entire life.

Understand, I'm on the AAU circuit every July, sitting in the bleachers next to Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Rick Pitino, Bill Self and everybody else in the world of college basketball. You name them, they're on the road in July non-stop, bouncing from one gym to the next, evaluating talent, positioning themselves to be seen, catering to AAU coaches, wearing themselves out. And yet in seven years of Nike Camps, ABCD Camps and Las Vegas tournaments, I never once bumped into Knight, and it's not because he was hiding from me.

It's because he doesn't recruit that way.

Ask anybody: Knight rarely made the AAU rounds in recent years.

That's why the Texas Tech team he handed off to his son last season finished tied for seventh in the Big 12, why the team his son is coaching right now is tied for last in the Big 12, why the Red Raiders finished fifth in the Big 12 in 2006-07 and tied for seventh in 2005-06, because even a coach as great as Knight -- and make no mistake, he is a tremendous "coach" even to this day -- can't win at the high-major level without high-major players.

Thus, this would be a foolish move for Georgia.

Regardless of what Dick Vitale suggests.

Bob Knight doesn't recruit well enough to be a top coach. (US Presswire)

"To me it's no contest; if Bobby Knight is interested in Georgia basketball, it's no contest," Vitale said. "He's so good I'd come with him as an assistant."

Let me be clear: I like Vitale.

I was down with him getting into the Hall of Fame, even wrote about it in the blog. But Vitale is no more credible when it comes to Knight than Rod Blagojevich is when it comes to anything, because Knight and Vitale are best buddies who've been patting each other on the back for years. Knight campaigned on Vitale's behalf for the Hall of Fame, and so Vitale is now returning the favor by promoting Knight for the Georgia job.

That's fine.

I get it.

But I wonder if Vitale truly understands the importance of recruiting.

He always talks about Diaper Dandies and PTP'ers, but does he know you have to recruit to get Diaper Dandies and PTP'ers, and that Knight hasn't shown any passion for recruiting in years?

Again, I'll take Knight the tactician over just about any other tactician. He's tremendous. But there's no way Knight will consistently beat Billy Donovan (Florida), Bruce Pearl (Tennessee) and Billy Gillispie (Kentucky) without comparable players, and there's no reason to think he'll recruit in a way that'll land him comparable players.

For that reason, Georgia should pass.

Go get Anthony Grant.

Go get somebody on the way up.

That's what Georgia ought to do.

In the meantime, Knight should be focusing on getting a job in the Horizon League, Colonial Athletic Assoociation or some other league where you don't get overwhelmed by an opponent with McDonald's All-Americans. In that setting, he'd be terrific. That's where I'd hire him. But at this stage in his career he doesn't belong in the SEC or any other place where securing elite prospects is the only way to succeed, because securing elite prospects isn't what Bob Knight does.