The General Calls it Quits

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Mike Imrem (Daily Herald) has an article about the departure of Bobby Knight from Texas Tech. You can read it for yourself, but it pretty much encompasses every negative aspect of Knight and goes a step further to include his friendship with Bill Belichick.

Bobby Knight

I don’t think its necessary to re-hash all the negatives and pull out every stat that Knight encompassed during his tenure as a head coach. It’s pretty evident that he was a controversial coach/man and when he had his time in front of the media, he often came across as obnoxious and beligerent. With that being said, I think everyone should try to focus on what Knight accomplished off the court with his players. Sure there were incidents with Neil Reed and the eventual cause for his termination from IU involving Kent Harvey.

Knight may have been black and white in terms of public appearances, but he didn’t use that format when dealing with his players in terms of culture. They came to him raw and undeveloped, and left his program as better athletes and better men. Look at people like Steve Alford, Mike Krzyzeweski, and Isiah Thomas. Even ask his own son who was berated on live TV on the bench. Ask any of them, and they’ll tell you their future careers as players and coaches were formed under the tenure of Bob Knight.

As crazy as Knight seemed publicly, he always ran a clean program and weighted on court performance with off court responsiblity equally. He always made sure that players with scholarships due to their athletic ability rewarded themselves with a good education. It was rare to ever hear any of his players involved in off court shenanigans including alcohol, drugs, or gambling. He had many chances to upgrade to the pros, but never lost his focus and committment to his players at Indiana or Texas Tech. He was devoted and promised he’d be there when his recruits signed a letter of intent. If Bob Knight spoke it, it was law.

If nothing else, his players learned one key item: respect. Unfortunately, that sometimes ended up with physical intervention, but nonetheless it reinforced that he was in charge above all else. Maybe that’s what sports needs today? With the lessons learned from past players who entered college and pro’s still as children and acted like children. Knight wouldn’t be applicable for youth or high school sports, but he’s a perfect fit for the college and pro level. He taught his players the game and also taught them how to be men off the court.

With his departure, most will focus on his negative approach to coaching and conducting himself publicly. I say ask his former players what they thought about him.

Technorati Tags: Bob Knight, Indiana University, Steve Alford, Texas Tech, Mike Krzyzewski, Isiah Thomas

33 Responses to “The General Calls it Quits”

The Zoner Says:
February 6th, 2008 at 9:22 am
“With that being said, I think everyone should try to focus on what Knight accomplished off the court with his players. ”

No. Is that like the “Hitler was a good leader” comparison?

If he “also taught them how to be men off the court”, it surely wasn’t by example.

He would last all of about 10 minutes in the pro game.

He won some basketball games. He won some championships. And acted like an ass through it all. I won’t celebrate that.
WCSAdmin Says:
February 6th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Comparing Hitler and Bob Knight (are you serious?)? How do you know how he acted off the court? On road trips or when players had stressful situations with academics or their families. I do agree that most of his antics were simply foolish, but I think he went a long way to see his players develop and succeed regardless of what anyone else thought or said.

As for coaching in the pros, see 1984 summer olympics. He would probably get a hell of lot more out of these current players.

Obviously, the guy was controversial. However, I think the comments made by his former players speak for his record and not thrown chairs.
Rosaries Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
The man was a very effictive basketball coach. He used the same motivational techniques as other coaches for example Mike Krzyzewski, he’s problem was he didn’t know how stop being a coach when he was in the public eye, for example during post-game conferences. His record speaks for iteself.
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33 Responses to “The General Calls it Quits”

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