Hall of Fame basketball coach Bobby Knight has died at 83
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Hall of Fame basketball coach Bobby Knight has died. He was 83 years old. Knight coached at West Point, Texas Tech and, most famously, for Indiana University. His history included stunning and often sweeping victories and disturbing performances both at and away from the arena, including a remark he once made about sexual violence that whipped up a storm of criticism. Pat Beane of member station WFIU looks back.
PATRICK BEANE, BYLINE: Robert "Bob" Knight was born on October 25, 1940. He grew up in Orrville, a small town outside of Akron, Ohio. In college, he played on Ohio State's basketball team when the Buckeyes won the NCAA championship in 1960. His first head coaching job was at the Army Academy in New York, but it was at Indiana - the state where basketball is king - that knight made his mark.
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BEANE: At Assembly Hall, banners tell the story of the Hoosiers' three NCAA championships and an NIT title won with Knight as coach. Knight was known for his motion offense and man-to-man defense. He also emphasized academics, making sure his players went to class and graduated. Current Indiana head coach Mike Woodson played for Knight in the late 1970s. A former NBA player and coach, Woodson says he wouldn't be where he is today without Bob Knight.
MIKE WOODSON: He taught me how to play the game of basketball from a fundamental standpoint. He taught me how to be a man on and off the floor, and that was huge for me coming out of the inner cities of Indianapolis.
BEANE: Knight was a four-time national college coach of the year, and he also led team USA to gold medals at the 1979 Pan American Games and the 1984 Olympics. But during his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991, Knight said his accomplishments were due to his players.
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ROBERT KNIGHT: I've never felt comfortable with the award coach of the year or coach of anything. I think there's a much more appropriate nomenclature that could be used - and that would be team of the year.
BEANE: But while Knight's teams won consistently, he was controversial on and off the court. He often berated officials and players during games. In 1979, he was charged with assaulting a police officer in Puerto Rico, and during a game against rival Purdue in 1985, hurled a chair across the court, and in a 1988 interview with NBC's Connie Chung, his comments about how he handled stress caused a furor.
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KNIGHT: I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.
BEANE: Knight would go on to tell Chung he was not talking about the act itself but was simply using a common saying. In 2000, Indiana fired Knight for violating its zero-tolerance policy after he allegedly grabbed a student. He would go on to coach at Texas Tech for almost seven seasons before retiring in 2008. Earlier, then Washington Post reporter John Feinstein had written a book about the Indiana program. In a 2008 interview with NPR, he'd said the coach had a complicated legacy.
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JOHN FEINSTEIN: When he was good, there was no one better than Bob Knight. He was generous, he cared about his players, he graduated his players, he was the best. When he was bad, there were few worse.
BEANE: Knight paid little attention to criticism, but he did address the issue when he talked to the crowd after a game at Indiana in 1994. He was as profane and blunt as ever.
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KNIGHT: When my time on Earth is gone and my activities here are past, I want they bury me upside-down, and my critics can kiss my [expletive].
BEANE: Knight was estranged from the university for nearly two decades. In declining health, he moved back to Bloomington, Ind. in 2019. The following year, during halftime of an Indiana game against Purdue, Knight walked onto the court at Assembly Hall to a standing ovation. He didn't speak but led the crowd in his signature chant.
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KNIGHT: Defense.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Defense.
KNIGHT: Defense.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Defense.
BEANE: Bob Knight was one of the winningest college coaches of all time with 902 career victories.
For NPR News, I'm Pat Beane in Bloomington, Ind.
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