Bobby Knight

A nice piece that was in the Observer today by Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe

It is a strange footnote to the career of a self-destructive force of nature known as Robert Montgomery Knight that he is about to become the all-time winningest coach in major college basketball at a school where basketball really doesn't matter very much.

Consider the following item on the Texas Tech basketball website before yesterday's record-tying victory: "The TTU Athletic Department would like to put as many fans in the United Sprint Center for the next four games as Coach Knight will hopefully tie and break Coach Smith's record here in Lubbock in front of his home fans. The TTU Athletic Department Ticket Office will have special ticket prices for the historic events."

Good Lord, they're actually begging for fans. Of course, we are talking about Texas.

Imagine, for a moment, if Bob Knight was about to break Dean Smith's career record of 879 wins while still running the show at Indiana. Far from begging people to attend by inducing them with special package deals (e.g. "Purchase one ticket to all four home games in the lower level and receive one complimentary upper level General Admissions ticket to all four of the home games"), the school in question would be contemplating hiring extra security to keep the panting fans from breaking into the arena in some kind of "Les Miserables" stampede. First of all, the tickets would have been sold long before the season had begun. And if any spare tickets were available on the black market, a line would have formed from Bloomington to French Lick in order to scoop them up. Of course, we would be talking about Indiana.

But Knight isn't coaching at Indiana is he? No, he almost certainly will set the record in Lubbock, Texas, having tied it yesterday when his Texas Tech Red Raiders defeated visiting Bucknell, 72-60, for their 10th win of the season and No. 879 in the career of Coach Knight, who was 25 years old when his Army Cadets knocked off -- you'll love this -- Worcester Tech for career victory No. 1 in 1965. And why is he now setting the record in football country, rather than in a certified Hoop Heaven a thousand miles or so to the north?

Because he can't help being himself; that's why. He is not an adaptable species.

Knight says setting the record (his first crack at it is Thursday night in Lubbock) means nothing to him, that all it validates is longevity. Some people who know him say he doth protest too much, that he is enormously proud of being No. 1 and that his intention is to put the record safely out of sight. If so, he wouldn't be the first disingenuous coach we've ever encountered.

What's undeniable is the fact that he is fortunate to be coaching at all in the year 2006. When Myles Brand dismissed him as coach of Indiana six years ago, he was downright radioactive in the eyes of many institutions. While fully cognizant of a coaching résumé that featured three national championships, wary administrators wanted no part of the entire Knight package. His bullying behavior was a turnoff, and the fact that after reaching the Final Four in 1992 he had gotten back to the Sweet 16 only once in his final eight seasons at Indiana suggested either he was having undue difficulty recruiting quality players or his methods were no longer suitable to the times.

It became an annual journalistic exercise to note the battle-fatigued look of the Hoosier players after the all-too frequent Indiana losses. The Indiana kids did not seem disappointed to have lost. Rather, they seemed relieved that the long, hard and, it was presumed, verbally abusive season finally had drawn to a merciful close. Scores of savvy athletic directors took a good look at the faces on those kids and said, "No thanks."

Knight cannot change. He holds his players accountable in many ways, but never himself. That's just the way he's wired. In order to keep coaching at the highest level, Knight needed to find a malleable AD who would forgive him all his faults and allow him to be his imperial self. Gerald Myers is such a man. He will do whatever Bob Knight wishes, and that's the only kind of AD for Bob Knight.

In 38 years of sportswriting, I never have met a more fascinating person than Bob Knight. In our very first encounter, less than two hours before the 1976 NCAA championship game, he yelled at me for something I had written. No more than a year later he wrote me a complimentary note for a story of mine he had liked. He has called me at home twice to berate me, the first time for innocently referring to him as basketball's "enfant terrible" in a piece on which I had quoted him on the subject of "Big House" Gaines, and the second time to excoriate me for my complicity in a book I had co-written with Bob Cousy. In the midst of praising Knight, The Cooz also observed, among other things, that, "You must be prepared to put up with his idiosyncrasies and his ego and hope that he matures, but, what the hell, the last perfect man was crucified."

The Cooz also told the tale of a preseason scrimmage his BC team had conducted with one of Knight's West Point squads. "We started scrimmaging," Cousy recalled, "and within 10 minutes it was mayhem." Cooz complained to Knight that he couldn't get anything done in those conditions. "This is the way we do it," Knight shot back. Anyway, Knight did not give The Cooz and me rave reviews for his portrayal in the book.

The ups and downs continued over the years, and there were definitely ups. I spent a fascinating night with him prior to the 1992 Indiana-Kentucky game. Dinner with Knight and his Hoosier entourage was a particular treat. The waiter got off to a bad start with the coach when he mentioned that a nice veggie tray was available as an appetizer. Bob Knight does not do veggies.

"Onion rings and ribs," he barked. "If they don't like 'em, they'll learn to like 'em."

Now It Can Be Told Department: There really is a lot of good in Bob Knight, and this was never more evident than during my last encounter with him. I was interviewing him by phone for a column in advance of the 1994 Eastern Regional round of 16 game between BC and Indiana, and in the course of the conversation he asked me what was going on with BC coach Jim O'Brien, then seeking a contract extension from AD Chet Gladchuk. After I explained to him what was going on, Knight said, "OK, here's what you do. Tomorrow at the press conference, you ask me a question about O'Brien. I'll take it from there."

In my guise as audience plant, I did what he asked, and he delivered the goods. "A lot of people around the country ask me who would be a good candidate to coach their team and who should they talk to," Knight told the world. "And if I was going to hire a coach today, Jimmy O'Brien is the guy I'd want to talk to. I mean, here's a guy who went 1-15 with these kids as freshmen [in the Big East], and he works with them and keeps them going -- hoping one day will be your day. And that day is here for Boston College."

Why oh why can't that be the Knight norm? Why does he find it necessary to insult, bully, and intimidate when he's capable of dominating a room with wit and charm? Why can't he keep his hands off players? Why is he so intent on living up to his own image of himself that he blusters his way out of Indiana, where he belongs? Why will he become the winningest coach of all time at a football school where the athletic department has to implore people to come watch his team?

There is no good answer. Bob Knight just is.

 

Will Knight really be number 1??

True with one more victory Knight will surpass Dean Smith as the all time leader in men's basketball. But to be number 1 in D1 basketball he still has a way to go to catch Pat Summit of the woman's Tennesse Volunteer basketball team. (913-177). Before she retires, she will set a mark that will never be equaled again in D1 sports. So is Knight really going to be number one? Not if you include all D1 schools.

 

So Dean was never number one either.

 

nope and while I like him there's a legit argument that he's not the best all time coach. Could even argue that Roy will be a better coach at UNC, but easily I'd put Dean in the top 10 all time. At this point, and I've got to think that's a pretty impressive spot.

 

If you go to the ESPN college basketball site they have a poll on who is really number one. Other than Indiana for Knight and Kentucky for Rupp, the rest of the country says Dean.:newsmile54:

 

the same people who voted for Bush

 

I don't know how good the SEC was then in basketball but didn't Rupp win every SEC game for like 13 straight years? Something like 169 straight SEC conference wins. That is ridiculous. On top of that he had a better winning percentage than Dean and more titles. Dean had to take over for UNC on probation and was in the best conference in the 70's, 80's and early 90's though so he is definitely up there. No one is better than Wooden though.

 

Either Dean or Wooden are the best college basketball coach of all-time, not only because of their wins, but because part of coaching amateur athletes is to make them better men. If Bobby Knight was an asshole to professional players I wouldn't care as much, but he shouldn't receive a pass for abusing college athletes.

 

The defender of the defenceless, Collin.

 

But if Dean hadn´t won so many games no one would care about the "coaching of better athletes is to make them better me part". Didn´t they hang him in effigy in the early years? I do agree Dean is one of the best though.