Robert Montgomery Knight is known for his shocking moments. This week he added to those moments by abruptly resigning as Head Basketball Coach at Texas Tech University. Many people speculated that Coach Knight was near the end of his coaching career, but no one expected it to happen with games left in the 2007-2008 season. He has said he is tired of coaching and right now seems like the perfect opportunity to let his son start his head coaching career.
Bobby Knight is the winningest coach is Division I college basketball. He has won 3 national championships. He has won an Olympic gold medal. When it comes to college basketball coaching Bobby Knight has done it all. He was an innovator of many concepts used by the majority of coaches. Most of his unique ideas came in the area of man to man defense, but he was also one of the first coaches to use the motion offense.
Of course, all of Coach Knight's accolades and accomplishments are overshadowed by his outrageous temper. His temper got him in trouble on and off the court. Although, I would argue while he was on the court he used his temper in a controlled way to motivate his players and to intimidate officials. Knight's temper did get out of control on a few occasions though. He is not one to be disrespected. Bobby was never one to let things slide by him or to just ignore little things. That is one reason why he was such a great coach, but also why he got in trouble often.
I am a lifelong Indiana University fan. I grew up watching Indiana basketball and Bobby Knight. It was my dream to play for him. So, I am little bit biased towards him. I have his book "Knight-My Story" and he puts his own spin on events that have happened to him. I love the book though. He is a master of human psychology. He wanted to break every player down and build them into a great competitor just like the military does. Knight started off his coaching career at West Point so that is probably the basis of that technique.
As a coach myself, I hope Bob Knight is remembered for his whole coaching career and not just his worst moments. If you judge any persons' life on their worst moments then everyone will appear to be less than admirable. I will remember Bob Knight for getting the most out of his players, on and off the court. He admitted in his book that he often skipped classes at Ohio State, but he checks to make sure his players went to class everyday. He did not want his players to make the mistakes he did. I know I will always think of Coach Knight as one of the greatest coaches of all-time. He won championships without ever breaking a single recruiting violation. Today, that is unheard of in major college basketball. Coach Bob Knight is a coaching legend and he should be remembered for that.
