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Suppose I'm upset because a student can't figure out how to punctuate a complex sentence and I throw a chair across the classroom. And suppose my class is telecast nationwide. I'd be in the dean's office discussing whether I need anger management counseling faster than you can say subordinate clause. And if one afternoon shortly thereafter, while strolling the campus on my short leash, I grabbed a student by the arm and gave him a verbal thrashing, I'd likely be packing up my Little, Brown Handbooks the same day.

But, of course, my students have not won an Olympic gold medal and national championships in punctuating sentences.

I am alluding, of course, to Bob Knight, fired last Sunday as Indiana University's head basketball coach, after a long string of temper tantrums, many of them televised.

Knight, known as "the General" for his heavy-handed insistence on discipline and obedience, may have held possession of the national basketball spotlight during much of his 29 years at IU, but he has also given the institution a public relations Knightmare. And it looks like IU finally woke up.

The event which finally brought the end of the Knightmare was an encounter with student Kent Harvey, who, Knight says, said "Hi, Knight!" when the two passed Thursday (Sept. 7) in Assembly Hall. According to half a dozen witnesses whose accounts IU President Myles Brand said were "not in dispute," Knight then grabbed Harvey's arm, scratching and bruising it, and advised the freshman that addressing a person by his last name lacks respect.

I am completely sympathetic with Knight's frustration about students' lack of civility. I love students; my affection for them keeps me in this profession when I'm tempted to do something else. But my students' behavior continues to amaze me. Once, when a student behaved immaturely and I reminded her that she would someday need letters of recommendation from faculty and might make a greater attempt to impress us, she protested that we weren't "in class." Not that the classroom is a haven of manners. Just last week, a student entered mine yelling an obscenity at a friend across the room. (I shudder to think how Bob Knight might deal with him.)

In his insistence on respect, Knight is a textbook illustration of "do as I say, not as I do." He once threw an opposing fan into a trash can. He kicked his own son on the Indiana bench. Not long ago, he was in the media hot seat for suggesting that women invite rape. The peak of the coach's problems with self-control came last spring, when Knight was fined $30,000 and suspended for three games for grabbing a player, Neil Reed, by the throat. The incident, which occurred in practice, was captured on videotape. I have seen it, and it is appallingly aggressive. Even if Knight's supporters were right that the coach's termination is an overreaction to his encounter with Kent Harvey, it is NOT an overreaction to what he did to Neil Reed. The university could have headed off the current controversy by firing Knight when he clearly deserved it.

The public relations problem Knight has caused IU for years might have been averted if the coach had ever expressed remorse or regret. Interviewed Wednesday night by ESPN's Jeremy Schaap, Knight made clear that he sees himself as a victim of university attorneys with "a different perception" of his behavior in meetings from his own, boosters who misunderstood his intentions concerning public appearances, and administrators who did not clearly define "zero tolerance" (what part of "zero" did he not understand?) The unemployed Knight was testy with Schaap, son of the legendary Dick Schaap (one of sports journalism's most admired figures). I found it ironic that the coach who insists on respect told Schaap, "You've got a long way to go to be as good as your dad."

Of course, the long-time coach's termination caused another kind of public relations problem -- the ire of Knight's champions. ESPN reported that IU President Brand is writing to alumni to smooth things over. Some supporters are so fanatical that they buy into the notion of their idol's victimization. Indiana standout Dane Fife told Schaap Wednesday night that his coach "wasn't given a chance," and a senior IU student told the Associated Press that Knight's firing made him "ashamed to be a Hoosier." Students marched to the university president's home chanting "Burn in hell, Brand." These student will be allowed to remain at Indiana by virtue of their free-speech rights -- not because they deserve it.

More troubling were the threats directed at Kent Harvey, whose father has jousted with Knight before. According to several media accounts, IU students have burned effigies of Harvey and his two brothers and sent threatening e-mail and phone messages to all three. On one news segment, I saw a student in a t-shirt bearing Harvey's photo and the words "Wanted: Dead." By Wednesday night, Harvey had left Bloomington at police urging. (Knight, to his credit, called for his supporters to take Harvey out of their crosshairs.)

The day Knight's dismissal was announced, I saw a "60 Minutes" segment about a group of abortion opponents convicted of communicating threats for circulating a list of abortion providers' names bearing the words "$5000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of . . ." The doctors, the group argue, are guilty of "crimes against humanity," synonymous with abortionists working under the Third Reich. The group's list was perceived by the court to constitute death threats and thus to be exempt from free-speech protections. (This case is currently on appeal.)

I unequivocally condemn the murder of abortion providers, but I think this list is far less appalling -- calling for arrest and conviction -- than the T-shirts and signs calling for Kent Harvey's death. The student protesters who chanted "Burn in hell, Brand" are lucky to remain in school. Those who call for the death of a classmate are lucky to remain out of jail.

All of this brings us to one very interesting question: if Bobby Knight is such a great molder of young men, why do so many of his defenders act like playground bullies? Knight told Jeremy Schaap, "There's a place, somewhere, that's a better fit for me." Judging by his lack of self-control, I'd say that place might be the boxing ring. Knight says he thinks of himself as a teacher, and his disciples appear to be dean's list students at the school of REAL hard knocks.

The Hoosier fans who have my real sympathy are those like my friend Rex Stephenson, Indiana natives devoted to the university and its basketball team and eager to remember the Bob Knight who raised money for the school library, was never investigated or sanctioned by the NCAA, earned the stats that really count -- graduation rates -- and invited teen-aged HIV sufferer Ryan White, a pariah in his Indiana public school, to sit next to him on the IU bench. These fans have been victimized by a university that let a tyrant terrorize it too long.

The firing of Bob Knight will undoubtedly cost Indiana University students and supporters. It will also win back the admiration of some of us who have been wondering when enough would be enough. I hope that all those who think IU is better off with their Knight in rusty armor than without him will someday realize that basketball and civility are not mutually exclusive. And I hope that if he truly aims to coach again, Bobby Knight will realize that the best way to earn respect is to behave respectably.