Bobby Knight

[Goose]

RIP Robert Montgomery Knight

One of my greatest all time love-hate people in sports. Loved him enough to drive to Assembly Hall by myself to see him coach. He was one of a kind.

[The Sultan]

A complicated legacy for sure. But when he was at the top of his game, I'm not sure there was anyone better on the sideline.

[Pakuni]

The man could coach.

[Uncle Rico]

Incredible coach, complicated human being.  Love/hate is a great way to describe him. 

This is the definitive Bobby Knight profile

https://www.si.com/college/2015/01/14/rabbit-hunter-frank-deford-bobby-kight-si-60

[tower912]

A legend.  RIP.

[Jockey]

A very good coach who became great when he recruited Buckner, Benson, and May.

[JWags85]

Incredible coach, complicated human being.  Love/hate is a great way to describe him. 

This is the definitive Bobby Knight profile

https://www.si.com/college/2015/01/14/rabbit-hunter-frank-deford-bobby-kight-si-60

Complicated is a perfect way to describe him.  He was certainly a flawed man with an insane temper, but he was a fantastic developer of both players and young men who is commended for such by countless people.  And plenty of people who have glowing stories about him, as much as people who thought he was an ass.

Also was a very underrated color analyst when he was on his game

My 2 personal favorite Knight anecdotes are his comments after his dustup with Joe B Hall
"If it had actually been malicious, I would have blasted that f***er into the seats"

And then his creation of Ivan Renko

[tower912]

Complicated is the right word.   All of the things said, good and bad, have basis in fact.    An all time great coach.    Criminal charges in Puerto Rico.   Choked a player.   Got into it with a student, which ultimately got him fired.  (Take that, Dabo)   
   I remember marveling at his coaching.  If I had the talent, I would not have wanted to play for him.   I would not have let my son  play for him.

[Uncle Rico]

His offenses were always fun to watch.  Disciplined and explosive.  Some of his best offensive teams came after the shot clock was implemented. 

[Tums Festival]

I wonder if they'll bury him upside down.

[Jockey]

His offenses were always fun to watch.  Disciplined and explosive.  Some of his best offensive teams came after the shot clock was implemented.

His stars were always better college players than pros. Except for maybe Isaiah Thomas.

[Goose]

Wags

I really enjoyed Bobby as an analyst when he brought his A or B game. I learned a lot about basketball via spending time with Majerus talking basketball and Rick referenced Bobby an awful lot. When Bobby was an analyst I always tried to learn something from during the telecast.
In my personal career I have always had cast in stone rule to follow and learn from the smartest people or companies and I think a lot coaches used similar mindset in learning from Bobby.

[MuggsyB]

The guy obviously knew hoops.  Didn't he and Al get along pretty well?  I know Knight disliked Wooden. 

[Uncle Rico]

His stars were always better college players than pros. Except for maybe Isaiah Thomas.

Those late 80's and early 90's teams seemed to always have guys you thought would be stars at the next level and never made it big but in college, they could get buckets.

He also played freshmen pretty heavy minutes. 

The closest modern comp I have would be Jay Wright with regards to offensively beautiful basketball teams.  I'm sure there is a way to find out, but I'd be curious what kind of tempo his teams ran with the advent of the shot clock.  They dropped 106 against UCLA in a regional final

[Uncle Rico]

The guy obviously knew hoops.  Didn't he and Al get along pretty well?  I know Knight disliked Wooden.

He liked Al because he beat him twice in the dance

[Goose]

Muggsy

Al thought very highly of Bobby and feeling was mutual.

[MU82]

I remember marveling at his coaching.  If I had the talent, I would not have wanted to play for him.   I would not have let my son  play for him.

Yep, there are too many great coaches who don't physically and/or psychologically abuse their players, so there's no reason to play for an abusive bully.

Once top recruits (and their parents) started agreeing with you and me about that, tower, Bobby could no longer compete for titles.

He was still a brilliant coach, so he could still get teams with decent talent into the NCAA tournament, but his last six Indiana teams won zero Big Ten titles and a grand total of 2 NCAAT games.

[MuggsyB]

Muggsy

Al thought very highly of Bobby and feeling was mutual.

I feel like we would have gotten both Isaiah and Mark Aguirre if Al hadn't retired but obviously Knight did a great job coaching Thomas. 

[The Sultan]

Thomas was the only player he coached to become an NBA All-Star.

[rocket surgeon]

players came to play for bobby knight knowing full well what he was about.  winning was hard work...bobby knight was a WINNER!  those who came to play for coach knight won both on the floor and off. 


RIP coach! 

[4everwarriors]

If only he had taken da Badger job, hey?

[Dickthedribbler]

Lot of parallels with Bob Huggins, minus 3 National Championships.

[Dickthedribbler]

If only he had taken da Badger job, hey?

That story never gets old, 50 years later. Always enjoy telling it, especially if there's a UW fan within earshot.

[Lennys Tap]

He liked Al because he beat him twice in the dance

He liked Al when he coached Army and Al beat him. He liked Al.

[The Sultan]

That story never gets old, 50 years later. Always enjoy telling it, especially if there's a UW fan within earshot.

There is an alternate history where UW would have had both Bobby Knight and Bo Schembechler as coaches.  (Bo was the leading candidate to be the football coach when they decided to hire the internal candidate instead.)