Torn on Knight
I have to admit that I was torn on which way to feel with Bobby Knight snaring the all-time win mark this past week...
In my opinion, Dean Smith was the stronger of the two coaches, but I have to admit that I'm a little biased. Right?
John Feinstein had a great article in the Washington Post that evaluated the right and wrong on Coach Knight. Check it out here. With that said, here's where I stand when measuring the effectiveness of Bobby Knight.
"Wacky" Strikes
** Neil Reed video - Way Overboard.
**The head bump - Way too emotional, c'mon why embarass a kid in public like that. He's a grown man.
** The chair throw - Way out-of-control.
** His early tirades on players in that horrible plaid jacket throughout the '70s - Way too demeaning. Way over-the-top. Influenced and gave license to hundreds of wackos in rec-centers across the country to be like Knight.
** The 'never explained' with recruiting...Every one talks how pristine his recruiting methods were at Indiana. Yet, how he stole Isiah Thomas from DePaul through a middle of the night signing has never been explained.
The rumor was that Isiah went to Indiana because of gang-related threat on his life from his brother. And that Isiah was forced to get out of Chicago. Still a bizarre story to me, and I'm crushed for Coach Ray Meyer. That DePaul team could have been the best ever...Knight has never explained himself. The City of Chicago was ripped off.
** For the best of recruits and All-Americans, the NBA drought is
bewildering. Kent Benson, Mike Woodson, Alan Henderson, '0' @ Texas
Tech. Pffftt...
"Respected" Moves
** The '84 Olympic Team - Greatest Olympic job ever...Probably ever
will be. Wish we could have played the Russians. MJ loved the guy,
and arguably, he got a helluva lot more out of Mike than anyone else
until Phil Jackson. I always struggled with the Jeff Turner seletion
though.
** "Knight School" - I enjoyed the reality show last year. Made me
look at him a different way. He is an incredible teacher.
** "Old School" - The tap on the cheek on his Texas Tech player a month ago...In some ways, I
respected that move. He is a Army guy in a John Chaney way.
** Role Models - The guy really champions Henry Iba and Don Haskins. How can you not respect his mentors?
Yet, sometimes, I think he tries to be Haskins too much...in a 'freaky' type way.
** 'The Speech' - His 'Kiss my @$$ speech is a classic.
** Point blank...3 National Championships with two different styles of play in the '70s and '80s. 'Nuff said.
** The guy can coach, respects ball, respects education. You have to give him credit for his beliefs and how he holds to them in a age where a lot of coaches and universities only give lip service in order to sell tickets and keep the NCAA off their backs.
** Went off on that kid at the end at "IU" for calling him "Knight", which led to his dismissal. I will always love his emphatic response...'It's Coach Knight!"
Every one went bonkers and overlooked that Coach Knight was demanding respect from a kid, who obviously should have bestowed some respect for someone of Knight's stature around campus.
Think about it...If he had dropped that greeting on a professor, what would have been the reaction? A step further...What would have been the reaction from Myles Brand? 'Yo, what's up Brand?' Knight was teaching the kid that some respect that should be bestowed on what the guy was and is around Indiana. What a joke.
Bobby Knight should have been able to retire in Bloomington.
So, like Feinstein, I'm torn on the middle...
Here's a good story to sway your choice on how to regard Coach Knight. During the '80s, I had a buddy who bumped into Coach Smith while lounging outside a pool in Hilton Head.
The guy knows ball, and they opened up a long convo over a drink or two. He asked Coach Smith. 'What do you think of Coach Knight?'
Coach Smith's reply was..."The only difference between me and Bobby Knight
is that he chooses to yell at his players in public. I yell at them in practice."
People love the Bobby Knight. He has 3 NCAA Rings, a Gold Medal, and now the most Wins...He's not my type of style, but he's efinitely, one of the best coaches of all-time.
He's also one of the biggest 'hams' of all-time.
P.S. Personally, my mind would always head for the hills or I would roll my eyes knowing that 'we're in for a long-run' when a coach or a boss said that he was a Bobby Knight guy. As soon as a guy would say that he was an Indiana or Bobby Knight fan, I would cringe.
Here comes the yelling. Here comes the grandstanding.
Remember, superiors who say they are Bobby Knight devotees. Those are always the guys who looked at the wrong things that Knight does...And they are the worse than Bobby Knight could hope to be. Just my thoughts on that one. Do with them with you choose.
U-S-A,
IronDog
In my opinion, Dean Smith was the stronger of the two coaches, but I have to admit that I'm a little biased. Right?
John Feinstein had a great article in the Washington Post that evaluated the right and wrong on Coach Knight. Check it out here. With that said, here's where I stand when measuring the effectiveness of Bobby Knight.
"Wacky" Strikes
** Neil Reed video - Way Overboard.
**The head bump - Way too emotional, c'mon why embarass a kid in public like that. He's a grown man.
** The chair throw - Way out-of-control.
** His early tirades on players in that horrible plaid jacket throughout the '70s - Way too demeaning. Way over-the-top. Influenced and gave license to hundreds of wackos in rec-centers across the country to be like Knight.
** The 'never explained' with recruiting...Every one talks how pristine his recruiting methods were at Indiana. Yet, how he stole Isiah Thomas from DePaul through a middle of the night signing has never been explained.
The rumor was that Isiah went to Indiana because of gang-related threat on his life from his brother. And that Isiah was forced to get out of Chicago. Still a bizarre story to me, and I'm crushed for Coach Ray Meyer. That DePaul team could have been the best ever...Knight has never explained himself. The City of Chicago was ripped off.
** For the best of recruits and All-Americans, the NBA drought is
bewildering. Kent Benson, Mike Woodson, Alan Henderson, '0' @ Texas
Tech. Pffftt...
"Respected" Moves
** The '84 Olympic Team - Greatest Olympic job ever...Probably ever
will be. Wish we could have played the Russians. MJ loved the guy,
and arguably, he got a helluva lot more out of Mike than anyone else
until Phil Jackson. I always struggled with the Jeff Turner seletion
though.
** "Knight School" - I enjoyed the reality show last year. Made me
look at him a different way. He is an incredible teacher.
** "Old School" - The tap on the cheek on his Texas Tech player a month ago...In some ways, I
respected that move. He is a Army guy in a John Chaney way.
** Role Models - The guy really champions Henry Iba and Don Haskins. How can you not respect his mentors?
Yet, sometimes, I think he tries to be Haskins too much...in a 'freaky' type way.
** 'The Speech' - His 'Kiss my @$$ speech is a classic.
** Point blank...3 National Championships with two different styles of play in the '70s and '80s. 'Nuff said.
** The guy can coach, respects ball, respects education. You have to give him credit for his beliefs and how he holds to them in a age where a lot of coaches and universities only give lip service in order to sell tickets and keep the NCAA off their backs.
** Went off on that kid at the end at "IU" for calling him "Knight", which led to his dismissal. I will always love his emphatic response...'It's Coach Knight!"
Every one went bonkers and overlooked that Coach Knight was demanding respect from a kid, who obviously should have bestowed some respect for someone of Knight's stature around campus.
Think about it...If he had dropped that greeting on a professor, what would have been the reaction? A step further...What would have been the reaction from Myles Brand? 'Yo, what's up Brand?' Knight was teaching the kid that some respect that should be bestowed on what the guy was and is around Indiana. What a joke.
Bobby Knight should have been able to retire in Bloomington.
So, like Feinstein, I'm torn on the middle...
Here's a good story to sway your choice on how to regard Coach Knight. During the '80s, I had a buddy who bumped into Coach Smith while lounging outside a pool in Hilton Head.
The guy knows ball, and they opened up a long convo over a drink or two. He asked Coach Smith. 'What do you think of Coach Knight?'
Coach Smith's reply was..."The only difference between me and Bobby Knight
is that he chooses to yell at his players in public. I yell at them in practice."
People love the Bobby Knight. He has 3 NCAA Rings, a Gold Medal, and now the most Wins...He's not my type of style, but he's efinitely, one of the best coaches of all-time.
He's also one of the biggest 'hams' of all-time.
P.S. Personally, my mind would always head for the hills or I would roll my eyes knowing that 'we're in for a long-run' when a coach or a boss said that he was a Bobby Knight guy. As soon as a guy would say that he was an Indiana or Bobby Knight fan, I would cringe.
Here comes the yelling. Here comes the grandstanding.
Remember, superiors who say they are Bobby Knight devotees. Those are always the guys who looked at the wrong things that Knight does...And they are the worse than Bobby Knight could hope to be. Just my thoughts on that one. Do with them with you choose.
U-S-A,
IronDog
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