Bobby Knight eying vacant Georgia hoop job

The infamous red sweater may be about to rise again, this time in the SEC.  A source close to Bobby Knight told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday that the Hall of Fame coach would be willing to take the vacant University of Georgia basketball coaching job were it offered to him.  Knight handed the Texas Tech coaching job over to his son, Pat, in the middle of the 2008 and has been working as a color analyst for ESPN ever since.

Georgia sacked Dennis Felton last week following a five game losing streak to open SEC play.  Associate coach Pete Herrmann was named interim coach for the remainder of the season.  The “unnamed source” indicated that Knight would like to have the job, but wanted to be coy about it:

"He doesn't want it to look as if he's pursuing the job. He'd like to be offered it, and if offered, he'd take it. He doesn't want it to look as if he's looking for work, but I can assure you that he'd like to have the job. It's the idea of coaching a team in the Southeastern Conference that appeals to him. There are just so many things he could do for Georgia basketball. This would be his last stop, and he likes that."

Despite “The General’s” reputation as a hardnosed disciplinarian, Bulldog junior Albert Jackson was enthused by the prospect of playing for Knight:

"I would love to have a coach of that caliber, that stature. You have a Hall of Fame coach, you have somebody like that, all you can do is be happy. "If Bobby Knight wants to come in here, I'd be more than happy.”

Knight has never said that he wouldn’t coach again, but that it would take the right opportunity:

"I have never said that I wouldn't coach again. I've simply said in the past, if the right situation came along, I would be interested."

From the sound of things, Athens, Georgia might present just the opportunity that Knight is looking for.