| | BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Ron Felling, an assistant with the
Indiana's men's basketball team for 14 years, is leaving to pursue
other interests, coach Bob Knight announced Saturday.
"This is in no way unexpected," Knight said in a statement
distributed at halftime of Saturday's game with Kentucky in
Indianapolis. "Ron has indicated to me on several occasions in the
past few years that he is interested in looking at things outside
basketball. ... Ron wanted to leave last year, but I talked him
into trying it one more time to see if those feelings would change,
but they haven't."
Felling joined Knight's staff in 1985 after coaching
Lawrenceville to four Illinois Class A state championships. In
1997, he moved from assistant coach to Knight's administrative
assistant.
NCAA rules allowed him to work with the program, but recruiting
and on-court coaching are not permitted.
"There is obviously nothing we can do about the rules," Knight
said. "One of the things we wanted to do when we made our staff
changes two years ago was to improve our recruiting and I don't
think there is any question that we have done that."
Felling was not available for comment at the game and no comment
from him was included in the statement.
Indiana said Felling's current compensation with benefits was
approximately $130,000 and that his salary will expire on Dec. 31
with his health benefits continuing until June 1.
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