https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/38796141/legendary-basketball-coach-bob-knight-dies-83

Bob Knight, the sixth-winningest coach in Division I men's college basketball history whose Hall of Fame career was highlighted by three national titles at Indiana -- one an undefeated season not since matched -- and countless on-court outbursts, died Wednesday, according to his family.

He was 83.

"It is with heavy hearts that we share that Coach Bob Knight passed away at his home in Bloomington surrounded by his family," the Knight Family said in a statement. "We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as Coach requested a private family gathering, which is being honored. We will continue to celebrate his life and remember him, today and forever as a beloved Husband, Father, Coach, and Friend.

"In lieu of flowers, please consider honoring Coach with a memorial contribution to the Alzheimer's Association or Marian University."

Knight became the youngest coach at a Division I school in 1965 when he broke in at Army at 24. But he made his mark in 29 years at Indiana, including winning a school-record 661 games and reaching the NCAA tournament 24 times in 29 seasons. Knight's first NCAA title came in 1976 when Indiana went undefeated, a feat no team has accomplished since.

In 1984, he coached the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in Los Angeles, the last American amateur team to claim Olympic gold. Knight won 20 or more games in 29 seasons, compiling a career record of 902-371.

Knight was eventually forced out at Indiana in 2000 for violating a "zero tolerance" behavior policy by grabbing the arm of a freshman student who he said greeted him by his last name. It was the final transgression on a long list, which included his most infamous incident -- throwing a chair during a Purdue game -- and accusations of numerous physical confrontations.

The most notable involved Knight apparently choking player Neil Reed in a practice in 1997.

Knight then left to become the basketball coach at Texas Tech in 2001, six months after being fired by Indiana for what school officials there called a "pattern of unacceptable behavior."

In Knight's six full years at Tech, he led the Red Raiders to five 20-win seasons, a first at the school. Knight passed former North Carolina coach Dean Smith as the then-winningest Division I men's coach Jan. 1, 2007, getting career win No. 880. To celebrate the milestone Knight chose the song "My Way" by Frank Sinatra, a mantra for how he navigated his personal and professional worlds.

Back then, Knight explained why "My Way" was so fitting.

"I've simply tried to do what I think is best," Knight said. "Regrets? Sure.. Just like the song. I have regrets. I wish I could have done things better at times. I wish I would have had a better answer, a better way, at times.. But just like he said, I did it my way and when I look back on it, I don't think my way was all that bad."

Knight resigned as Texas Tech's basketball coach in the middle of the 2008-09 season, his 42nd year as a head coach, and walked away from college basketball. He later worked as a college basketball analyst for ESPN.

What he did and how he did it made Knight legend. However, the influence and discipline he brought to coaching made him special.

"Outside of my immediate family, no single person has had a greater impact on my life than Coach Knight," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who played for Knight at Army and surpassed his mentor as the winningest Division I college basketball coach in 2011. "I have the ultimate respect for him as a coach and a mentor, but even more so as a dear friend. For more than 40 years, the life lessons I have learned from Coach are immeasurable. Simply put, I love him."

Robert Montgomery Knight was born on Oct. 25, 1940 in Orrville, Ohio and was a prep basketball, baseball and football star at Orrville High School. While a player at Ohio State, his teams compiled an overall record of 78-6. The Buckeyes won the national title in 1960 (Knight was 0-for-1 with one personal foul in a 75-55 win over California in the title game and averaged 3.7 points as a sub that season), and captured Big Ten titles during all three of Knight's seasons.

After his college career ended, he went into coaching, and was an Army assistant when he was elevated to head coach, succeeding Tates Locke.

Knight spent six years (1965-71) at Army, going 102-50, then moved to Indiana, where his Hoosiers went 662-239 from 1971-00. Dressed in his trademark red sweater, he won national titles there in 1976, '81 and '87.

Knight was elected and inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991. Previously, Knight had asked not to be renominated to the Hall of Fame, calling the voters' rejection of him in 1987 a "slap in the face."

He was a complex package and had a lengthy record of outbursts over the years. He was charged and later convicted for hitting a policeman in Puerto Rico, head-butted Indiana player Sherron Wilkerson while screaming at him on the bench, was accused of wrapping his hands around a player's neck and allegedly kicked his own son (Knight claimed he actually kicked the chair his son sat on).

He also gave a mock whipping to Calbert Cheaney, a Black Indiana player, during a 1992 practice for the NCAA West Regional, offending several black leaders. Knight denied any racial connotations and notes the bullwhip was given to him by the players.

But he never broke NCAA rules. He always had a high graduation rate and gave his salary back a few years after he arrived in Lubbock because he didn't think he'd earned it.

"I am very fortunate and blessed to have played for him. He made me a better man and for that I am grateful," former Indiana star and current USC coach Steve Alford said.

Knight's firing by then-Indiana president Myles Brand remained an unpopular one in the state of Indiana, where Knight still had a multitude of supporters.

Indiana officials made attempts over the years to mend fences with the man who brought the Hoosiers a school-record 661 games, but Knight steadfastly refused all attempts by the school, ex-players and fans to make peace -- and refused to participate in any IU activities.

He skipped team reunions and even declined to attend his induction into the school's athletic Hall of Fame in 2009, saying he didn't want his presence to detract from other class members.

That, however, all changed in recent years.

The thaw began in earnest in 2019, when he made a surprise appearance at an Indiana baseball game. In July, he bought a house 3 miles from the basketball arena.

And then in February 2020, he finally returned to Assembly Hall for an Indiana-Purdue, game. He was met with roars of approval from the sold-out crowd, including dozens of former players.

Knight walked in with his son Pat. He hugged Isiah Thomas. He was assisted into the arena by Quinn Buckner. And Knight reveled in the moment, pumping his fist, pretending to direct Scott May in a practice drill and even leading fans in a chorus of, "De-fense, de-fense."

"It was one of the greatest and most emotional things for me," said former player Randy Wittman, who had a key role in the reunion. "I don't know if we'll see something like this again in college basketball. When he moved back here, I told him, 'You're back here because this is where you belong.'"

In article <c68b6763-a1db-4bb4-b47b-b6a81b47bf38n@googlegroups.com>,
Tom Betts <tbetts26@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/38796141/legendary-bas
> ketball-coach-bob-knight-dies-83
>
> Bob Knight, the sixth-winningest coach in Division I men's college basketball
> history whose Hall of Fame career was highlighted by three national titles at
> Indiana -- one an undefeated season not since matched -- and countless
> on-court outbursts, died Wednesday, according to his family.
>
> He was 83.

Back in the day, he was always referred to as Bobby Knight, not Bob.
His lack of personality and poor behavior won him a following.

I was in a sports bar in Indianapolis the day Knight was fired. There
was no controversy about it whatsoever. In fact, no one seemed to care
at all.

A Friend wrote:
>>. . .

>Back in the day, he was always referred to as Bobby Knight, not Bob.

What gives? The story broke during the top-of-the-hour newscast on CBS
radio. The announcer Jennifer Keiper said "Bobby Knight", but
thereafter, the news reports changed to Bob Knight.

No one called him that during his professional career ever.

>His lack of personality and poor behavior won him a following.

>I was in a sports bar in Indianapolis the day Knight was fired. There
>was no controversy about it whatsoever. In fact, no one seemed to care
>at all.

He got fired for yelling at a kid, same thing he'd done for decades.
Knight may have loved the game, but it may not have been all that much
fun playing for him. He was rather unforgiving.

In his final seasons, his win-loss record was no longer what it had
been, which is why it was time to retire, not because he yelled at the
kid.

On Thu, 2 Nov 2023 00:58:23 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>
wrote:

>He got fired for yelling at a kid, same thing he'd done for decades.

He put his hand on a kid's neck and was warned to knock it off. Then he
grabbed a kid by the arm to yell at him. The second kid wasn't even a
player.

David Carson
--
Dead or Alive Data Base
http://www.doadb.com

On Wednesday, November 1, 2023 at 9:17:49 PM UTC-4, David Carson wrote:
> On Thu, 2 Nov 2023 00:58:23 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com>
> wrote:
> >He got fired for yelling at a kid, same thing he'd done for decades.
> He put his hand on a kid's neck and was warned to knock it off. Then he
> grabbed a kid by the arm to yell at him. The second kid wasn't even a
> player.
>
> David Carson
> --
> Dead or Alive Data Base
> http://www.doadb.com

But it was ok for George Patton to slap a hospitalized soldier
for not being man enough to get back in there and "Fight, fight, fight."......

I enjoyed reading the article about Knight. I never cared much
about the guy one way or another, but sometimes it's just so relaxing
to kick back and read about the life of someone who just died. Finding
stuff out you never knew about the person - good and bad. Nothing
special with the Knight story, just realizing amid my laughs at his death
that he was in actuality a human being, which sometimes I tend to
forget when it comes to famous people. At the same time, let's not
go too far with the Mr. Nice Guy routine because the truth is I have
always enjoyed reading about famous people dying and I probably
always will, although the number of people I consider 'famous' is
dwindling along with my chances of reading about their deaths.

David Carson <davo@neosoft.com> wrote:
>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 00:58:23 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:

>>He got fired for yelling at a kid, same thing he'd done for decades.

>He put his hand on a kid's neck and was warned to knock it off. Then he
>grabbed a kid by the arm to yell at him. The second kid wasn't even a
>player.

Like he'd never done anything like that hundreds of times in the past
and didn't get fired. Huh. I wonder what the difference was.

On Thu, 2 Nov 2023 03:48:15 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>
wrote:

>David Carson <davo@neosoft.com> wrote:
>>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 00:58:23 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:
>
>>>He got fired for yelling at a kid, same thing he'd done for decades.
>
>>He put his hand on a kid's neck and was warned to knock it off. Then he
>>grabbed a kid by the arm to yell at him. The second kid wasn't even a
>>player.
>
>Like he'd never done anything like that hundreds of times in the past
>and didn't get fired.

So you do admit now that he wasn't fired "for yelling at a kid."

>Huh. I wonder what the difference was.

Come on. The difference is that the neck grab became a national news
story, the university publicly announced that Knight was on a tight leash
from now on, and then he went and did something like it again a few months
later. It's simply not remotely comparable to any previous situation he
had ever been in. Would it have gone differently if he was winning more
games? Don't know and don't care, because what happened is what happened.

David Carson
--
Dead or Alive Data Base
http://www.doadb.com

David Carson <davo@neosoft.com> wrote:
>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 03:48:15 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:
>>David Carson <davo@neosoft.com> wrote:
>>>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 00:58:23 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:

>>>>He got fired for yelling at a kid, same thing he'd done for decades.

>>>He put his hand on a kid's neck and was warned to knock it off. Then he
>>>grabbed a kid by the arm to yell at him. The second kid wasn't even a
>>>player.

>>Like he'd never done anything like that hundreds of times in the past
>>and didn't get fired.

>So you do admit now that he wasn't fired "for yelling at a kid."

What is there to admit? They wanted to fire him. He gave them a way to
do it.

>>Huh. I wonder what the difference was.

>Come on. The difference is that the neck grab became a national news
>story, the university publicly announced that Knight was on a tight leash
>from now on, and then he went and did something like it again a few months
>later. It's simply not remotely comparable to any previous situation he
>had ever been in. Would it have gone differently if he was winning more
>games? Don't know and don't care, because what happened is what happened.

Of course they woulden't have fired him if he were still useful to the
school. It's basketball.

In the previous article, Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote,
quoting David Carson <davo@neosoft.com>:
> >So you do admit now that he wasn't fired "for yelling at a kid."
>
> What is there to admit? They wanted to fire him. He gave them a way
> to do it.

Arguing about which of these factors is "why" he was fired is the
silliest kind of hair-splitting. I think everyone admits that he was
fired because he was out of friends in the top ranks of the IU
leadership and they just wanted him gone. Putting hands on a player
was hardly the real "reason" except in the sense that it was the
immediate excuse the school needed. (And I absolutely believe that
the "hands on a student" incident was deliberately manufactured. Not
that it matters much.)

And I remember my two IU-fan friends reacting to the firing news with
a fatalistic shrug. They still liked Knight fine, they just kind of
had an attitude of "the run had to end sometime."

I always thought -- and I got this theory from my dad -- that Knight
was tired of IU and on some level *wanted* to be fired. He refused to
resign when "asked," true, but that was his natural combativeness at
work, or maybe something about how he just wanted to go out. He
really, really hated a couple of the people running the athletic
department and he *loathed* the university president. He probably
figured that the splashier his firing, the more public hate would be
poured out against those people. (And he wasn't wrong.)
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / baldwin@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------

On Thu, 2 Nov 2023 05:28:13 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>David Carson <davo@neosoft.com> wrote:
>>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 03:48:15 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:
>>>David Carson <davo@neosoft.com> wrote:
>>>>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 00:58:23 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:
>
>>>>>He got fired for yelling at a kid, same thing he'd done for decades.
>
>>>>He put his hand on a kid's neck and was warned to knock it off. Then he
>>>>grabbed a kid by the arm to yell at him. The second kid wasn't even a
>>>>player.
>
>>>Like he'd never done anything like that hundreds of times in the past
>>>and didn't get fired.
>
>>So you do admit now that he wasn't fired "for yelling at a kid."
>
>What is there to admit?

That he wasn't "fired for yelling at a kid."

David Carson <davidc@wa-wd.com> wrote:
>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 05:28:13 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:
>>David Carson <davo@neosoft.com> wrote:
>>>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 03:48:15 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:
>>>>David Carson <davo@neosoft.com> wrote:
>>>>>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 00:58:23 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com>:

>>>>>>He got fired for yelling at a kid, same thing he'd done for decades.

>>>>>He put his hand on a kid's neck and was warned to knock it off. Then he
>>>>>grabbed a kid by the arm to yell at him. The second kid wasn't even a
>>>>>player.

>>>>Like he'd never done anything like that hundreds of times in the past
>>>>and didn't get fired.

>>>So you do admit now that he wasn't fired "for yelling at a kid."

>>What is there to admit?

>That he wasn't "fired for yelling at a kid."

What the hell is wrong with you? He wasn't fired for any of those
specific acts, none of which was new behavior. He was fired because
he was no longer in favor with the president of the university and its
board of trustees for not having won enough basketball in recent
seasons.

If you believe it was about anything other than not winning enough
basketball games, you're highly deluded.

On Thursday, November 2, 2023 at 12:54:55 PM UTC-4, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> David Carson <dav...@wa-wd.com> wrote:
> >Thu, 2 Nov 2023 05:28:13 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <a...@chinet.com>:
> >>David Carson <da...@neosoft.com> wrote:
> >>>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 03:48:15 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <a...@chinet.com>:
> >>>>David Carson <da...@neosoft.com> wrote:
> >>>>>Thu, 2 Nov 2023 00:58:23 -0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman <a...@chinet.com>:
>
> >>>>>>He got fired for yelling at a kid, same thing he'd done for decades..
>
> >>>>>He put his hand on a kid's neck and was warned to knock it off. Then he
> >>>>>grabbed a kid by the arm to yell at him. The second kid wasn't even a
> >>>>>player.
>
> >>>>Like he'd never done anything like that hundreds of times in the past
> >>>>and didn't get fired.
>
> >>>So you do admit now that he wasn't fired "for yelling at a kid."
>
> >>What is there to admit?
> >That he wasn't "fired for yelling at a kid."
>
> What the hell is wrong with you? He wasn't fired for any of those
> specific acts, none of which was new behavior. He was fired because
> he was no longer in favor with the president of the university and its
> board of trustees for not having won enough basketball in recent
> seasons.
>
> If you believe it was about anything other than not winning enough
> basketball games, you're highly deluded.

Knight was divisive enough a figure that even now in death the
very same debates about him when he was alive rage on. I never
had any great thoughts about the guy one way or the other. But
he was a media promotion, no doubt about it. Something they
jump on to make it seem more important than it really is. Yes,
the guy is dead. But he is telepathically receiving reports about
himself from above ground - loving the attention even more now
in death than when he was alive - and he's smiling - always smiling -
you know - that "Bob Knight smile"................."