GW Hoops / Bob Knight Dead at 83

**Posted by GW0509** 11/01/2023 5:53 pm

HOF coach Bob Knight has passed away: https://sports.yahoo.com/coaching-legend-bob-knight-famous-for-both-victories-and-outbursts-dies-at-83-223223902.html

Undoubtedly one of the best college coaches in history. I think one's opinion on him really depends on age. For anyone younger than me (mid 30's), you probably think of him as just being a hardass at best and abusive at worst.

**Posted by BC** 11/01/2023 5:55 pm

I'm a lot older than GWU509, but I think of him as a hardass ass.

**Posted by GWRising** 11/01/2023 11:04 pm

I think Bobby Knight is very complicated.

Great basketball mind, maybe as good as any there ever was. I think he embraced the "General" term perhaps too much. He viewed his teams in military terms where his power was absolute. That worked early in his career but less so as time passed on and the environment changed. He had a bad temper.

However, most of his players really liked him. Perhaps because he expected a lot but also did a lot for them personally behind the scenes, some of which you never heard or read about. HIs charity was well known within Indiana.

I will tell you a quick Bobby Knight story that I saw first hand. Mike Jarvis invited me into the St. John's locker room in the 1999 NCAA tournament in Orlando following St. John's win over Indiana (GW lost to Indiana in the first round). The door swings open and Bobby Knight asks if he can come in the locker room. Mike says yes and Bobby Knight spent probably 10 minutes shaking each St. John's player's hand and wishing them luck, even the players who didn't play and the walk-ons. I was surprised because he had the reputation as a very bad loser. It was a classy gesture.

RIP Bobby Knight.

Last edited by GWRising (11/01/2023 11:06 pm)

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 11/02/2023 8:13 am

Will never be a fan of this type of personality. He certainly did have many players who loved him, likely the ones in need of discipline in their lives when they arrived in Bloomington. And, he did indeed perform charitable acts. But the temper, the aggression, the irrational behavior...not for me.

I also knew his first wife Nancy who was clearly outspoken about her ex after their divorce.

Nevertheless, RIP.

**Posted by GW0509** 11/03/2023 12:07 pm

Very powerful column on Bob Knight by Eamonn Brennan: Bob Knight was my dad - Buzzer by Eamonn Brennan

This line really stuck out:

This was the inherent contradiction: Knight demanded idealized discipline from everyone around him, but couldn’t live up to that standard himself.

Last edited by GW0509 (11/03/2023 12:09 pm)

**Posted by GW69** 11/03/2023 3:23 pm

When I was a young therapist in training I had a supervisor much like Knight.I owe him a lot.
I learned a great deal from him.I also knew I would never comport myself like he did.A great teacher-but
not a great man.The truth is it's possible to be both.The archetype of the authoritarian "father" coach
that is so prevalent in our culture has somewhat diminished but is still hardwired in the male psyche.
I posit that it is posisible to be assertive and kind.Caputo may be that type of coach.-time will tell.

Last edited by GW69 (11/03/2023 3:42 pm)

**Posted by GW Alum Abroad** 11/03/2023 7:50 pm

Knight unleashed Gerry Gimmelstob on us. His last NCAA tournament win at Indiana was against GW. So GW owes him nothing. (Also, he kicked me, Hatchet Man-- and perhaps BGF was with us at the time-- out of the wonderfully heated Assembly Hall so his team could practice in private when all we wanted was a little shelter from the really, really freezing cold ahead of the GW-Indiana men´s football/soccer NCAA 2nd round game).
A winning coach, although the price of his winning got to be even too much for the state that worshiped him as a demigod.

**Posted by Thomas** 11/04/2023 2:04 pm

These are some great comments from all of you about Bobby Knight. What I found most interesting about him was the extreme swings in his mood/behavior. I heard John Feinstein (who wrote 'A Season on the Brink' about Knight's 1985-1986 Indiana team) mention that Knight didn't speak to him for about 8 years, Feinstein then runs into him at a holiday tournament that the University of Maryland was participating in around 1995, and Knight was very nice to him and congratulated him on his newborn son. Feinstein also said Knight did not talk to Coach K for 9 years after Duke beat Indiana in the 1992 Final 4. Coach K called Knight to induct him into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and he agreed to do it. I've heard that Knight was very complimentary of Coach K (he even wore a Duke jersey or Coach K shirt at the 1986 Final 4 to celebrate Coach K making his first Final 4) up until he lost to him in 1992, which is an indication of the inherit contradiction that was posted in GW0509's link.