Obituaries In The News

Myles Brand

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — NCAA president Myles Brand, who as head of Indiana University sparked massive protests by firing Hall of Fame basketball coach Bob Knight, died Wednesday of pancreatic cancer. He was 67.

NCAA officials, who announced Brand's death, were not ready to say who would replace Brand or when they may begin searching for a successor.

The first former university president to run college sports' largest governing body, Brand worked to change the perception that wins supersede academics.

Brand gained national attention in May 2000 when he put Knight on a zero-tolerance policy after a former player alleged that the 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 son, Pat Knight, in February 2008.