Bobby Knight was like a box of chocolates. You never knew what you were going to get. You could get something very sweet. You could also get something messy, and nuts. A teacher and bully. A hero one minute, and a villain the next.
NOTE: This is adapted from a post I wrote for his 75th birthday.
Robert Montgomery Knight was born on October 25, 1940 in Massillon, Ohio. Growing up outside Columbus, where the St. Louis Cardinals had a Triple-A farm team, he became a tremendous baseball fan, especially of the Cardinals, a fandom he maintained for the rest of his life, despite being closer to the Cincinnati Reds and the team then known as the Cleveland Indians.
But basketball would be his sport. He was the 6th man on the Ohio State University team that won the 1960 National Championship, coached by Fred Taylor, and led by 2 men who would be named to the NBA's 50 and 75 Greatest Players for their anniversary teams, Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek. Like Vince Lombardi and Bill Parcells, he was an assistant coach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Unlike them, Bob Knight became head coach at "Army."
(He always seemed to be listed as "Bobby Knight" until well into his Indiana tenure, but he seems to always be listed as "Bob Knight" once he got older. As you can see, he signed autographs "Bob Knight.")
In 1971, he moved on to Indiana University, and led them to 11 Big Ten Conference Championships, 5 NCAA Final Fours, and 3 National Championships: In 1976 (still the last undefeated season in men's college basketball history), 1981 and 1987. Among his players were Kent Benson, Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Hall-of-Famer Isiah Thomas and Steve Alford, now the head coach at the University of Nevada, having won 657 games as a collegiate head coach.
He also coached the U.S. team to the Gold Medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. This may have been the best basketball team ever assembled to that point, including Alford, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, and North Carolina stars Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins. (As I said: The best ever assembled to that point.)
But controversy followed him, ranging from assaulting a police officer at a preseason tournament in Puerto Rico, to sexist comments, to profanity-laden press conferences, to the infamous chair toss to protest the officiating in a 1985 loss to in-State arch-rival Purdue University, to assaulting his own players, including his own son, Pat Knight. IU finally had no choice but to fire him in 2000, but he resurfaced at Texas Tech, and brought them more NCAA Tournament success than they'd ever had before.
(He always seemed to be listed as "Bobby Knight" until well into his Indiana tenure, but he seems to always be listed as "Bob Knight" once he got older. As you can see, he signed autographs "Bob Knight.")
In 1971, he moved on to Indiana University, and led them to 11 Big Ten Conference Championships, 5 NCAA Final Fours, and 3 National Championships: In 1976 (still the last undefeated season in men's college basketball history), 1981 and 1987. Among his players were Kent Benson, Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Hall-of-Famer Isiah Thomas and Steve Alford, now the head coach at the University of Nevada, having won 657 games as a collegiate head coach.
He also coached the U.S. team to the Gold Medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. This may have been the best basketball team ever assembled to that point, including Alford, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, and North Carolina stars Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins. (As I said: The best ever assembled to that point.)
But controversy followed him, ranging from assaulting a police officer at a preseason tournament in Puerto Rico, to sexist comments, to profanity-laden press conferences, to the infamous chair toss to protest the officiating in a 1985 loss to in-State arch-rival Purdue University, to assaulting his own players, including his own son, Pat Knight. IU finally had no choice but to fire him in 2000, but he resurfaced at Texas Tech, and brought them more NCAA Tournament success than they'd ever had before.
Bob married Nancy Falk in 1963, and had 2 sons, Tim and Pat, before divorcing in 1985. In 1988, Bob married Karen Edgar, a former high school basketball coach in Oklahoma. Pat Knight served as his assistant at Indiana in that last season, 1999-2000, and at Texas Tech from 2001 to 2008. He succeeded his father as their head coach, until 2011. He then served as head coach at Lamar University for 3 years. Since 2014, Pat has been a scout for the NBA's Indiana Pacers.
With 902 wins, Bob became the winningest coach in men's college basketball history, although he has been surpassed by his former assistant at West Point, Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski. And not once in 41 seasons of head coaching (1965-71 with Army, 1971-2000 with Indiana, 2001-08 with Texas Tech) was he ever accused of breaking NCAA or conference rules. And his players graduated.
And, like Joe Paterno, who left under a more horrible controversy than anything that's been thrown at Knight -- or Knight's friend from Ohio State, football coach Woody Hayes -- Knight was a heavy donor to his schools' libraries. Top that, Rick Pitino and John Calipari.
He became a college basketball pundit on ESPN, leaving in 2015, due to declining health. In 2020, just before the COVID shutdown, and 20 years after he was fired, peace was made, and IU welcomed him back to Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Visibly ill, and visibly moved, he got a standing ovation.
Bob Knight died today, November 1, 2023, a week after his 83rd birthday. As the man in the red sweater himself -- adopting those after ditching his former plaid jackets -- said, "When my time on Earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want they bury me upside-down, so my critics can kiss my ass."
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