BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Only a few minutes into Bob Knight's book signing here Sunday, the former Indiana coach showed a flash of the volatility that made him loved, hated and eventually fired.         To keep the line of more than 1,200 moving, bookstore employees were writing names down on note paper so Knight didn't have to ask for them. He apparently wasn't pleased with the penmanship.

        “Let's get this straightened out right now,” Knight snapped, causing one young employee to turn an eerie shade of white. “I can't even read some of this stuff.”

        The writing quality improved — quickly— as did the coach's demeanor.

        Otherwise, Knight didn't speak at the book signing, except to exchange pleasantries with those who'd bought his $25.95 book.

        Fans started gathering at Bloomington's Barnes & Noble bookstore nearly 12 hours before Knight's evening arrival. They came to get the silver-haired coach's signature on copies of “Knight: My Story,” co-written with Bob Hammel, a former sports editor at The Herald-Times in Bloomington.

        While fans weren't exactly clamoring for the coach during the Hoosiers' run to the NCAA championship game, the truly devoted were more than happy to spend a sunny Sunday waiting for their man.

        “I've been a Bob Knight fan from day one,” said Janice Furnish, wearing a Knight T-shirt, button and even a pair of round earrings made of photographs of his face.

        She was getting 10 books signed for friends and relatives. Her copy will likely wind up in the Bob Knight shrine she's constructed in her home, which includes a Bob Knight doll, Bob Knight bookends and a Bob Knight paper cut-out figure, which Furnish says is “very rare.”

        “He's just a great man,” she said. “I can't find any fault with him whatsoever.”

        IU officials, however, found plenty of fault — enough to fire the Hall of Fame coach in 2000 for a “pattern of unacceptable behavior.”

        He's since moved on to Texas Tech. Judging from the vast array of Texas Tech hats, sweatshirts and buttons worn by the people in line, he's taken plenty of fans with him.

        Stephen Anderson was the No. 2 person in line. He claims to have videotaped every game Knight has coached since 1987, including the Texas Tech games from this year. Like many Knight supporters, he believes the university “done him wrong.”

        But Anderson still supports the Hoosiers, and he cheered them on through their surprising tournament run.

        “You can still be an Indiana fan and a Bob Knight fan,” Anderson said.

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