The trap for Bob Knight was set the moment Indiana University president Myles Brand instituted his "zero-tolerance policy" with the Hoosiers coach.

Did anybody really expect the fiery Knight to avoid confrontation, even after nearly losing his job in May?

Many famous people need bodyguards when they're in public; Knight, a huge proponent of on-court screens, could use a human pick to step in front of potential controversies.

During his 29 years at Indiana, Bob Knight won three national titles and 661 games.(AP)

Perhaps the only surprise about Knight's firing as Indiana coach is that it took less than four months -- four offseason months, at that.

All that, however, doesn't lessen the sadness of another great career being overshadowed by a conclusion that smells like a setup.

What it comes down to, is that Brand didn't show enough backbone to declare back in May that either, "he's fired," or "he's our coach, warts and all."

It was up to the president to decide then whether he was comfortable with the bombastic Knight in the role of basketball coach at Indiana University. But when he put the "zero-tolerance policy" in place, it was merely a way to postpone the inevitable, while attempting to shift the responsibility for such a decision away from Brand's obviously too-narrow shoulders.

Last week, Knight was accused of putting his hand on Kent Harvey, an IU freshman, who apparently greeted the coach by saying, "Hey, what's up, Knight?" -- not exactly the way Knight prefers to be addressed.

Raising a few eyebrows is the coincidence Harvey's stepfather, Mark Shaw, is a former Bloomington, Ind., radio talk-show host and Knight critic.

During a press conference Friday, Knight tried to explain the latest controversy. The coach even diagrammed on a blackboard how the paths of he and Harvey crossed, and then re-enacted the encounter showing how he briefly held the student's arm.

"I said, 'Son, my name is not Knight to you,' " the Hall of Fame coach said. " 'It's Coach Knight or it's Mr. Knight. I don't call people by their last name, and neither should you.' "

Well now, he can be called an ex-coach.

During his 29 years at Indiana, Knight won three national titles, and 661 games, and earned a seat on the Hoosier State throne. Contrary to what critics want to think, Knight has many more former players who swear by him rather than at him.

But as with Gen. George Patton and former Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes -- two men greatly admired by Knight -- a tremendous career concludes unceremoniously.

Bob Knight's world may still exist in Bloomington, but it doesn't exist around the rest of the country. Authority figures simply can't go around berating or physically attacking individuals. These days, the former Army coach couldn't even get away with his tactics at West Point.

Knight's biography on the Indiana University web site begins: "In college basketball, the name Bob Knight is synonymous with greatness and winning."

Unfortunately for Knight, his name is synonymous with a few other things, too -- and now, indelibly, with the way his career ended.

The setup was an alley-oop pass from Brand, the slam dunk delivered by Shaw, and there was Brand acting as the referee only too ready to give Knight his ultimate double-technical for what sounds like one of the most ticky-tack touch fouls the coach has ever been accused of committing.

Knight certainly has shown flaws over the years, but the irony here is that it was an instance in which a student showed him an irritating lack of respect that gave the university president the opportunity to disrespect the coach to a much greater degree.