Posted on 02/04/2008 6:05:45 PM PST by Loud Mime
Bob Knight, the winningest NCAA men's division I basketball coach in history, has retired as Texas Tech's coach effective immediately.
Knight, 67, won his 902nd game Saturday when the Red Raiders downed Oklahoma State. He will be replaced by his son, Pat. Knight informed athletic director Gerald Myers of his decision Monday morning.
Knight won three national titles at Indiana, in 1976, '81 and '87. In all, he took the Hoosiers to 24 NCAA tournament appearances and reached the Final Four two other times.
During his tenure at Texas Tech, Knight was 138-82, and he led the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament in four of his six seasons, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2005. The Red Raiders are 11-8 this season and 3-3 in the Big 12, tied for sixth in the conference with Oklahoma
(Excerpt) Read more at collegebasketball.rivals.com ...
I thought there are a lot of parallels between Bobby Knight and the late Woody Hayes.
Both had a mean streak, and could lose control once in awhile.
But if I could I would have wanted my kid to play for either one. For all of their warts, they made men out of the kids who played for them.
Bobby Knight was as a great a teacher as ever coached any college sport. The great teachers teach one thing. Do as I say not as I do. He was an emotional jerk of the highest order and yet, his players conducted themselves oppositely, with class and dignity. His teams worked hard and played by the rules even though Coach Knight bullied those officials who oversaw him into allowing him to conduct himself under his own rules. I can name more than one highly respected Division I coach who were very successful and had the opposite reputations of Knight and were always commended by their peers as nice guys and gentleman. Those coaches had players that were out of control embarassments. The question which faces athletics today is does big time athletics build character, and you look around and see lawbreakers, cheaters, and spoiled egomaniacs. The greatest college basketball player of all time was Bill Bradley. This 6’4” white guy took an Ivy League team to the Final Four. The greatest job of coaching that I have ever seen was Knight’s last NCAA Championship team, only Bob Knight could have won a championship with that meager talent. This forum used to appreciate individuality and toughness. I do not know if Bob Knight votes or if he belongs to a political party. My guess is he is a conservative, it has been documented that he was a fan General George Patton. The one thing that is for sure, he is a dinosaur in the United Nanny States of America.
I had a teammate in high school who played for Knight and graduated from Indiana. He took all shop classes in high school,a great kid but definitely not college material. Not surprisingly he had no problems with the "help" he got, including Knight browbeating professors into passing him. So I'm sorry, but this nonsense about Knight's great graduation record is complete crock.
Exactly. I always got the impression that he was just a bully. Since ‘87, he’s pretty much just been a punchline.
I have Woody Hayes autograph on a napkin...somewhere in my closet. When I lived in Columbus my next door neighbor got Woody’s autograph just a few days before he died. He may have been one of the last people to get his autograph. He got the autograph for his dad. My neighbor was a big Michigan fan living in Columbus. Comparisions to Hayes and Knight are pretty right on. In 1976 Ohio State’s basketball coach resigned (Fred Taylor-was Knights coach when he was at OSU). OSU did nothing to honor Taylor but Bob Knight did when Ohio State played at Indiana on the last game of the year.
I agree 100%. The man is a huge A.H. I laughed out loud when IU fired his arse. It was the IU administration that enabled him for years because he was a "legend". Thank God somebody finally had the guts to throw this jerk out on his ear. I was so happy to see him flop at Tech.
Here here!! Don't forget alot of his kids left the program to play for other schools.
Plus the man had no class. He's hardly a role model and got his comeuppance about 20 years too late. You can win and not be an A.H.
All shop classes? He didn’t have to take math or english? Wow, your high school was subpar wasn’t it?
Yes I have, thanks
Actually, for the rural Midwest area where I grew up we had one of the better high schools.
The coach graduated his players, won three national championships, had the most wins ever and NEVER CHEATED...enough said!!!
Not to mention every Indiana grad who should be furious that Coach Knight got professors to fake grades so his guys could graduate. Oh, and Tech too I guess.
Apparently we could have gotten Coach to influence our daughters professors so she could have graduated without any effort too. Darn.
Brand was/is a liberal hack. He and a gang of other liberal profs at IU conspired to oust Knight because of his conservative views. The kid who complained about Knight and that resulted in his firing was the son of one of that gang of liberals. Total set-up.
“Not to mention every Indiana grad who should be furious that Coach Knight got professors to fake grades so his guys could graduate. Oh, and Tech too I guess. “
Complete lie. You should be ashamed.
I was mocking the other poster. My daughter is at Texas Tech finishing up her senior year.
Not all athletes are the same. Some need hard coaches, some need mothers. Some of the former can’t grow up and end up changing schools.
In closed practices many of the coaches yell at the kids; I saw one woman’s coach using language that would make a sailor proud! The kids were motivated and improved. It works.
If the kids are going to compete in sports they are competing with people who want to send them home as losers. They are competing with countries who want to beat the US on the court, in spirit and in their heads. Knight prepared them for all venues.
My point is, don’t think that Knight is unique in his intensity. He may not have the best public image, but he gets the best from his players if they are tough kids.
He was the son of a semi-liberal local radio guy who did the afternoon talk show. The guy wrote a book wanting the release of that Israeli spy (can't think of his name).
That's true. None of Knight's players were ever paid.
I doubt that very much. Many professors at Indiana were extremely vocal critics of Knight, particularly Murray Sperber. I've never heard a single professor--not one--ever make any sort of allegation like that towards Knight.
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