30 for 30, Bobby Knight

2,705 Views | 11 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by RegentCoverup
RegentCoverup
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If you haven't seen it check it out.

It's slanted, to say the least, but the obvious questions that have existed for more than a decade are asked.
Classic ESPN, there are irrelevant and unnecessary cameos by
-Bob Ley
-Heather Dinich

And other sportswriters simply taking a shot at Bobby Knight, but it points out what most that watched Knight at Tech learned first hand, which is the guy has anger issues that override his ability to coach.

All of the obvious criticism aside, I doubt Knight ever bought a player or paid an AAU coach and hsi players certainly graduated, but the former head of the NCAA Myles Brand never had the balls to stand up to him.
No Longer Gold
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Bobby Knight is the greatest coach in the history of team sports.
bularry
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DubDub said:

Bobby Knight is the greatest coach in the history of team sports.


He was excellent, but that's a huge claim I can't agree with
RegentCoverup
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I can't argue with 900 wins, but the guy went off the rails.

903Bear1962
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I like Bobby Knight. I made many trips to Bloomington to see great basketball in the 80's. What is not widely known around Texas is how many great high school coaches, like Jack Butcher at Logotee HS, who tutored Knight in the motion offense, have great programs across their state. Coach Knight took every opportunity to seek out these coaches' wisdom. He is really a very humble man who actually listens. I and many others of his followers still wonder what really happened to get him fired!
RegentCoverup
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It's never one thing. It takes time and accumulates. And then something finally gives. Knight comes off as in conflict with the whole world. Only an ESPN/CNN nerd that doesn't understand teams would suggest that, and that's exactly what the show suggests. Certainly some players were caught in the crossfire, but the relationship between Knight and the university deteriorated over time. Nothing exists in a vacuum.

And I think his coaching suffered because of it. He was definitely bitter, irate, and wasn't connecting with players like he once did. The thing I noticed about I Knight was how his teams began to look like they had no spirit. Not enthusiastic, not connected to one another. Sorta like dogs that had been beaten. It may have happened in the early days but as time wore on, you never saw Knight players play with an abundance of energy. You can tell when people are going through the motions and they don't believe in something and that's why I think really sunk Knight. Players just sort of quit believing in him. That was when the opportunity presented itself to change things, but it just didn't happen.

But yeah, he's a brilliant tactician and coach of the game. Loved watching the video series he produced.
DS Bear
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I played high school basketball in the late 70's/early 80's and my coach was Bobby Knight disciple. He had a series of 8mm practice films from Knight's Hoosiers, showing how they would drill and practice. Knight cut his coaching teeth at West Point and his approach to basketball was military in nature. Full court- man defense, run their legs off, block out, call out picks and make your damn free throws. Precision in practice drills; no lazy steps. He was a total hard ass but we beat a bunch of teams we had no business beating.

Knight reminds me of Saul; pre-Damascus road. Pissed at everybody, angry for no reason, just lost. He's a basketball genius but the demons in his head won't let him be.
Media Bear
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TellMeYouLoveMe said:

If you haven't seen it check it out.

It's slanted, to say the least, but the obvious questions that have existed for more than a decade are asked.
Classic ESPN, there are irrelevant and unnecessary cameos by
-Bob Ley
-Heather Dinich

And other sportswriters simply taking a shot at Bobby Knight, but it points out what most that watched Knight at Tech learned first hand, which is the guy has anger issues that override his ability to coach.

All of the obvious criticism aside, I doubt Knight ever bought a player or paid an AAU coach and hsi players certainly graduated, but the former head of the NCAA Myles Brand never had the balls to stand up to him.
Ummm ... didn't Brand fire Knight as basketball coach when he was president of IU?
Stefano DiMera
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Yep..then Knight killed him like OJ killed Bill Walsh.
Media Bear
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Stefano DiMera said:

Yep..then Knight killed him like OJ killed Bill Walsh.
Plus 1
Bill Blazejowski
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Recorded and watched this over the weekend. Was shocked at the end when they revealed that Neil Reed had passed away. I somehow missed that when it happened a few years back. Really sad story.

Knight was definitely a basketball genius with an enormous temper problem.

Isn't it correct that he really hated Scott Drew?
RegentCoverup
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Scott Drew beat him. And made him look bad doing it. To some degree, Drew got him ushered out of Tech.
Did he hate him? hard to say. If that's the standard, Knight hates everyone.

Gene Keady called Knight, "The classic bully." The story should have asked a few other coaches their opinions that had conflict with him, it would have rounded it out a bit better. There are coaches that stood up to him. Knight deserves a tremendous amount of respect for graduating players and not paying people, and the story missed that as well. But at he just seemed crazy as his career wore on. And let's not forget his ringing endorsement of Dave Bliss.

But, it being ESPN, gave air time to Bob Ley? And Heather Dinich? Knight, for all his flaws, deserves to be criticized by people who have better credentials and standing than the those two losers.

After watching that, I have more questions about Indiana's board than I do Knight, but that sounds sorta familiar.
RegentCoverup
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/terencemoore/2018/11/29/with-apologies-to-espn-there-is-that-other-bob-knight/#3c4ee16a604e

Trust me. I'm familiar with the explosive Bob Knight you'll see on ESPN's latest 30 for 30 documentary called "Last Days of Knight." I covered his Indiana University basketball program during the late 1970s for the Cincinnati Enquirer, and he wasn't exactly warm or cuddly toward more than a few folks while keeping the Hoosiers among the nation's elite.
The grabbing of players in the midst of turning every shade of red you can imagine. The language not suitable for Sunday dinner at grandma's house. The kicking of doors, walls and chairs, you know, when he wasn't throwing the latter.
That said, I'm also familiar with the other Bob Knight, and this one will shock you.
For the good, by the way.



Which brings me to this: Despite Knight's highly publicized war with the media before and after his three decades at Indiana through the 2000 season, I never had a problem with the guy. Actually, it was the opposite. But let's start by returning to January 1979 in Madison, Wis., where that other Bob Knight shocked somebody so much that he still gets choked up by the memory.
It's my youngest brother, Darrell.
"A lot of people think he's a jerkball," Darrell told me Thursday with emotion over the phone from his home in Washington D.C., where he is a territorial manager for a medical laboratory company. "But after my encounter with Coach Knight that day at the University of Wisconsin, I'll tell you what. I have nothing but mad respect for that man, because he gets a bad rap. After that one meeting, I found out back then how much he cares about people as individuals versus what they might otherwise do."

So there was Darrell, nearly 40 years ago, finishing a winter practice for his Wisconsin baseball team and heading through the tunnel at Camp Randall Stadium for the locker room. Indiana was in town for a basketball game that night, and the team bus sat inside of the tunnel with all of the players and coaches aboard as Knight prepared to take his final step before entering.
"I was walking by, and I said, 'Hi, Coach Knight. Good luck in the game. I just wanted to say hello,' " said Darrell, recalling how Knight turned to climb back down the stairs.
As Knight and Darrell stood next to the bus, the 38-year-old coach at the time asked some questions followed by a bunch of other ones, and in case you're wondering, "He was very calm," Darrell said, "and he didn't take his eyes off me. I was so impressed, because a few of my teammates on the baseball team walked by us, but Coach Knight was only interested in me."
They talked for 20 minutes. Even though it was apparent Darrell was a Wisconsin athlete through his practice gear, Knight never mentioned sports. Not only that, but Darrell never mentioned he had a brother who covered the Hoosiers periodically for a major newspaper in southwestern Ohio.
"He didn't know me at all, but he asked about my study habits and about academics and about when I would graduate," Darrell said. "Then he wanted to know what I liked about going to Wisconsin and about what I wanted to do in life, and he's doing all of this while the bus is still running and everybody else for Indiana is already seated and ready to go. It seemed like he was very interested in knowing about me, and what really was impressive: It was all about me as a person, not as a college athlete.
"As a matter of fact, when I told him at one point I played baseball, he sort of shrugged and said, 'Oh, that's nice,' and then he started talking about the other stuff."

Thirteen years later, Knight caused national outrage during an NCAA Basketball Tournament press conference, when he feigned whipping Indiana standout Calbert Cheaney with a bullwhip purchased by his players. Knight meant it as a joke, but since Cheaney is African-American, many blasted Knight for conjuring up images from slavery and beyond. I wrote a column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitutionsaying you can call Knight whatever you wish, but you can't call him a racist. I mentioned Darrell's encounter with Knight.
Months later, my phone rang in Atlanta.
It was Knight.
"YEAH. Thanks for the story on the whip," Knight said loudly before changing from whips and basketball to life. In addition to that phone call, he sent me a letter down the stretch of his coaching career at Texas Tech to praise me for another column. But back to that phone call, when he added, "So how are you doing? If you need something, here are my numbers (He read them). Just give me a call, and I'll help you anyway I can."
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