When I was in college, I took a class called Sports Ethics. One of the sections was on coaches. Of course, Bobby Knight’s name came up. His name was scattered in with others but all anyone wanted to talk about was Knight. Most of the class thought he was a horrible person and hate him. It was just me and maybe two other kids that like Bobby Knight. We spent the entire class period arguing about Knight. They brought up how he is a loose cannon and attacks his players, says inappropriate things and seems to have little respect for others. I argued that he is a man more passionate about the game than anyone else and he demands the best from not only his players but anyone around him and just doesn’t care if he pisses a few people off in the process.
The professor asked us one question, “Would you want your son to play for Bobby Knight?” I think that is the ultimate way to evaluate a coach. (Of course, in reality, it’s hard for anyone who has never met the guy to really answer the question) I, without hesitation and unquestionably, would want my son to play for Bobby Knight. For all his flaws and blow ups, he makes his players better men. He preaches discipline and school work. He is a man of high integrity and never violated any NCAA rules. Most of the guys who played for him, worked for him, coached against him or even met him, have very little in the negative to say about him. Yes, he stepped on some toes but he did things his way and usually that was the right way.
I love Bob Knight. For as long as I can remember, I always have. I don’t know why I started liking him as a kid but I did. It might have been seeing him throw that chair across the floor. There’s something about seeing a grown man act like that that sticks with a young boy. As that young boy, I think all I knew about Bob Knight was the fiery, chair throwing, player choking, press conference cussing, coach that made the news. I still love him for that but as I got older, I learned more about the man behind the face that scared more college kids than the look of a girl saying “I’m pregnant.” Maybe I like him because he got his coaching start at my high school, Cuyahoga Falls, where he coached the JV team before moving on to Army.
When I found out Knight resigned, I, like most college basketball fans, was shocked. There’s only ten regular season games left, why not finish out the season? That would be the normal, traditional thing to do. But then again, Knight has never be the most predictable guy.
Honestly, I’m a little sad Knight is leaving. I liked to see his teams do well but it was more entertaining when they didn’t. That’s when you got the classic Knight sayings. Just the other week, after career win No. 900, he gave the home Texas Tech crowd some sarcasm by saying “All of you being here, with the seats being filled for once, made a hell of a difference tonight.” I love that stuff. Here are my favorite Bob Knight quotes.
“When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want they bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass!”
“I don’t have to wait until the next morning to regret something I did that was kinda dumb.”
“If my primary purpose here at Indiana is to go out and win ballgames, I can probably do that as well as anybody can. I would just cheat, get some money from a lot of people around Indianapolis who want to run the operation that way, and just go out and get the best basketball players I can. Then we’d beat everybody.”
“I don’t think you could lead a whore to bed.”
“I fortunately have never worried about irritating people.”
“I told him to take a picture of his testicles so he’d have something to remember them by if he ever took another shot like the last one.”
“I have often said this to some sanctimonious self-righteous critics that I have: ‘I would hope that when judgment day comes, they don’t appear before
St. Peter’s table with me, and only one space available for both of us, and the judgment being made on who has done the most for fellow man. I have no doubt St. Peter will turn to me and say, ‘Robert, pass through the gate.’”
“Hell, I don’t even watch the pros. If the NBA was on Channel 5 and a bunch of frogs making love were on Channel 4, I’d watch the frogs–even if they came in fuzzy.”
“If that’s a good shot, then I’m a paratrooper in the Women’s Chinese Navy.”
I think it’s a requirement that every Knight story has a picture of the chair throwing episode.
There’s so many more quotes, stories, actions that Knight will be remembered for and I think there will still be so many more to come. As fans, we only get to really hear Knight at press conferences sound bites that ESPN decides to show. He is leaving the coaching but I doubt he goes quietly into the night. I’m hoping he does some minor work as an analysis. I don’t want him to be a Dick Vitale (overused and annoying anymore, but welcome back). He should just do a few games a year so there are more and more sound bites. Supposedly, he is one of the smartest basketball minds out there. Combine that with his loose lips and you got a telecast that people watch even if it’s frogs making love.
Fratello
You shouldn’t want your kid to play for Knight. For one, I don’t think you have a kid. And two, by the time your son would be ready to play college, Knight would be dead. No one wants their kid playing for a corpse.
You say nothing about the Super Bowl but you virtually suck the dick of a bitter, old scrooge??? Sometimes I don’t get you.
My opinion: Knight was good, but he tarnished himself in Lubbock. Kind of like MJ with the Wiz.
I got get me either. Knight didn’t tarnish himself because he took a school that was horrible and made them relevant in the college basketball world. Even if the record was the best, people paid attention to TT basketball. Plus he took them to the NCAA tournament in three of his first four years, starting in 2002 when they hadn’t been there since 1996. He wasn’t as good as he was during the 70s and 80s and early 90s at IU but even at IU he was slipping.
And, if I had a son, I’d rather him play for Bobby Knight’s corpse than Bob Huggins.
Great job on the Knight stuff. He was a joy to watch over the years. I kind of like him leaving in the middle of the season. He is not one of those guys who needs to do a victory lap so everyone can tell him how great he is. He just got tired of it, and if his heart wasn’t in it that would be hurting his team more than if he stuck it out the whole season. Although sometimes he acted like a lunatic, he was a great coach and a great man. I certainly would want my son to play for Bob Knight. He is a big Indians fan too.
How about six Browns in the Pro Bowl? Who would have guessed that at the start of the year?
Pfft, six Browns in the Pro Bowl…much like in the regular season, you needed to back in. At least this time you got help.