Kirk Haston is known for multiple different ventures throughout his life. Whether it be playing for Indiana and Bob Knight from 1998-01 or later writing a book called, Days of Knight, Haston remains tied to Indiana. In 2018, however, Haston decided to step away from the basketball world and head into a totally different direction. That is when he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing District 72.
Now, just two years later he is helping as much as he can with the COVID-19 pandemic, something he never thought he would deal with in office.
"Things are definitely different but trying to make the best of it," Haston told Indiana Sports Beat. "We are opening a few businesses this week but really just trying to stay at home… I'm anxious to do some other things.”
“Whatever decisions are made, for any governor it's not an envious position to be in," Haston added. "If you are opening businesses it's great for the economy, but then you have the healthcare workers questioning that decision… just trying to do it in phases and be as responsible as we can."
Like a handful of states, coming up with phases on re-opening the economy is on the forefront. Haston touched on what Tennessee is trying to do.
“Governor Lee announced they are going to start to ramp up testing with the reopening. In the next couple of weeks they are going to try to get up to 100 to 200,000 new tests done," Haston explained. "We have set up a lot of new testing sites in the state and get those free testing sites up and staying on top of the trend… We have to have some safe measures in there to make sure our hospitals aren’t inundated with cases. It’s just something I've never seen before.”
The NCAA passed a rule allowing college athletes to profit off of their image likeness, a rule that will take into effect for the 2021-22 season.
"Yeah I'm glad there is something with some uniformity.. what you had was a lot of different states going through their own laws and legislature. What you were going to have if you made that continue is create an unfair recruiting platform nationwide," Haston said. "I think the states knew they had to put pressure on the NCAA… I'm not always the biggest fan of the NCAA decisions, but this will be a smart move.”
As for Haston's time at Indiana, it almost didn't happen. Not heavily recruited by the Hoosiers until late in the game, it was a call from another coach that got Coach Knight on the Haston train.
"The closest I got to being recruited by Indiana early on was walking past Coach Knight at the Memphis Steamboat Classic... That is the closest I was to being recruited by them before my senior year."
"Tennessee and Vanderbilt offered me scholarships and I was really wanting to go to Vandy but the summer before my senior year, they rescinded the offer," Haston explained. "Tennessee just had a lot of early commitments and just ran out of spots. Kevin O'Neal contacted Coach Knight and said ‘hey I think this guy would fit well in your system’ …"
When it was time to make the call and pick Indiana, he had to break the news to Purdue and Coach Keady that he would be heading a few miles away from West Lafayette.
"I told my buddies I need the basement so I get my calling card out and call from his house and get Coach Keady on the phone," Haston said. "So I get him on the phone and tell them ‘I appreciate the offer and all of the time you’ve put in but I just wanted to let you know personally that I've decided I'm going to go to Indiana. Then there was a pause on the other end and Coach Keady then goes ‘that is fine but just know I'm going to root like hell against you'... at least he was honest."
Returning to Indiana was special for Haston as it was for Bob Knight's return to Assembly Hall.
"I honestly just got goosebumps mentioning it. It was such a special moment for me and my wife. The school was great… Coach Knight was great. He wanted to make sure that he talked to everyone beforehand," Haston said. "He had a small gathering where we could talk and take pictures... he gathers us around and goes ‘boys people ask me all the time about coaching you guys and I tell them it was the greatest time of my life and an honor to be around such a great group of guys and I'm sure when people ask you about it, you say the same thing about me'… when I saw his emotion it was just very special. One of my top moments all time on a basketball court."
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