Love him or hate him, Bobby Knight was a winner (1 Viewer)

Saintman2884

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Their is one thing Bobby Knight never claimed to be. He never was like John Wooden or Digger Phelps that could be a coaches player or not be able to control his temper better then they did. That may have worked for them and by God it did, Wooden was a true pioneer of mens NCAA basketball in the social and playing aspects. He had great players with eccentric personalities such as Bil Walton or others who were deeply emerged in the socio political scene of the late 60's. Those guys were blissed out bohemians who challenged the political and social order of their days.

Meanwhile their is this guy at Army who has a different outlook on life, and discipline in specifically. He took some teams to success with Army but it was at Indiana that he achieved his greatest legacy to many in this field. And he had his enemies, people who claimed he was a power hungry, mean spirited despot who ruled over his players lie a dictator does over a third world country somewhere.

But as much as it tempting and some may want to go further then that, Bobby Knight was a winner. Sure he did not do in the way Wooden did or try to please everybody by saying all the right things. Did he do his fair share of stupid things in the years he was their or God forbid was he a tyrant like everyone claimed he was? Yes, he was. But in a way being a college coach is not about being a baby sitter. sometimes a man like Knight needed to be the way he was because thats the nature of the teams he had.

It does not mean he was a good upstanding human being all the time, he is human, but at least he is honest about it, he always has been, people know what he was, what he is and what his temperament. He was genuine and he did not BS anybody.

Every coach has his own different strategy to winning, Wooden has his, Coach K certainly has his and still does. But Knight did it his way and he won as a result.

That, in itself is worth admiring even more then his blowups or temper tantrums covered by the media for many years for all to see
 
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As a Kentucky fan, he was a coach that I "hated" at times, but respected.
 
Great little article on one beat reporter's experience with coach Knight:

As a college basketball writer, I encountered Knight several times. The first time, in 1995, was the one I will never forget.
The team I covered, UConn, was playing in the Great Alaska Shootout. Indiana was in the field and I was asked to provide coverage of the Hoosiers by the Louisville Courier Journal, a paper in our chain.
It was a good assignment. Indiana had a ranked team and I’d get to write a few stories for a larger paper. Indiana was playing the host team, Div. II Alaska Anchorage, in the first round.
The Seawolves played the Hoosiers tough, losing 84-79. Indiana played poorly but won because they had greater talent. The postgame press conference was around midnight local time and Knight was predictably furious.
He glared out at the reporters then spat, “If one of you (expletives) doesn’t ask a question, I’m getting the (expletive) out of here.”
I didn’t want to call back to Kentucky without a story, so I raised my hand. “Coach,” I said. “Was this game tougher than you expected?”
Not a great question. But it could have been worse.
“You (expletive), what kind of (expletive) question is that?” Knight said. He then went on for several minutes extolling the virtues of the losing team and questioning my right to walk the earth.
“Any other questions?” he said.
The room was silent. I still didn’t have enough. “Coach,” I said. “You’re playing Duke tomorrow night …”
I never finished. Knight cut me off. “I know we’re playing Duke. What kind of (expletive) do you take me for? If there are no other (expletive) questions other than from this (expletive) then I’m getting out of here.”
With that he stormed out, but not before stopping in front of me and swearing at me again. Press conference over. I wrote my story, such as it was, and escaped into the cold Alaska night. I was never so relieved to be freezing cold.
Indiana lost to Duke the next night. I didn’t ask another question, letting somebody else take the bullet. The Hoosiers then got smoked by UConn in their third game, 86-52. Knight walked to the podium and nobody wanted to ask a question. But I had to try again.
“Coach, what was the problem with your offense tonight?” I asked.
“What kind of question is that?” he said.
“Well, you scored 52 points,” I replied.
Knight called me every name in the book, some twice. But he actually broke down his team pretty well in the process and I had my story.
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2008/02/05/remembering-coach-knight-expletives-deleted
 
Coaches have won more and have done so without being a complete jerk.
 
Jerk or not, the dude knows how to win.

I've had coaches that used his style of "motivation" and I never found it necessary, but to each their own.
 
Coaches have won more and have done so without being a complete jerk.

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=2 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=bg0><TD align=middle colSpan=3>Division I Coaching Victories</TD></TR><TR class=bg1><TD>Rank</TD><TD>Coach</TD><TD>Wins</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>1</TD><TD>Bob Knight</TD><TD>902</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>2</TD><TD>Dean Smith</TD><TD>879</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>3</TD><TD>Adolph Rupp</TD><TD>876</TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>4</TD><TD>Jim Phelan</TD><TD>830
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Maybe some have won more championships but not more games.
 

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