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Bobby Knight
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Bobby Knight's Message to the Fans
BiographyRobert Montgomery (Bob or Bobby) Knight (born October 25, 1940, in Massillon, Ohio),[1] also known as "The General", is an American former college basketball head coach. He was most recently the head men's basketball coach at Texas Tech before announcing his retirement on February 4, 2008.[2] He was previously the head coach at Indiana University and at the United States Military Academy.
Knight has won more NCAA Division I men's basketball games than any other head coach. On January 1, 2007, he achieved his 880th victory, which broke the record previously held by Dean Smith. His 900th victory came just over a year later, on January 16, 2008.
From 19712000, Knight coached at Indiana, where he led his teams to three NCAA championships, one National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship, and eleven Big Ten Conference championships. For his accomplishments, he received the National Coach of the Year honor four times, and the Big Ten Coach of the Year honor six times.[3] In 1984, he coached the Michael Jordan-led U.S. Olympic basketball team to win a gold medal, becoming one of only three coaches to win the "triple crown" with an NCAA title, NIT title, and an Olympic gold medal.[4]
Due to his in-game behavior, Knight is one of NCAA Division I college basketball's most controversial coaches. He has thrown a chair across the court during a game, been arrested for physical assault, and has displayed a combative nature during encounters with members of the press. On the other hand, Knight has been praised for running clean programs (none of his teams have ever been sanctioned by the NCAA for recruiting violations) and graduating most of his players. Knight still commands a following among fans of the Indiana Hoosiers basketball program.[5]
For 2008, Knight joined ESPN as a men's college basketball studio analyst during Championship Week and for coverage of the NCAA Tournament.[6]
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Sport Basketball Born October 25, 1940 (1940-10-25) (age 67) Place of birth Massillon, Ohio Career highlights Overall 902371 Championships NCAA Division I Tournament Championship (1976, 1981, 1987) NIT Championship (1979) Big Ten Regular Season Championship (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993) Awards Henry Iba Award (1975, 1989) Naismith College Coach of the Year (1987) Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award (2002) Big Ten Coach of the Year (1973, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1989) Naismith Award for Men's Outstanding Contribution to Basketball (2007) Playing career 19591962 Ohio State Position Point guard Coaching career (HC unless noted) 19621963 19631965 19651971 19712000 20012008 Cuyahoga Falls HS * Army * Army Indiana Texas Tech * Denotes assistant Basketball Hall of Fame, 1991
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Playing careerBob Knight began his career as a player at Orrville High School where he played football and basketball. He continued under Basketball Hall of Fame coach Fred Taylor at Ohio State University in 1958. He was a reserve on the Buckeyes' 1960 NCAA Division I national championship team, which featured future Hall of Fame players John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas. In addition to lettering in basketball at Ohio State, it has been claimed that Knight also lettered in football and baseball;[7] however, the official list of Ohio State football letter earners does not include Knight.[8] Knight graduated with a degree in history and government in 1962.
Coaching career
ArmyAfter graduation in 1962, Knight coached junior varsity basketball at Cuyahoga Falls High School in Ohio for one year. Knight then enlisted in the U.S. Army and accepted an assistant coaching position at Army in 1963, where, two years later, he was named the head coach at the relatively young age of 24. In six seasons at West Point, Knight won 102 games, with his first as a head coach coming against Worcester Polytechnic Institute. One of his players was Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Season records under Knight
IndianaKnight was noticed as a rising star, and when Indiana University was seeking a new coach in 1971, they turned to Knight. Educated in military history, Knight was given the nickname "The General" by former University of Detroit and Detroit Pistons coach-turned-broadcaster Dick Vitale.
Indiana reached the Final Four in 1973, losing to UCLA. In 1975, the Hoosiers were undefeated and the number one team in the nation, when leading scorer Scott May suffered a broken arm in a win over arch-rival Purdue. Indiana subsequently lost 9290 to Kentucky in the regional finals of the NCAA tournament, with May playing with a heavily-braced arm.
In 1976, the Hoosiers were undefeated at 320 and won the championship, beating conference rivals Michigan 8668 in the title game. Immediately after the game, Knight lamented that "it should have been two." No Division I men's team has had an undefeated season including a championship since, although UNLV went undefeated in the regular season before losing in the semifinals of the 1991 NCAA tournament.
Knight's Hoosiers also won championships in 1981, with future NBA and Hall of Fame point guard Isiah Thomas, beating North Carolina 6350; and in 1987 with guard Steve Alford, beating Syracuse 7473 on a last-second shot by Keith Smart.
Indiana won the 1979 NIT championship, and Knight led the U.S. national team to a gold medal in the Olympic Games as coach of the Michael Jordan-led 1984 team (coaches do not receive medals in the Olympics). He also won eleven Big Ten Conference titles. Knight is one of only four coaches to win NCAA, NIT, and Olympic championships, joining Dean Smith of North Carolina, Adolph Rupp of Kentucky, and Pete Newell of California. Knight is the only coach to win the NCAA, the NIT, the Olympic Gold and the Pan-Am Gold.
The Indiana Hoosiers were undefeated in Big Ten Conference play from 1974 to 1976, and lost only one game during the period (the aforementioned regional final against Kentucky).
In 1991, Knight was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in his second year of eligibility. After he wasn't elected in his first year of eligibility, Knight told the committee to take his name off the list, but they denied his request.
"Zero tolerance"On March 14, 2000, just before Indiana was to begin play in the NCAA tournament, the CNN/SI network ran a piece on Knight in which former player Neil Reed claimed he was choked by Knight in a 1997 practice.[10] Knight denied the claims in the story.
However, on April 11, 2000 CNN/SI aired a tape of an IU practice from 1997 that showed Knight with his hand around the neck of Neil Reed.[11]
In May of that year, Indiana University president Myles Brand (currently executive director of the NCAA) announced that he had adopted a "zero tolerance" policy with regard to Bob Knight's behavior.[12]
Termination from IndianaIn September 2000, an IU freshman named Kent Harvey reportedly said, "Hey, Knight, what's up?" to Knight. According to Harvey, Knight grabbed him by the arm and lectured him for not showing proper respect.[13]
Brand stated that this incident was only one of numerous complaints that occurred after the zero-tolerance policy had been placed on Knight. He asked Knight to resign on September 10. When Knight refused, however, he then relieved Knight of his duties immediately. That evening, a crowd of thousands of students swarmed Bloomington in protest.[13]
Harvey was supported by some and vilified by many who claim he intentionally set up Knight. Knight's supporters contend he was the victim of a media smear campaign organized by enemies in the IU administration and that the majority of Brand's reasons for firing Knight were not credible. However, Knight has said he didn't think he was set up.
The following day, September 11, Knight said goodbye to a crowd of some 6,000 supporters at Indiana University. He asked that they not hold a grudge against Harvey and that they let Harvey get on with his education and his life.[14] Knight's firing made national headlines including the cover of Sports Illustrated and around the clock coverage on ESPN. It was also mentioned on major news programs such as CBS News and CNN.
Season records under Knight
Source: [15]
Texas TechAfter taking the next season off, all the while on the lookout for vacancies, Knight accepted the head coaching job at Texas Tech. At the press conference introducing him, Knight quipped, "This is the most comfortable red sweater I've had on in six years."
Knight quickly improved the program, which had not been to an NCAA tournament since 1996. He led the Red Raiders to postseason appearances in each of his first four years at the school (three NCAA Championship tournaments and one NIT). After a rough 2006 season, the team improved in 2007, finishing 2113 and again making it to the NCAA Championship tournament, where it lost to Boston College in the first round. The best performance by the Red Raiders under Knight came in 2005 when they advanced as far as the Sweet Sixteen. In both 2006 and 2007 under Knight, Texas Tech defeated two Top 10-ranked teams in consecutive weeks. During Knight's first six years at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders won 126 games, an average of 21 wins per season.
Knight has a high regard for education and has made generous donations to Texas Tech. On November 29, 2007, the Tech library honored this with A Legacy of Giving: The Bob Knight Exhibit. When Knight came to the school in 2001, he gave $10,000, the first gift to the Coach Knight Library Fund which has now collected over $300,000.[16]
On February 4, 2008, Bob Knight retired as head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. His son Pat Knight, the head coach designate since 2005, was immediately named as his successor. The younger Knight stated that, after many years of coaching, his father was exhausted and ready to retire.[17] Knight handed the job over to Pat in the mid-season in part to allow him to get acquainted with coaching the team earlier, instead of having him wait until October, the start of the next season.[18]
According to Knight's biographer, Bob Hammel, Knight is expected to continue living in Lubbock.[19]
Season records under Knight
Source: [20]
Knight's basketball philosophyBob Knight's motion offense emphasizes post players setting screens and perimeter players passing the ball until a teammate becomes open for an uncontested jump shot or lay-up. This requires players to be unselfish, disciplined, and effective in the setting and use of screens to get open. On defense, players are required both to tenaciously guard opponents man-to-man and to help teammates when needed, although Knight has also incorporated using a zone defense periodically after eschewing that defense for the first two decades of his coaching career.[21]
Coaching victories and awardsOn January 1, 2007, Knight achieved his 880th career win at Texas Tech, passing retired North Carolina coach Dean Smith for the most career NCAA Division I men's college basketball victories. The game was a 70-68 victory by the Red Raiders over the New Mexico Lobos. Knight trails both Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith in win differential, which is the difference between wins and losses and reflects Knight's lower lifetime winning percentage, as it took Knight 41 seasons and 100 extra games to achieve the record, compared with Smith's 36. However, Knight overtook Smith at a younger age. (He was also one of the youngest or the youngest to reach milestones 200 (age 35), 300 (age 40), 400 (age 44), 500 (age 48) and 600 (age 52).) Knight chalked up win number 900 when the Red Raiders defeated the ninth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies, 6853, on January 16, 2008.[22]
Knight is also the only coach to win the NCAA, the NIT, the Olympic Gold, and the Pan American Games Gold.[23]
The Red Raiders' participation in the 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament marked another record. With their inclusion as the #10 seed in the East Regional, Knight became the coach to lead his team to more NCAA Tournaments than any other.[23] However, the team lost to Boston College in the first round by a score of 8475.
In 1987, Knight was the first person to be honored with the Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Award. Five years later, he received the Clair Bee Coach of the Year Award. And, in 2007, he was the recipient of the Naismith Award for Men's Outstanding Contribution to Basketball.[24] Knight was nominated to receive a 2007 ESPY Award in the category of Best Record Breaking Performance but was not chosen as the winner.[23]
Knight studentsMain article: Coaching legacy of Bob Knight A number of assistant coaches, players, and managers of Knight have gone on to be coaches. One of these is current Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
ControversiesIn 1979, Knight was arrested for assaulting a police officer during the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico. Knight was angry that a practice gymnasium was not opened to his team, which went on to a 9-0 record in the tournament. Knight was later convicted in absentia in a Puerto Rican court. However, the charges were later dropped when Indiana Governor Otis R. Bowen refused to cooperate in extraditing Knight to the island commonwealth.[25] In 1985, Knight threw a chair across the court to protest a referee's call during a game against the rival Purdue Boilermakers.[26] Knight was suspended for one game and received two years' probation from the Big Ten Conference. Women's groups nationwide were outraged by Knight's comments during an April, 1988 interview with Connie Chung in which he said, "I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it."[27] Knight's comment was in reference to an Indiana basketball game in which he felt the referees were making poor calls against the Hoosiers. Knight allegedly kicked his own son, Pat Knight, during a 1993 game (Knight claims he actually kicked a chair).[25] Knight was shown berating an NCAA volunteer at a 1995 post-game press conference following a 65-60 loss to Missouri in the first round of the NCAA tournament held in Boise, Idaho. The volunteer, Rance Pugmire, informed the press that Knight would not be attending the press conference, when in reality, Knight was running a few minutes late and had planned on attending per NCAA rules. Knight was shown saying: "You've only got two people that are going to tell you I'm not going to be here. One is our SID (sports information director), and the other is me. Who the hell told you I wasn't going to be here? I'd like to know. Do you have any idea who it was?...Who?...They were from Indiana, right?...No, they weren't from Indiana, and you didn't get it from anybody from Indiana, did you?...No, II'll handle this the way I want to handle it now that I'm here. You (EXPLETIVE) it up to begin with. Now just sit there or leave. I don't give (EXPLETIVE) what you do. Now back to the game."[28] In February 2004, Knight made national headlines when he had an argument with then Texas Tech University Chancellor David Smith at a Lubbock supermarket.[29] In March 2006, a student's heckling at Baylor University resulted in Knight having to be restrained by a police officer. The incident was not severe enough to warrant any action from the Big 12 Conference.[30] On November 13, 2006, Knight was shown allegedly hitting player Michael Prince under the chin to get him to make eye contact. Although Knight didn't comment on the incident afterwards and as of yet hasn't done so, Prince, his parents, and Texas Tech Athletic Director Gerald Myers insisted that Knight did nothing wrong and that he merely lifted Prince's chin and told him "Hold your head up and don't worry about mistakes. Just play the game." Prince commented, "He was trying to teach me and I had my head down so he raised my chin up. He was telling me to go out there and don't be afraid to make mistakes. He said I was being too hard on myself."[25] On October 21, 2007, James Simpson of Lubbock, Texas, accused Knight of firing a shotgun in his direction after he yelled at Knight and another man for hunting too close to his home.[31] Knight denied the allegations. An argument between the two men was recorded via camera phone and aired later on television.[32]
Books about Bob KnightBooks about Knight include A Season on the Brink (ISBN 0-02-537230-0) by John Feinstein, "Bob Knight: His Own Man" by Joan Mellen (ISBN 0-380-70809-4), and "Playing for Knight: My Six Seasons with Bobby Knight" (ISBN 0-671-72441-X) by former player and current New Mexico head basketball coach Steve Alford.
In 2002, Knight and longtime friend and sports journalist Bob Hammel wrote his biography, "Knight: My Story" (ISBN 0-312-31117-6.)
In Bob Knight, His Own Man, Mellen characterized Feinstein's book as being banal (21).
In 2006, an "unauthorized" biography on Knight, written by Steve Delsohn and Mark Heisler, was released. (ISBN 0-7432-4348-X)
Film and televisionBlue Chips is a 1994 feature film about Pete Bell, a volatile but honest college basketball coach under pressure to win who decides to blatantly violate NCAA rules to field a competitive team after a sub-par season. It starred Nick Nolte as Bell and NBA star Shaquille O'Neal as Neon Bodeaux, a once-in-a-lifetime player Bell woos to his school with gifts and other perks. The coach's temper and wardrobe seem to be modeled after Knight's, but at no time has Knight been known to illegally recruit. Knight himself coaches against Nolte in the film's climactic game.
In 2002, veteran character actor Brian Dennehy portrayed Knight in A Season on the Brink, a TV film adapted from John Feinstein's book. It was ESPN's first feature-length film.
Knight made a cameo appearance as himself in the 2003 film Anger Management.
In 2008, Knight appeared in a commercial as part of Volkswagen's Das Auto series where Max, a 1964 black Beetle interviews famous people. When Knight talked about Volkswagen winning the best resale value award in 2008, Max replied, "At least one of us is winning a title this year." This prompted Knight to throw his chair off the stage and walk out saying, "I may not be retired."[33]
Knight SchoolMain article: Knight School (TV series) Knight was the central character in a reality show for ESPN. The show, titled Knight School, followed a handful of Texas Tech students as they competed for the right to join the Red Raiders as a non-scholarship player.
Notes
**** Source: Wikipedia.org at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Knight
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