Bob Knight is all that, rolled into one

February 4th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

People who say Bob Knight is a great disciplinarian and coach are wrong. People who say he’s a jackass are wrong. Well, actually, they’re all right: he’s all these things and more, frankly. John Feinstein taught us this in A Season on the Brink.

As someone who attended Indiana University and follows the basketball team with the utmost interest, someone who came to Bloomington smack in the middle of the Mike Davis era and left after Sampson’s first year, I struggle with how to characterize the guy. I don’t quite know how he fits into my story. Am I a Knight loyalist and apologist because he adorned Assembly Hall with three championship banners? Or do I know better? Do I know it was time for him to go — time for his antics to be shipped elsewhere? I do know this: Without him, Indiana would be a little more than a blip on the college basketball radar. (I also know he has figured out how to use a telephone properly.)

If there’s one thing media types will tell you, it’s that Bob Knight was about the only guy left on the planet that ran a clean program. This is because he’s a relic from the past. In a system where morals and values take a back seat to cash for recruits and impermissible phone calls, Knight stuck to his guns and did things the way he’d always done them — even if it made his Hoosier teams in the 90’s usually average. Recruiting is a dirty game; Bob Knight wasn’t about to stoop to its level. And that, my friends, takes some serious resolve.

But after all, perhaps it’s best to just remember Knight as an entertainer. Whether he was racking up 902 career wins or throwing chairs or swearing his balls off at his team (IF YOU’RE NOT GONNA RECOVER GREG GRAHAM) or berating innocents on the golf course, it was all undoubtedly awesome.

Shine on you crazy diamond. Shine on.