Bob Knight dead at 83
November 1st, 2023 at 6:46 PM ^
Now he can toss chairs for all eternity. RIP.
I wonder if they bury him upside down as he wished, so his critics can kiss his ass.
November 1st, 2023 at 7:39 PM ^
Next time we hear thunder I'm telling my kids it's Bob Knight tossing chairs.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:46 PM ^
Just saw that. One of my childhood heroes!!! RIP, legend
November 1st, 2023 at 6:47 PM ^
Rest in peace, General.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:47 PM ^
An old school coach who lacked self control but had great success and in his own way seemed to care about his players. Either way RIP.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:50 PM ^
Bob Knight was a great coach, but I'll always think of him as a bully. Bringing a bullwhip to a press conference was an infamous act. Grabbing a player by the throat was another. Didn't he bully an IU secretary? Bill Frieder was definitely intimidated by Knight.
November 1st, 2023 at 7:10 PM ^
I am not a fan of people dying, so RIP, but Knight was not a favorite of mine. He berated people regularly and I am not a fan of that trait. His contribution to college basketball cannot be denied though. He was a great coach.
November 1st, 2023 at 8:34 PM ^
He was a great coach.
I think this would be more correctly stated as, "He achieved a high level of winning as a coach."
I think in order to qualify as a great coach you have to a) win a lot AND b) do it in a way that sets a strong example for others to emulate. His success in portion a) is undeniable, but portion b) was sorely lacking.
November 1st, 2023 at 10:27 PM ^
With regard to your b), whether a coach positively impacted their players’ lives is far more important than the opinions of those watching from a distance. I think most of Knight’s players felt they benefited from playing for him. He had his faults, but he was a great coach.
November 1st, 2023 at 7:11 PM ^
Maybe (regarding Frieder). But it didn't seem to matter in 1986 when Michigan clinched the Big Ten title at Crisler 80-52 when Michigan beat Knight and IU. I was there, and it was great. I have never been a Knight fan given his arrogance, bad temper, mistreatment of his players and referees, and otherwise acting like a jerk.
November 1st, 2023 at 7:37 PM ^
If I remember correctly, Gary Grant did a little victory dance right in front of Knight in this 1986 clinching game.
Go Blue!!
November 1st, 2023 at 8:06 PM ^
Knight was very classy after this ass kicking but he did eventually get out of control...
But I have fond memories of the 1998 game at Crisler, beating Knight 112-64. It was the most points Indiana gave up in a game in their history...
November 1st, 2023 at 8:13 PM ^
A very complicated legacy and history for sure. Times were different in the 70s and 80s. Knight would not have lasted 2 weeks in the current era, before being "cancelled".
November 1st, 2023 at 9:19 PM ^
Progress.
November 1st, 2023 at 8:21 PM ^
Well, the story goes that Frieder was having a tough time with the press during his time at Michigan, and went to Knight seeking support and help and if Bob would put in a nice word for him during his press conferences. Knight did so........immediately following, there was a moment in the IU-Michigian game where Knight was....um... vociferously making a point to the refs, and straying out of the coaches box. Frieder, after immediately being the beneficiary of Knight's support, yelled at the refs to T him up. Knight was incredulous, and always looked at Frieder for being the weasel boy that he was. Knight was indeed a bully, (got along famously with Johnny Orr), and didn't give a damn what the press thought. Not to mention, when he had a team that was really good, they were going to win......that's a great feeling as a fan. Oh, and 3-1 against the Fab Five. Numerous glaring faults, but clearly one of the great basketball coaches and minds of all time, basically recruiting from a 3 state area.
November 1st, 2023 at 9:05 PM ^
from what I recall also pretty good friends with Bo; who was clearly also not a fan of Bill Frieder.
November 1st, 2023 at 10:55 PM ^
He was basically another Woody Hayes which makes complete sense as an OSU grad.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:51 PM ^
He may have been a old school mean cuss with anger issues, but the guy is all time.
Almost every coach I had seemed to take something from the Bobby Knight style
November 1st, 2023 at 8:29 PM ^
Almost every coach I had seemed to take something from the Bobby Knight style
I'm not sure that's a good thing.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:51 PM ^
Great coach! I saw him speak in Indy many years ago. He was very entertaining.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:53 PM ^
I have to watch the Youtube of him throwing that chair every 6 months or so. One of the best things I ever saw at a sports event.
Love him or hate him - he was one hell of a coach.
RIP Bobby
November 1st, 2023 at 7:53 PM ^
I am sure that many (maybe not all) of his former players would agree.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:57 PM ^
I saw that game on TV when it occurred and I knew he was going to go off somehow. I wasn't all that surprised at what he did. It felt like it happened in gradual, slow motion.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:55 PM ^
The old-school coaches are all leaving us. You can't coach that way any more, but the man got results. He was a good friend of Bo, cut from the same cloth.
November 1st, 2023 at 8:35 PM ^
You can't coach that way any more,
Urban Meyer thinks he can.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:55 PM ^
Sad to hear. I feel like I lost a part of my youth with his passing. RIP Coach, sling a chair across the sky on your way out.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:56 PM ^
As a Hoosier born in Indianapolis and IU grad this one hurts. I figured something was up after Coach Woodson asked everyone to “say a prayer for Bob Knight” at Hoosier Hysteria a few weeks ago. A flawed man, but a basketball genius that I would’ve gladly volunteered to play for given the opportunity.
Hopefully they bury him upside down as he so famously requested…so his critics may eternally kiss his ass.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:57 PM ^
How you guys all mentally and emotionally deal with more and more people you know dying off as you age and the constant reminder of the fleating nature of life and your own inevitable demise? Asking for a friend.
November 1st, 2023 at 7:06 PM ^
Sell everything, travel the world, spend time with kids and family
November 1st, 2023 at 7:32 PM ^
SELL THE HOUSE
SELL THE CAR
SELL THE KIDS
FIND SOMEONE ELSE
FORGET IT
I'M NEVER COMING BACK
FORGET IT
- Captain Richard Colby
November 1st, 2023 at 7:10 PM ^
Rub one out like everyone else.
November 1st, 2023 at 8:17 PM ^
Drugs, mostly.
November 1st, 2023 at 8:49 PM ^
Meth?
November 1st, 2023 at 8:52 PM ^
“Death is the only wise advisor that we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and you're about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you're wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch. Your death will tell you, 'I haven't touched you yet.’”
-Castaneda, ‘Journey to Ixtlan’
November 3rd, 2023 at 1:57 PM ^
I read the "Don Juan Trilogy" (including "Journey to Ixtlan") over 40 years ago. Very interesting and enlightening in many unexpected ways. I especially enjoyed "A Separate Reality ".
November 4th, 2023 at 5:17 PM ^
It is all part of the plan. Get up every day and win the day. I plan to do it again tomorrow but just little bit better.
November 1st, 2023 at 6:58 PM ^
Choked his own player, assaulted officials, defended rape, had numerous accusations of sexual assault, wished death on his former employees…
It’d be nice if this country would stop worshipping guys like this. Oh well.
November 1st, 2023 at 7:16 PM ^
I think he's a complicated coach like a lot of coaches, especially from his era. I always thought of him as a bully and a jerk but you do hear people who knew him and played for him stand up and say he did care for his players in his own way.
What I do wish people would take away the lesson from these guys that focus and passion on being good at your job pays off and not that being a huge asshole is how you succeed.
November 1st, 2023 at 7:24 PM ^
Made players go to class. A winning record at Army during the Vietnam War. 11 conference titles at Indiana. 3 National Championships. 902 all time wins. All that done with one only player that ever made an NBA all star team.
Bob Knight has a complicated legacy. I would never dispute that and I don’t think anyone would. But in terms of purely basketball, you’ll never have another Knight. How much his off the field detracts from his on the field is in the eye of the beholder, much like Bo in a sense.
If there’s one thing that’s always been true is people will forgive almost anything towards politicians and sports figures they like. I’m sure you would agree that there is no scenario in which this will change as much as I wish it would.
Also, I won’t go as far as “worship”, but I bet 90% of people on here would put up with almost anything to get 3 Football National Championships in the next 11 years.
November 1st, 2023 at 7:51 PM ^
I made up a term at work that I called "The Bobby Knight Phenomenon." I used this to get a message across to some of my more aggressive coworkers.
The gist of it was: If you are producing at the highest level, you can get away with being a jerk. But you better keep producing. Because the moment you stop producing, people are going to focus on the fact that you're a jerk and they'll want your head.
Much like what happened with Knight. They put up with his shit because he was winning. When he stopped winning, they weren't going to take his shit anymore and forced him out.
November 1st, 2023 at 9:48 PM ^
Yes and no - Dabo gave Clemson 2 titles in 3 years and he's getting heat for going 4-4 this year and you're already starting to hear people get sick of his holier-than-thou antics because it is limiting his ability to improve his team.
I think Knight came around at a perfect time for a guy like him, and he was also good at his job. But, for example, Jay Wright won two titles recently without a single NBA All-Star (until Brunson makes one) and by all accounts wasn't a raging asshole doing it, so I'm not sure the Bobby Knight way is necessarily the only model to be successful without overwhelming talent (not claiming you're saying that but just a point I wanted to make).
November 1st, 2023 at 7:35 PM ^
Bob Knight was an excellent basketball coach.
Bob Knight was a raging asshole.
Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.
November 1st, 2023 at 9:38 PM ^
Depends what you mean by "excellent coach". If you're judging it based on results of basketball games then I agree. If you're judging it based on being a leader of young men then I strongly disagree.
Beside being just a well-documented general asshole he was also a poacher (https://www.themeateater.com/conservation/anthropology/retired-game-warden-recalls-citing-bobby-knight-in-unreported-shooting) and of course had troubling-at-best opinions on rape (https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/27/sports/knight-is-criticized-over-rape-remark.html)
In general I avoid speaking ill of the dead. But i can't think of much good to say in this case.
November 2nd, 2023 at 8:28 AM ^
Can't believe you got downvoted for posting facts.
November 1st, 2023 at 8:05 PM ^
He's a legend. You are not. It would be nice if people didn't feel the need to binarize everyone into good and bad, but that's the country we live in. Oh well.
November 1st, 2023 at 9:01 PM ^
Moralists. The worst!
November 1st, 2023 at 9:53 PM ^
Exactly. The self confidence in judgement of others is astounding and ironic.
November 2nd, 2023 at 8:28 AM ^
Look at you, judging others! Pot meet kettle.
November 1st, 2023 at 9:46 PM ^
Looks like you will be one of those kissing his ass. Nothing personal.