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Coach Bobby Knight, at left, hugs player Steve Alford after their Indiana Hoosiers won the men's college basketball national championship in 1987. Source: https://www.indystar.com (May be subject to copyright) |
Tough, intimidating, relentless, he was just like the teams that played on the court for him.
Although, I really only got to know him in the 1990s, I knew his team in 1987.
I was thinking about that team, as well as a book I read about Knight and the Hoosiers, when I heard today that he died recently.
Prelude
I couldn’t really follow college basketball. We had no cable TV on the farm, no access to the sports section of a newspaper, and were reliant on sports news from local TV stations that were heavy on hockey, football, baseball, and some professional basketball.
I couldn’t really follow college basketball. We had no cable TV on the farm, no access to the sports section of a newspaper, and were reliant on sports news from local TV stations that were heavy on hockey, football, baseball, and some professional basketball.
It was only when I got to high school in the Fall of 1984 that I heard more about college basketball. Even then it was primarily the national championship, in particular Villanova shocking Georgetown for the 1985 title. By Grade 11, I had seen some games when I visited my brother who had cable TV in Calgary, including a memorable tilt between Georgia Tech and Duke, and was accumulating some knowledge. Incidentally, that year Louisville upset Duke for the national championship.
I had also become good friends with Chris Vining who lived in Coaldale and had cable television.
In Grade 12, things were going to be different
Destiny
During that 1986-1987 college basketball season, in November of 1986, I saw this movie that became not only an instant classic, but one of my all-time favourites.
During that 1986-1987 college basketball season, in November of 1986, I saw this movie that became not only an instant classic, but one of my all-time favourites.
“Hoosiers” was based on the true story of a tiny school in Indiana in the 1950s who beat all odds and won the state championship. The state of Indiana, and its deeply rooted basketball culture, are almost like a character in the movie.
Fast forward to the NCAA basketball championship tournament in March of 1987. By then, I had seen some more games, including Syracuse who was led by this big Greek player named Rony Seikaly.
Well, I was able to follow the tournament more in 1987, to the point I knew who the Final Four teams were. Syracuse and Rony Seikaly were going to play Providence, and Indiana was going to play the upstart University of Nevada at Las Vegas Running Rebels. Everybody called them UNLV though.
Vining invited me over to watch the games, I couldn’t make the first semi-final, but we heard about it when we tuned in for the Syracuse-Providence game. Indiana had beaten UNLV and was awaiting the winner of the Orangemen and Fryers in the national championship game.
That would have been my only chance to see Indiana, but I missed it.
Syracuse went on to defeat Providence and face the Hoosiers for the championship. It came down to the wire and Indiana’s Keith Smart sank the winning basket over Rony Seikaly to give the Hoosiers the title.
I never made the connection until I saw a year-end sports show that looked back on the top stories of 1987. The announcer said Indiana seemed to be a team of destiny. After all they had a movie made about their state, with their name on it, and they won the national championship.
That is pretty cool.
The coach of that Indiana Hoosiers basketball team was named Bobby Knight.
Getting to know you
It would be another four years before I learned more about Bobby Knight. It was the 1991-1992 school year and I was living in res at the University of Alberta. I had a lot of access to cable TV and really got into the 1992 NCAA tournament.
It would be another four years before I learned more about Bobby Knight. It was the 1991-1992 school year and I was living in res at the University of Alberta. I had a lot of access to cable TV and really got into the 1992 NCAA tournament.
We had a student pub called The Ship that had one big screen TV and a lot of little ones scattered around. It was open all the time, day or night, so I watched a lot of the tournament in the Ship by myself.
Indiana was making a run and advanced all the way to the Final Four, led by a guard named Damon Bailey. That’s where I met Coach Bobby Knight, and learned just how successful he had been. He coached the Hoosiers to the 1976 title, and the 1982 championship, where his captain was Isaiah Thomas. Overall, he coached the Hoosiers from 1971 to 2000.
He had won all kinds of coaching honours including the Henry Iba Award in 1975 and 1989 as coach of the year voted on by the United States Basketball Writers Association; the Naismith College Coach of the Year in 1987; Associated Press Coach of the Year in 1975, 1976 and 1989; and Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, and 1989. He also coached the United States Men’s Basketball team to gold in the 1979 Pan American Games and the 1984 Summer Olympics.
In the book
A few years ago I really got to know Bobby Knight through a book called “A Season on the Brink” by John Feinstein. I had bought it a couple years earlier in a massive book sale put on by the Lethbridge Public Library. One day it just spoke to me, so I pulled it out and read it.
A few years ago I really got to know Bobby Knight through a book called “A Season on the Brink” by John Feinstein. I had bought it a couple years earlier in a massive book sale put on by the Lethbridge Public Library. One day it just spoke to me, so I pulled it out and read it.
I was not disappointed.
It chronicles Knight and the Hoosiers through the 1985-1986 season, and really goes behind the scenes. It shows Knight as a dedicated, intense, at times high strung, and emotional coach.
He plays head games with his players to try and get the best out of them. One example was ripping one of his team leaders and calling him the worst, and wishing Isaiah Thomas were still there. That player then talks to Thomas who tells him that Knight did the same thing to him when he played at Indiana.
The interesting thing is Knight seems to believe the histrionic and at times off the wall things he says. At that time, Damon Bailey was still in high school. Knight was disappointed enough in his own guards that he said Bailey could step in right then and play. Then he and his assistants go to see Bailey play. He’s good, but not college level yet. That would come, and Knight realized it. That was just the kind of coach he was.
The whole time I was reading “A Season the Brink” I kept thinking the same thing. The book was written a year too early, because the next year they won the national championship.
The cool thing was, I could see the seeds of that championship throughout “A Season on the Brink”.
The years after
Bobby Knight would move on to Texas Tech where he coached the Red Raiders from 2001 to 2008. When he retired, he was the winningest coach in Division I college basketball history with a record 902 wins against 371 losses for a .709 winning percentage.
Bobby Knight would move on to Texas Tech where he coached the Red Raiders from 2001 to 2008. When he retired, he was the winningest coach in Division I college basketball history with a record 902 wins against 371 losses for a .709 winning percentage.
He died on November 1, 2023.
He was 83.
Parting thoughts
Bobby Knight was a larger than life figure on the basketball court. He was renowned for his volatility. That included throwing a chair across the court, and getting into altercations with the police and players. An incident with a player ultimately cost him his job in 2000.
Bobby Knight was a larger than life figure on the basketball court. He was renowned for his volatility. That included throwing a chair across the court, and getting into altercations with the police and players. An incident with a player ultimately cost him his job in 2000.
Yet, so many of his players have a fierce loyalty for him, Wikipedia describes it as “near fanatical devotion”.
After reading “A Season on the Brink”, I can see both sides of his personality.
If nothing else, he was a dynamic personality and I do recall him making fun of himself over throwing that chair.
You put it all together and Bobby Knight really is one of the greats.
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