Coach Knight

Posted: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 by Travis Cody in
19


After 42 years of coaching, Bob Knight has decided to resign from Texas Tech as head basketball coach and very likely retire. His son, Pat, says he's tired and ready to step down. Pat Knight will succeed his father as coach of the Red Raiders.

Here are some numbers:

Overall record: 902-371 in 42 years

At Army, 1965-1971:

Became head coach at the age of 24
102-50 with 4 NIT appearances

At Indiana, 1971-2000:

661-240 overall
353-151 in Big 10 conference play
11 Big 10 conference championships
Big 10 conference coach of the year 6 times
3 NIT appearances
NIT Championship in 1979
24 NCAA Tournament appearances
3 NCAA Tournament championships in 1976, 1981, 1987
32-0 in 1975-76, the last NCAA Division 1 program to go undefeated

At Texas Tech, 2001-2008:

138-82 overall
53-49 in Big 12 conference play
1 NIT appearance
4 NCAA Tournament appearances

USA Basketball, 1984 Gold Medal

Coach Knight is one of only three coaches to win the NIT Title, the NCAA Championship, and an Olympic Gold Medal. The other two are Pete Newell and Dean Smith. Knight did it in the span of 10 years. He was also a reserve on Ohio State's 1960 NCAA Championship team which featured John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas.

There is also plenty of controversy to go with the excellence. He came of age as a coach when the style was different. He demanded discipline from his players and yet he had trouble with anger management and imposing discipline on himself. He swore at players. He treated the media poorly. He made derogatory remarks about women.

He is reported to be unfailingly loyal to his friends and former players. He is also reported to be vindictive to those he feels have betrayed him.

There is little gray area with Coach Knight. People either love him or despise him.

He will never be among the most beloved figures in the game like John Wooden. But, like Wooden, he graduated the players who came to play for him (98% of his 4 year players graduated, all but 4) and he never cheated.

19 comments:

  1. Janna says:
    05 February, 2008 00:19

    I know nothing about sports or coaches, so I'm going to go off-topic here...

    I just went to FreeRice.com for the first time ever... thanks to your sidebar button. I've heard other people talk about it before, but just never got around to actually going there. Well, the nice pretty shiny button was right there, saying "click on me!! click on me!!"

    So I did.

    I was expecting some annoying thing where I'd have to log in and create an account with a password and all that... but nope! Very easy! I like it!

    I donated 500 grains of rice.
    Thanks for having the button in your sidebar!

  1. Jeni says:
    05 February, 2008 01:08

    I'm not a basketball fan - at all. We had no gymnasium at the school I attended for high school, so I had no cause to learn the sport. Therefore, I don't understand all the nuances to the game and I don't follow it at all -college or pro. However, I have heard a lot over the years about Bobby Knight and his coaching style, etc and there's no two ways about it he was a colorful figure and also, he got the job done too!

  1. Liz Hill says:
    05 February, 2008 02:01

    I just have to think that there is something up for him to flat quit in the middle of a season.

    In addition to his personal successes as a coach he has been responsible for molding some of the finest coaches in college basketball.

  1. oneluvgurl says:
    05 February, 2008 02:37

    I am loving you some right now Trav... I blog tagged you.Come see! :)

  1. Schmoop says:
    05 February, 2008 05:19

    Knight is da man. I for one will miss him court side. Here's to you Bobby. Cheers Trav!!

  1. Vinny "Bond" Marini says:
    05 February, 2008 05:21

    Put me in the "Love Him" corner... I would have wanted Matt to play for him if he played basketball...

    He sometimes had a tough way of motivating his players and I do not agree with his putting hands on...but you can not argue that he did it all because he did care and he is one of the great basketball minds of all time

  1. the Book of Keira says:
    05 February, 2008 08:51

    I can't watch basketball because the squeaking of the shoes on the court kills me. But I know of him.

  1. Akelamalu says:
    05 February, 2008 10:28

    Can we have more about dancing - I like dancing! :) x

  1. Charles Gramlich says:
    05 February, 2008 11:33

    there are certain things about Knight I respect. Other things not so much. But was he a good basketball coach? there is no argument there. He fielded outstanding teams.

  1. Desert Songbird says:
    05 February, 2008 16:11

    Believe it or not, I'm not a love or hate him girl. I have mixed feelings. (I know, I'm a middle of the road kinda gal.)

    I admire his record, I admire his take no prisoners attitude. I think his old school approach to coaching was necessary, but players today with their fragile, me-centered existence probably responded less and less to him; hence, time to retire.

    I'm not sure what would possess him to abruptly leave in the middle of the season, but I wouldn't be surprised (although I wouldn't wish it) if we hear a health-related announcement soon.

    Best of luck, Coach. Thanks for all of the the glory days at IU.

  1. Travis Cody says:
    05 February, 2008 16:28

    Janna: I'm glad you liked it. It is so easy to do and so much fun.

    Jeni: He was and he did. Along the way he did some great things and some really dumb things too.

    Turn: I think it might be just as simple as he says...he was likely to retire at the end of the season so he wanted to give Pat as much of a head start as possible. And maybe Pat can keep the team on track to get to the tournament.

    Oneluvgurl: Why thank you ma'am!

    Matt: I will too. I wish he had been less controversial in his dealings with people though. He belongs in the same sentence as Coach Wooden for his achievements, but Coach Wooden is as fine a man as you'll find.

    V: I agree. He did care and he did things the old school way because that was how he learned it and what worked best for him. His anger management issues were always a challenge for him, and at some point he just stopped trying to curb them.

    Kyra: I've found that the mute button works very well for such noises like squeaky shoes and Dick Vitale. LOL!

    Akelamalu: We will have more dancing soon...I promise!

    Charles: Agreed on all points.

    Songbird: I hope it's not a health issue. I hope it's just that he's had enough and has decided to turn it over to Pat and go hunt and fish.

  1. Jeff B says:
    05 February, 2008 18:05

    I don't necessarily with many of his tactics, but no one can argue that he said what he meant and meant what he said.

    There was nothing whishy washy about his style.

  1. RW says:
    05 February, 2008 21:25

    Thats to bad that a lot of people will just remember the anger of Coach Night, I thought we would never here the end of the toilet paper incident. He does have a sense of humor about it, like in the movie "Anger Management" one of my favorite movies. Great post Travis!!

  1. Travis Cody says:
    05 February, 2008 22:09

    Jeff: I have a tough time with his behavior too. When I was coaching I tried to copy his results without his methods.

    Roger: It is unfortunate, but he did bring that stuff on himself.

  1. Mimi Lenox says:
    06 February, 2008 21:55

    I learned a lot about the Coach through this post and these comments. Great take on it. And honest. As always!

  1. DrillerAA says:
    12 February, 2008 10:34

    Wooden is proof that you can do everything that Knight did and more without being a horses butt in the process.
    I appreciate Knight's honesty, and his dedication to graduating his players, but I have issues with his anger, arrogant, demeaning attitude toward others.

  1. Unknown says:
    13 February, 2008 10:33

    I love your site. I think it has great content and information. I also think its original and cool. I was emailing you to let you know how much I like your site. I have a site of my own. Its dedicated to highly anticipated upcoming movies. Right now I am focused on The Dark Knight. I was wandering if it was possible to do a link exchange. I know my viewers would love a link to your site for all of your great content and I think your fans would love the additional information on The Dark Knight. I think it would benefit us both. I would really appreciate it. Thanks Daniel

  1. Travis Cody says:
    13 February, 2008 16:04

    Daniel: Please email me the link to your site so I can check it out. My email address is in my profile. Thanks!

  1. katherine. says:
    14 February, 2008 17:21

    I am a Knight fan....but I LOVE Wooden...I had several opportunities to meet him when I was in school...he was retired from coaching...but still around.

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