Former Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight has passed away. He was 83 and apparently suffered from Alzheimer's. He won 662 games at Indiana and NCAA titles in 1976, 1981 and 1987. His 1976 team went undefeated, something that has not been accomplished since. After retirement he spent many days trout fishing and grouse hunting in Southwestern Wisconsin.
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Damn……..absolutely one of the best coaches, aside from all his crap he did to the players. But it always sad when they die. 🙏🏻 RIP 🙏🏻
Best said:
“The contortions people are going through to make Bobby Knight not seem like the flaming prick that he was is really quite amusing. Was he a great basketball coach? Sure. Don't eulogize him as anything else. He assaulted players, his kid, a cop and much more outrageous crap.”
He was also a massive racist.
Always loved it when the Badgers would beat a Knight led Hoosier team. You knew you accomplished something.
He went to the same hunting safety class as Dick Cheney
@packerboi posted:Best said:
“The contortions people are going through to make Bobby Knight not seem like the flaming prick that he was is really quite amusing. Was he a great basketball coach? Sure. Don't eulogize him as anything else. He assaulted players, his kid, a cop and much more outrageous crap.”
He was also a massive racist.
Never heard of the racist claims.
Bobby Knight was a complicated person. I had a family member who arranged for the Indiana assistant coaches to come in and run camps during the summer (Dakich, for example). They'd describe a guy who would sit in the hospital with a guy like Landon Turner for days at a time, and yet at the same time be the biggest asshole you could imagine to others.
@Blair Kiel posted:Never heard of the racist claims.
Yeah what's up with this? And a massive one at that?
I saw Knight do a clinic in Pittsburgh. He had a high school team to demonstrate. He had every kid introduce themselves and then called all of them by name for the rest of the 3-4 hours. He was quite funny and charming with the kids and obviously a great teacher. I never personally met him but worked for years at Duke's summer camp with guys who played for him at West Point, and high school coaches from the northeast who knew him .... great stories! While I acknowledge his character flaws, he was a brilliant basketball coach who never cheated.
@Brak posted:Yeah what's up with this? And a massive one at that?
In March 1992, the then-Indiana Hoosiers coach found himself in hot water for alleged racism.
He playfully mock-whipped Indiana player Calbert Cheaney with a bullwhip gifted by the Indiana players.
However, since Cheaney was black, some black leaders made racial connotations of the act.
In June 1999, Knight got into another controversy after he allegedly choked a customer in a parking lot and made racial remarks.
Butch Carter’s Book Depicted Bob As A Racist
The former Toronto Raptors coach Butch Carter wrote about Bob’s unethical actions against a black player in his book. He once played for Knight at Indiana.
That player left the Hoosiers after a year, who was believed to be Isiah Thomas, who he called the N word.
May I suggest ‘A Season on the Brink’
Re: Packerboi’s post.
50 years in the public eye, tens of thousands of interactions with black people and those few examples deserve to be in his obit?
The accusation of “He’s a racist!” is the 21st century version of witch-calling in Salem in the 17th century. Bob Knight was enough of a dick in an array of other ways. I’m not buying the racist accusation by the tiniest of percentage of people he crossed paths with. The bullwhip story is farcical.
@MichiganPacker posted:Bobby Knight was a complicated person. I had a family member who arranged for the Indiana assistant coaches to come in and run camps during the summer (Dakich, for example). They'd describe a guy who would sit in the hospital with a guy like Landon Turner for days at a time, and yet at the same time be the biggest asshole you could imagine to others.
So true about him being complicated. There was a side to him that was genuinely cruel, but he wasn’t like that to everyone.
Just watching the short documentary about Neil Reed and his dealings with coach Knight made me lose quite a bit of respect for Knight. Reed was sort of a sensitive soul and Knight was the opposite of sensitive and his bullying made Reed’s life hell. Really a sad story and Reed isn’t the only player Knight bullied.
People will say that Knight was trying to toughen him up, but I don’t really believe that. I think Knight enjoyed the power trip and enjoyed cruelty to people he felt he could bully.
He was nice sometimes and sometimes an asshole
that is an asshole.
deserves credit for lots of wins in the court, still an asshole.
@fightphoe93 posted:So true about him being complicated. There was a side to him that was genuinely cruel, but he wasn’t like that to everyone.
Just watching the short documentary about Neil Reed and his dealings with coach Knight made me lose quite a bit of respect for Knight. Reed was sort of a sensitive soul and Knight was the opposite of sensitive and his bullying made Reed’s life hell. Really a sad story and Reed isn’t the only player Knight bullied.
People will say that Knight was trying to toughen him up, but I don’t really believe that. I think Knight enjoyed the power trip and enjoyed cruelty to people he felt he could bully.
Bullies are often cowards underneath it all. Knight was also a coward. I heard this story as well, but here's the reporting on it. He tried to intimidate the Indiana wrestling coach by being his typical asshole self, and the wrestling coach grabbed him and shoved him up against the wall and he basically threatened to kick his ass if he ever insulted him again. Knight never said anything to him again.
https://pistolsfiringblog.com/...the-wall-at-indiana/
Knight didn't need to be an asshole to be a great coach, but apparently he thought he needed to be to have people listen to him.
I guess Coach K was basically Knight without being a complete asshole (and from his coaching tree). Although I would argue that while Knight never cheated, Coach K likely did but acted like he didn't (unless you believe that Zion Williamson's mother was worth a 7-figure salary for the job she got with Nike - which preferentially would steer guys to Duke).
Read today, either JSO or WSJ, that he signed on to be the Badgers B Ball coach, but backed out of it when the story was leaked?
Linky: https://www.jsonline.com/story...ed-away/71421063007/
Massive racist. Come on. He also deserves credit for huge graduation rates.
@DurangoDoug posted:Read today, either JSO or WSJ, that he signed on to be the Badgers B Ball coach, but backed out of it when the story was leaked?
Linky: https://www.jsonline.com/story...ed-away/71421063007/
Have to buy a subscription to read this article……
Lots of "alleged" and "believed to have been" there.
@Goldie posted:Have to buy a subscription to read this article……
Not for me. Most of their Packer stuff and some other things are on a paywall, but so far many of their other sports things are free, like this one.
Matt Lepay was on Nine to Noon with John Kuhn today and had nothing but funny and nice things to say about Knight. Sometimes the asshole was just an act, a great act at that.
Those calling Knight a racist are trying to check a box that isn't there. Dude was an incredible basketball coach and clearly passionate about his craft... no doubt too passionate at times. For every dude that has something bad to say about him there's hundreds that loved him.
I'm of the age (53) now that I'm starting to routinely see legends passing away... and it sucks. RIP you crazy fucker.
Wonder if he will be buried upside down so his critics can kiss his a$$?
