Various people are accusing Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight of being irresponsible with guns.

One woman, Mary Ann Chumley of Lubbock, Texas, claims Knight accidentally hit her and her horse with birdshot while he and a friend were dove-hunting near her barn. Chumley told reporters:

He said, "I was shooting a bird and I followed it, and I shouldn't have done that, and I know that." He apologized and I accepted his apology. As far as I was concerned it was over.

It might've been over for Chumley, but it wasn't for other people unlucky enough to live near the field where Knight likes to hunt. A second Lubbock resident, James Simpson, said he was struck on the back and neck by flying shot, but unlike Ms. Chumley, Simpson was not so pleasant about it. He says he yelled at Knight and his companion to stop shooting near his property. According to Simpson, Knight and his pal responded by intentionally firing in his direction, hitting him with pellets as he was cleaning his swimming pool. Simpson, like Ms. Chumley and her horse, was uninjured.

Knight showed his usual eloquence in responding to Simpson's allegations:

That's all been taken care of, that's over with. You haven't heard anything from that guy for two weeks. That's done. I got no comment on that whatsoever because that's absolute [expletive].

The funny thing about this is that, if one of Knight's players behaved in such a juvenile fashion, the kid would probably get choked or slapped or God knows what. Oh yeah - I believe Knight shot at the guy. Bobby is obviously the kind of person who can't stand being scolded or yelled at or otherwise told he's done something wrong, and his reaction is to lash out childishly. That's been the pattern throughout his career. Chucking that chair? Real grown-up. His little line about being buried upside down so his critics can kiss his ass during his farewell speech at Indiana? Classy.

Sorry, but it's about time this low-rent, bullying jerk got put out to pasture. Texas Tech should pay him off and tell him to take a hike. It's not like he's made them some kind of Big 12 powerhouse during his tenure there, or any kind of a threat to get past the first couple rounds of the tournament. Honestly, I don't know why this guy even stays in coaching, unless it's just the pleasure he gets out of pushing people around, and being some kind of big star on campus. He hasn't been relevant as anything but a generator of bad publicity in a long, long time. Let him take his big pay-off, and go buy himself a bunch of animals to shoot at. Or, better yet, stick him on an iceberg like an old Eskimo and float his sorry butt out to sea. Yeah, I like that idea.