Remembering Knight (expletives deleted)
-
- February
- 5
Bobby Knight suddenly retired last night, walking away from Texas Tech with 10 games left in the season. A brilliant coach, Knight should be spoken of in the same sentence as Wooden, Smith and Krzyzewski. But most will remember Knight for his abrasive personality.
As a college basketball writer, I encountered Knight several times. The first time, in 1995, was the one I will never forget.
The team I covered, UConn, was playing in the Great Alaska Shootout. Indiana was in the field and I was asked to provide coverage of the Hoosiers by the Louisville Courier Journal, a paper in our chain.
It was a good assignment. Indiana had a ranked team and I’d get to write a few stories for a larger paper. Indiana was playing the host team, Div. II Alaska Anchorage, in the first round.
The Seawolves played the Hoosiers tough, losing 84-79. Indiana played poorly but won because they had greater talent. The postgame press conference was around midnight local time and Knight was predictably furious.
He glared out at the reporters then spat, “If one of you (expletives) doesn’t ask a question, I’m getting the (expletive) out of here.”
I didn’t want to call back to Kentucky without a story, so I raised my hand. “Coach,” I said. “Was this game tougher than you expected?”
Not a great question. But it could have been worse.
“You (expletive), what kind of (expletive) question is that?” Knight said. He then went on for several minutes extolling the virtues of the losing team and questioning my right to walk the earth.
“Any other questions?” he said.
The room was silent. I still didn’t have enough. “Coach,” I said. “You’re playing Duke tomorrow night …”
I never finished. Knight cut me off. “I know we’re playing Duke. What kind of (expletive) do you take me for? If there are no other (expletive) questions other than from this (expletive) then I’m getting out of here.”
With that he stormed out, but not before stopping in front of me and swearing at me again. Press conference over. I wrote my story, such as it was, and escaped into the cold Alaska night. I was never so relieved to be freezing cold.
Indiana lost to Duke the next night. I didn’t ask another question, letting somebody else take the bullet. The Hoosiers then got smoked by UConn in their third game, 86-52. Knight walked to the podium and nobody wanted to ask a question. But I had to try again.
“Coach, what was the problem with your offense tonight?” I asked.
“What kind of question is that?” he said.
“Well, you scored 52 points,” I replied.
Knight called me every name in the book, some twice. But he actually broke down his team pretty well in the process and I had my story.
To this day, whenever some player or manager gives me a hard time, I remember back to that trip to Alaska and Bobby Knight. Anything that happens in baseball is a picnic by comparison. I’m sort of glad it happened, actually. Makes you appreciate the good guys more.
Hope you enjoyed that (expletive) story you (expletives).
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 2:41 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Good story.
Any idea why he quit?
i guess he got tired of it
Classy of him…
That was (expletive) hilarious!
I’d rather lose with class than win for Knight.
Great stuff Pete. I’ve always been a big (expletive) Knight fan. I guess he’ll have more time now for hunting with Dick Cheney.
Great (expletive) post Pete
Well Pete(r), What kind of story was this? (you can fill in the () yourself)
lol
Great story Pete. The man is a super coach, a great motivator and a huge son of a b*tch !
Holy $#1+!
Good riddance. Too many people have given Knight a pass over the years, just because he was good, sort of like Manny being Manny. The guy’s a major league pr*ck, and you could’ve had your story just the same back then if you just called him out- Knight Brawls With Reporter In Postgame Interview
I have to chime on this because I played for Coach Knight for 4 years at IU. I won’t dispute that he is an irascible curmudgeon, a prick and a son of a b*tch and all the other stuff you said here. But I will say this, that man is a father to many that did not have that figure (I did but my room mate did not and his care for him was clear). He cares passionately for his players and not just what they do but more importantly how they do it. He believes that the process is key and with the right process comes the results we desire and as a by product comes maturity and character. He knows what every guy on my team did and courses they took and would grill us on that stuff just as much as our playbook.
I just think you should all know the side the media won’t let you see because they are too busy writing through the tears and fear he causes.
Listen he is heavy handed and with an unreal short temper but thats because he cares so darn much.
I miss him every day and wish him peace and enjoyment in his retirement.
All will say on the matter is this….. Bob Knight must have done something right, as you look back at all the players, both former and current, that still have respect for the man. while i am sure there are some players and assistants who don’t/didn’t like him, i am sure they are in the minority
Bobby Knight will be a 1st ballot Hall of Famer in the Foulmouth Hall of Fame. At his ceremony, clips of chair throwing incidents will shown as he delivers his acceptance speech.
He never worried either.
SOB Knight quit? Why? Pete　… did the NCAA just decide to impose your `Terms of Service` on its coaches?
Great story Peter. Its a shame that his personality will overshadow any of the pluses he gave.
Great story Pete. We love coach Knight here in Columbus.
Knight has had an exceptional run but, that said, it was a very poor way to possibly end his HOF career.
I’m sure his players have heard about “not quitting” all season long in the locker room and during practice, but that is exactly what Knight did to them.
Imagine his reaction if one of his players had earlier asked to skip a practice because he was “tired” as Pat Knight described his father.
For all his wins and basketball acumen, Knight never quite understood that it wasn’t about him. And this wrestling character persona didn’t serve himself, his teams or his schools well. Good riddance.
Freaking hilarious! Only you do this type of reporting that makes us feel like a bigger part of the community, like we can all sit together and share a beer. So, thanks very much for your talent and hard work. Go Pete.
Pete, you should have mentioned Calhoun in your opening paragraph. What he has done at Uconn (including beating Coach K in a final four and a championship) is amazing. that school was nothing before he got there. And all of the nonsense aside (and with Knight there was a lot of nonsense), I would send my kid to play for Knight in a second. Part of this country’s problem is the lack of discipline we have as a society. I wish him well, it was a job well done.
A great college coach is one who has the coaching ability of Bob Knight and the decency and class of a Joe Torre. This is the type of person that young men can learn from in X’s and O’s, as well as how to be a positive influence on others and a contributing member of society for the rest of their lives.
Those who drink the Kool-Aid of believing that Knight’s coaching success excuses his reprehensible actions are only contributing to the moral decay in our society at large. Our college campuses are a better place without this disgraceful “leader” around.
Great last name, anyway.
knight’s a jerk, i suspect that quitting during the season was to force them to give the job to his son, if he quit in the offseason, they could just have found somebody else, now they’re stuck with him
Hey Pete,
GREAT STORY! VERY FUNNY!! LMFAO
I would have thought that some player at some time would have punched him in the face.
That was very entertaining. Well done.
Clare, I believe he is passing the torch to his son who was assistant coach.
Pete, I wonder how Knight would have reacted if a reporter questioned him in the same manner which Knight answered….Question to Knight: “Hey, [expletive]! What was wrong with your [expletive] offense tonight that you couldn’t beat these [expletive]?”
Maybe some great fireworks…..now that would have been a story.
Pete–Great story!
Funny stuff.
Irony at it’s most humorous: Bob Knight is finally fired at Indiana after giving a kid a lecture on the importance of civility in human interaction.
It just doesn’t get any better than that.
The disconnect between what the guy who actually played for Knight says above, and the comments of the Knight-haters here is instructive . . .
Yes, Knight was an a*****e to journalists — we get that, and it’s colored the view of Knight that we all have, because they’re the ones who tell us about him — but he was not only a great coach but a great teacher who moulded his players into men who could contribute to society in a meaningful way. His kids get an education. They get a degree.
Someone mentioned Calhoun. Calhoun established a basketball factory — Uconn’s graduation rates are shocking from what I’ve seen. How do his kids do once they leave Uconn? A comparison study of what 5 years of Uconn basketball kids (I won’t say grads!) have done with their subsequent lives vs. IU’s would be instructive. But I doubt we’ll ever get it given the hostility to Knight.
The contrast between him and Knight is astonishing, but we won’t hear about it, because he’s better at stroking the egos of sportswriters.
Coach Knight is obviously a complicated man. Noted by many for his generosity and concern for his players, yet, also noted for choking one if them and then denying it happened.
A brilliant coach and motivator, yet barely able to get along with people over whom he had no control.
And while I am never surprised by the level of stupid questions posed by reporters at press conferences, (not limited to sports guys BTW), most are honest, hard working guys/gals just trying to get the story. Knight seemed to take particular delight in being as abusive to them as possible.
I’m sorry but as an organizational leader as a NCAA Div I coach is, you need to do what is necessary to promote your program and school. He was simply too often lacking in this area and also just basic human decency.
Laugh out Loud funny.
I always loved Bobby Knight, the poet. Here’s my favorite.
“When my time here is done
And my life has come to pass,
I want them to bury me upside down
So the critics can kiss my (expletive deleted)”
Unfortunately, Calhoun seems to be heading down the “Knight Road” as a bitter, old coach.
IMO, its what happens when these guys stay too long on the job. For whatever reason, they get excessively sensitive and the bitterness (and expletives) comes out everytime they talk to the media.
Knight probably should have retired 5 years ago. Quitting in the middle of a season? Weak.
If one of his players quit in the middle of a season, Knight would have strangled him. Oh yeah, he has already done that to one of his players.
As a UConn alum, I have great respect for the job Calhoun has done there. However, the last few years, his behavior is becoming more “Knight-like” by the day.
Some of these guys need to realize all they are just coaches. That’s it. They don’t need to speak down to people as if they are something special.
Calhoun, like Knight, thrived because they were big fish in small ponds. If they took their acts to major cities, they wouldn’t have lasted a month in their respective jobs.
Kewl story, Pete. Now, you should have described Knight as an immature but old jerk who tried to cover for his lack of intellect power with a bullying stream of obscenities. That perhaps he could use one of those “when the moment is right” medications. That true justice would be served when the Cardinals thrust their index fingers into the old man’s eyes.
I know, you were trained to be an objective reporter, but I’m convinced that most sports reporters, like most political reporters, have their own agenda.
My father played basketball at Fairleigh Dickinson under Al LoBalbo, so I’ve heard plenty of Knight stories. Overly-passionate might be the best way to describe him, but a hell of a coach.
Hey Pete, check out my website when you’ve got a sec
http://clashofthetitans.wordpress.com/
All of the above is why (despite the feelings of the huge number of Duke haters out there) I think that Coach K is amazing. A program that wins and with dignity and class. Kids who leave with a degree and opportunities for a life outside of basketball. I did not feel that he did enough to stand up for the athletic program, the lacrosse coach and players during the incident two years ago. However, aside from that, he is the man I would want coaching and mentoring my kids more than any other.
All Knight supporters go into that he’s an educator, teacher, rules follower, etc. What, he couldn’t do those things without being a boorish jerk?
He’s also commonly compared to Woody Hayes (both Ohioans) in regard to anger management issues, but there was one HUGE difference: Hayes was sincerely remorseful for his actions. Knight…not so much (read: not at all).
There’s simply no excuse for the way Knight berated people in public. None.
Pete, what about the pre spring training posts about the guys that Might make it on the team.
I like Will’s approach –
“Hey, [expletive]! What was wrong with your [expletive] offense tonight that you couldn’t beat these [expletive]?â€
Take it one step further …
Pete – now that you’re an established baseball journalist rather than a newbie, I don’t think it would be a career-inhibiting move to get into in his next press conference to ask him:
“Hey (expletive) remember me you (expeltive)(expeltive)??? Anchorage (expletive) Alaska, 1995. I froze my (expletive) off to talk to you and you were a (expletive). What the (expeletive) is this with quitting in the middle of the (expeltive) season? How the (F … whoops … I mean expeletive) do you think your players feel about you quitting on them like a (expletive) after they busted their (expletive) (expletives) for your goat-smelling (expletive)????” Then throw down your notepad, kick a chair, flip him a bird and stomp out of the room.
If he couldn’t get a laugh out of that now that he’s retired, it would only confirm he really is that much of a d*head.
C’mon it is a just little tempting isn’t it? Or are you that sure he wouldn’t laugh?
Heh, you lot should see the clip of Jim Boeheim cussing out the Syracuse student paper for calling McNamara overrated…
Bobby Knight has decided to teach a new, bold, modern, high tech approach to communication.
http://havenworks.com/language/morse-code/
Pete that last sentence was a snide digg at us for slamming you and your pats,it’s thinly veiled blog master.
AHHHHHH I just gave my two weeks notice…
Liberation!
Doc:
Congrats!
Great stuff on Bob Knight over on Joe Posnanski’s blog:
http://tinyurl.com/2xenlf
Seems like he had a different experience with him than Pete. Sounds to me like Joe nails it on the head with the “genius/flawed guy dichotomy” description. I played HS Basketball for a coach who absolutely molded himself after Bob Knight. Same fiery demeanor, same no-nonsense attitude. Same discipline, totally old school coach and was in his 60s when he coached me. I really didn’t like playing for him at the time. One of those things where I dreaded going to practice. However, looking back on it now a few years later I realize that I played by far my best basketball when he was my coach. He definitely brought out the best in me and others on my team and had more success with us than other coaches would have. At the end of the day, isn’t that what a coach is supposed to do? I’d say Knight has done this as well.
Wow, Peter, that is actually pretty darned funny. I imagine it wasn’t a picnic at the time, but in retrospect, you experienced, at its best, the wrath of Bobby Knight.
I take it he didn’t throw anything at you?
Uconn’s graduation rates, while lower than the Dukes of the world, are well within what the NCAA consider acceptable in their new system. And the rates are low partly because a lot of their kids (like almost the whole 2006 team) left early for the NBA. I agree with SJ44 that Calhoun hasnt gotten prickly in his old age and it’s pretty clear that he’s only got a couple of years left in him. BUT to say that Knight or Calhoun wouldnt survive in a big city is ridiculous. 2 of the 10 or 20 best coaches of all time would do just fine no matter where they coached.
Also, don’t be fooled by Coach K. He has one of the worst mouths in all of college sports. Ask any player or journalist that covers his team.
Personally I couldn’t give a rat’s you know what if Knight’s coaching career is over. He is one of, if not THE most unprofessional coach in the history of sports. I don’t know why you stood there and allowed Knight to verbally abuse you like that. I would have cracked him into kingdom come.
Knight’s a phoney and a bully, nothing more, and I’ll never understand how otherwise reasonable reporters, Pete included, fawn all over him like battered wives.
What a surprise to see the king of “Do As I Say, Not As I Do” quit on his feet like a punk. Good (expletive) riddance.
Pete, you should have kept in the swear words from that press conference many years ago, I’d be interested in Knight’s cusses of choice. Anyway, good story.
You left out Boeheim Petey my boy! Mr. Boeheim is in the Hall of Fame and Coach K is not I believe~
i couldn’t care less for a college coach. i’m surprised you took that crap from him, but i guess you were doing your job and didn’t really have a choice… you could be a good coach without being a jerk.
What a great story!! You can tell your grandkids that story someday.
Pete, what was Calhoun like with the writers?
Great and very funny read.
Thanks Mr. Abraham.
Great story, Pete. You know, it’s really kind of sad to see someone blessed with so much in life and yet be so utterly miserable as a person, and treating others like dog poop as well.