Who is Robert Montgomery Knight? The basketball world knows him as Bobby Knight. he is a retired
American basketball coach. Nicknamed "The General", Knight won 902
NCAA Division I
men's college basketball games, most all-time at the time of his
retirement and currently third all-time behind his former player,
Mike Krzyzewski and Coach
Jim Boeheim of Syracuse. He is most well known as the head coach of the
Indiana Hoosiers from 1971–2000. He also coached at
Texas Tech (2001–2008) and at
Army (1965–1971).
[1]
While at Indiana, Knight led his teams to three
NCAA championships, one
National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship, and 11
Big Ten Conference
championships. He received the National Coach of the Year honor four
times and the Big Ten Coach of the Year honor eight times. In 1984, he
coached the
USA men's Olympic team to a gold medal, becoming one of only three basketball coaches to win an NCAA title, NIT title, and an Olympic gold medal.
[2]
Knight was one of college basketball's most successful and innovative coaches, having perfected and popularized the
motion offense.
He has also been praised for running clean programs (none of his teams
were ever sanctioned by the NCAA for recruiting violations) and
graduating most of his players. However, Knight has also attracted
controversy; he famously threw a chair across the court during a game,
was once arrested for
assault, and regularly displayed a combative nature during encounters with members of the press.
[3] Knight remains "the object of near fanatical devotion" from his former players and Indiana fans.
[4]
In 2008, Knight joined
ESPN as a men's
college basketball studio analyst during Championship Week and for coverage of the NCAA Tournament.
[5] For the
2008–09 season, he joined ESPN as a part-time color commentator as well as continuing his studio analyst duties.
Playing career
Knight was born in Massillon, Ohio ,October 25, 1940 and grew up in
Orrville, Ohio.
[6] Knight began his career as a player at
Orrville High School. He continued under
Basketball Hall of Fame coach
Fred Taylor at
Ohio State in 1958. Despite being a star player in high school, he played a reserve role as a forward on the
1960 Ohio State Buckeyes team that won the NCAA Championship and featured future Hall of Fame players
John Havlicek and
Jerry Lucas. The Buckeyes lost to the
Cincinnati Bearcats in each of the next two
NCAA Championship games, of which Knight was also a part.
Due in part to the star power of those Ohio State teams, playing time
was usually scarce for Knight, but that did not prevent him from making
an impact; in the 1961 NCAA Championship game, Knight came off the
bench with 1:41 on the clock and Cincinnati leading Ohio State, 61-59.
In the words of then-Ohio State
Frank Truitt,
assistant coach
To which Truitt replied, "Sit down, you hot dog. You're lucky you're even on the floor."
[7]
In addition to lettering in basketball at Ohio State, it has been claimed that Knight also lettered in football and baseball;
[8] however, the official list of Ohio State football letter earners does not include Knight.
[9] Knight graduated with a degree in history and government in 1962.
Army Black Knights
After graduation in 1962, Knight coached junior varsity basketball at
Cuyahoga Falls High School in Ohio for one year.
[10] Knight then enlisted in the
U.S. Army and accepted an assistant coaching position with the
Army Black Knights
in 1963, where, two years later, he was named the head coach at the
relatively young age of 24. In six seasons at West Point, Knight won 102
games, with his first as a head coach coming against
Worcester Polytechnic Institute. One of his players was
Mike Krzyzewski, who would later serve as his assistant before becoming a Hall of Fame head coach at
Duke.
Indiana University Hoosiers
In 1971 the
Indiana University Hoosiers
hired Knight as head coach. Because of his time spent coaching at Army
and his disciplinarian nature, Knight earned the nickname "The General."
During his 29 years as head coach at Indiana, the Hoosiers won 662
games, including 22 seasons of 20 or more wins, while losing but 239, a
remarkable .735 winning percentage. In 24 NCAA tournament appearances at
Indiana, Hoosier teams under Bob Knight won 42 of 63 games (.667),
winning titles in
1975-76,
1980-81, and
1986-87, while losing in the semi-finals in 1973 and 1992.
1970s
In
1972–73, Knight's second year as coach, Indiana won the Big Ten championship and reached the Final Four, but lost to
UCLA. The following season, 1973–74, Indiana once again captured a Big Ten title. In the
1974-75 and
1975-76,
Knight's teams were undefeated in the regular season and won
37-consecutive Big Ten games on their way to their fourth conference
title in a row. The
1974-75 Hoosiers swept the entire Big Ten by an average of 22.8 points per game. However, in a 83-82 win against
Purdue they lost consensus All-American forward
Scott May to a broken left arm. With May playing just 7 mins,
[11] the No. 1 Hoosiers lost to
Kentucky 92-90 in the
Midwest Regional. The following season,
1975–76, the Hoosiers went the entire season and
1976 NCAA tournament without a single loss, beating
Michigan
86–68 in the title game. Immediately after the game, Knight lamented
that "it should have been two." The 1976 Hoosiers remains the last
undefeated NCAA Division I men's basketball team.
[12][13] Indiana won the
1979 NIT championship.
two following seasons,
1980s
The 1979-80 Hoosiers won the Big Ten championship and advanced to the
1980 Sweet Sixteen. The following season, in
1980-81, star-guard
Isiah Thomas and Knight's Hoosiers once again won a conference title and won the
1981 NCAA tournament,
Knight's second national title. In 1982–1983, Knight's No. 1 ranked
Hoosiers were favorites to win another national championship. However
with an injury to All-American
Ted Kitchel
mid-season, the Hoosiers prospects were grim. Knight asked for fan
support to rally around the team, which ultimately won the Big Ten
championship. Nevertheless in the tournament Kitchel's absence was felt
and the team lost to Kentucky in the
1983 Sweet Sixteen.Knight and his
1985-86 team were profiled in a best-selling book
A Season on the Brink. To write it Knight granted author
John Feinstein
almost unprecedented access to the Indiana basketball program, as well
as insights into Knight's private life. Feinstein depicts a coach who is
quick with a violent temper, but also one who never cheats and strictly
follows all of the NCAA's rules. The following season, in
1986-87, Knight won a share of the Big Ten title and his third national championship against
Syracuse in the
1987 NCAA tournament.
[14] In the 1988–1989 season the Hoosiers again won a Big Ten championship.
1990s
From 1990-91 through
1992-93,
the Hoosiers posted 87 victories, the most by any Big Ten team in a
three-year span, breaking the mark of 86 set by Coach Knight's Indiana
teams of 1974-76. Teams from these three seasons spent all but two of
the 53 poll weeks in the top 10, and 38 of them in the top 5. They
captured two Big Ten crowns in 1990-91 and 1992–93, and during the
1991-92 season reached the
Final Four. During the 1992-93 season, the 31-4 Hoosiers finished the season at the top of the
AP Poll, but were
Kansas in the
Elite Eight.
defeated by
Throughout the mid and late 1990s Knight continued to experience
success with continual NCAA tournament appearances and a minimum of 19
wins each season. However, 1993 would be Knight's last conference
championship and 1994 would be his last trip to the Sweet Sixteen.
Moreover, his portrayal in the media often brought as much controversy
to the school as success.
Dismissal
On March 14, 2000, just before Indiana was to begin play in the NCAA
tournament, the CNN/SI network ran a piece on Knight in which former
player
Neil Reed claimed he had been choked by Knight in a 1997 practice.
[15] Knight denied the claims in the story. However, less than a month later,
CNN Sports Illustrated aired a tape of an IU practice from 1997 that appeared to show Knight placing his hand on the neck of Neil Reed.
[16]
"When my time on Earth is gone, and my activities here are past, I
want they bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass."
—
Bob Knight, March 1994[17]
In response, Indiana University president
Myles Brand announced that spring he had adopted a "zero tolerance" policy with regard to Bob Knight's behavior.
[18] Later in the year, in September 2000, Indiana
freshman
Kent Harvey reportedly said, "Hey, Knight, what's up?" to Knight.
According to Harvey, Knight then grabbed him by the arm and lectured him
for not showing proper respect, insisting that Harvey address him as
either "Mr. Knight" or "Coach Knight" instead of simply "Knight."
[16]
Brand stated that this incident was only one of numerous complaints
that occurred after the zero-tolerance policy had been
[16]
placed on Knight.
He asked Knight to resign on September 10. When Knight refused, Brand
relieved him of his coaching duties effective immediately. Later that
evening, a crowd of thousands of students swarmed Bloomington in
protest, burning Brand in effigy.
Harvey was supported by some and vilified by many who claim he had
intentionally set up Knight. Kent Harvey's stepfather, Mark Shaw, was a
former Bloomington-area radio talk show host and Knight critic.
[19]
On September 13, Knight said goodbye to a crowd of some 6,000
supporters in Dunn Meadow at Indiana University. He asked that they not
hold a grudge against Harvey and that they continue to support the
basketball team.
[20] Knight's firing made national headlines, including the cover of
Sports Illustrated and around the clock coverage on ESPN. It was also covered heavily on major news programs such as CBS News and CNN.
International coaching
In 1979 Knight guided the United States Pan American team to a gold medal in Puerto Rico. In 1984 Knight led the
U.S. national team to a gold medal in the
Olympic Games as coach of the
1984 basketball team (coaches do not receive medals in the Olympics). Players on the team included
Michael Jordan and Knight's Indiana player and protege
Steve Alford.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
After taking a season off following his dismissal from Indiana, all
the while on the lookout for vacancies, Knight accepted the head
coaching job at
Texas Tech, though his hiring was opposed by a group of faculty led by Walter Schaller.
[21]
At the press conference introducing him, Knight quipped, "This is
without question the most comfortable red sweater I've had on in six
years."
[22]
Knight quickly improved the program, which had not been to an NCAA tournament since 1996. He led the
Red Raiders
to postseason appearances in each of his first four years at the school
(three NCAA
Boston College in the first round. The best performance by the Red Raiders under Knight came in 2005 when they advanced as far as the
Sweet Sixteen.
In both 2006 and 2007 under Knight, Texas Tech defeated two Top
10-ranked teams in consecutive weeks. During Knight's first six years at
Texas Tech, the Red Raiders won 126 games, an average of 21 wins per
season.
Championship tournaments and one NIT). After a rough 2006
season, the team improved in 2007, finishing 21–13 and again making it
to the NCAA Championship tournament, where it lost to
On February 4, 2008, Bob Knight retired as head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. His son
Pat Knight,
the head coach designate since 2005, was immediately named as his
successor. The younger Knight stated that, after many years of coaching,
his father was exhausted and ready to retire.
[23]
Just after achieving his 900th win, Knight handed the job over to Pat
in the mid-season in part to allow him to get acquainted with coaching
the team earlier, instead of having him wait until October, the start of
the next season.
[24] Following retirement Knight continued living in Lubbock.
[25]
Life After Coaching
In 2008, Knight was hired as a studio analyst and occasional color commentator by ESPN.
[26]
In November 2012, he called an Indiana Men's Basketball game for the
first time, something he had previously refused to do. Current
Indiana Hoosiers Men's basketball coach
Tom Crean
has reached out to Knight in an attempt to get him to visit the school
again. Knight has thus far rebuffed all attempts to bring him back to
[27]
Bloomington.
Coaching philosophy
Bob Knight was an innovator of the
motion offense, which he perfected and popularized.
[28]
The system emphasizes post players setting screens and perimeter
players passing the ball until a teammate becomes open for an
uncontested
jump shot or
lay-up. This required players to be unselfish, disciplined, and effective in setting and using
screens
to get open. Knight's Army background and his focus on fundamentals,
strict discipline, and precision earned him the nickname "General".
Knight's motion offense didn't take shape until his time at Indiana.
Prior to that, at Army, he ran a "reverse action" that involved
reversing the ball from one side of the floor to the other and screening
along with it.
[28] According to Knight, it was a "West Coast offense" that
Pete Newell used exclusively during his coaching career. After being exposed to the
Princeton offense,
Knight instilled more cutting with the offense he employed, which
evolved into the motion offense that he ran for most of his career.
[28]
Knight continued to develop the offense, instituting different cuts
over the years and putting his players in different scenarios.
Knight was well known for the extreme preparation he put into each
game and practice. He was often quoted as saying, "Most people have the
will to win, few have the will to prepare to win."
[29]
Often during practice, Knight would instruct his players to a certain
spot on the floor and give them options of what to do based on how the
defense might react.
[28] In contrast to set plays, Knight's offense was designed to react according to the defense.
The
3-point shot
was adopted nationally in the NCAA in 1986, mid-way through Knight's
coaching career. Although he opposed the rule change throughout his
life, it did compliment his offense well by improving the spacing on the
floor.
[28] Knight's offense also emphasized a two-count.
[28]
Players in the post are expected to try and post in the paint for two
seconds and if they don't receive the ball they go set a screen. Players
with the ball are expected to hold the ball for two seconds to see
where they are going to take it. Screens are supposed to be held for two
seconds, as well.
On defense Knight was known for emphasizing tenacious "man-to-man"
defense where defenders contest every pass and every shot, and to help
teammates when needed. However, Knight has also incorporated a zone
defense periodically after eschewing that defense for the first two
decades of his coaching career.
[30]
Knight's coaching also included a firm emphasis on academics. All but
four of his four-year players completed degrees, a ratio of nearly 98
percent. Nearly 80 percent of his players graduated compared to the
national average of 42 percent for Division I schools.
[31]
Legacy
Accomplishments
Bob Knight's all time coaching record is 902-371. His 902 wins in
NCAA Division I men's college basketball games is third all-time to Jim Boeheim, and his former player,
Mike Krzyzewski. Knight achieved his 880th career win on January 1, 2007 and passed retired North Carolina coach
Dean Smith
for most career victories, a title he held until his win total was
surpassed by Krzyzewski on November 15, 2011.
Knight is the youngest
coach to reach 200 (age 35), 300 (age 40) and 400 (age 44) wins. He was
also among the youngest to reach other milestones of 500 (age 48) and
600 (age 52) wins.
Texas Tech's participation in the
2007 NCAA Tournament gave Knight more NCAA Tournaments appearances than any other coach.
[32] He is the only coach to win the NCAA, the NIT, an
Olympic Gold medal, and a
Pan American Games Gold medal.
[32] Knight is also one of only three people, along with
Dean Smith and
Joe B. Hall, who had both played on and coached a winning NCAA championship basketball team.
Recognition
Knight received a number of personal honors during and after his
coaching career. He was named the National Coach of the Year four times
(1975, 1976, 1987, 1989) and Big Ten Coach of the Year eight times
(1973, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1989, 1992, 1993). In 1975 he was a
unanimous selection as National Coach of the Year, an honor he was
accorded again in 1976 by Associated Press, United Press International,
and Basketball Weekly. In 1987 he was the first person to be honored
with the
Naismith Coach of the Year Award.
In 1989 he garnered National Coach of the Year honors by the AP, UPI,
and the United States Basketball Writers Association. Knight was
inducted into the
Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991.
On November 17, 2006, Knight was recognized for his impact on college basketball as a member of the founding class of the
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The following year he was the recipient of the
Naismith Award for Men's Outstanding Contribution to Basketball.
[33] Knight was also inducted into the
Army Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 2008) and the
Indiana Hoosiers
athletics Hall of Fame (Class of 2009). In August 2003, he was honored
as the first inductee in The Vince Lombardi Titletown Legends.
Coaching tree
A number of assistant coaches, players, and managers of Knight have gone on to be coaches. Among them are Hall of Fame
Duke coach
Mike Krzyzewski, UCLA coach
Steve Alford and NBA coaches
Randy Wittman,
Mike Woodson,
Keith Smart, and
Lawrence Frank.
In the media
Books about Knight
In 1986 author
John Feinstein published
A Season on the Brink, which detailed the
1985-86 season of the
Indiana Hoosiers.
Granted almost unprecedented access to the Indiana basketball program,
as well as insights into Knight's private life, the book quickly became a
major best-seller and spawned a new genre, as a legion of imitators
wrote works covering a single year of a sports franchise. In the book
Feinstein depicts a coach who is quick with a violent temper, but also
one who never cheats and strictly follows all of the NCAA's rules.
Two years later author Joan Mellen penned the book
Bob Knight: His Own Man (
ISBN 0-380-70809-4),
A Season on the Brink.
Mellen deals with seemingly all the causes celebres in Knight's career
and presents the view that he is more sinned against than sinning.
in part to rebut Feinstein's
A number of close associates and friends of Knight have also written books about him. Former player and current
UCLA head basketball coach
Steve Alford wrote
Playing for Knight: My Six Seasons with Bobby Knight, published in 1990.
Knight's autobiography, written with longtime friend and sports journalist Bob Hammel, was titled
Knight: My Story and published in 2003. Three years later Steve Delsohn and Mark Heisler wrote
Bob Knight: An Unauthorized Biography.
Film and television
Knight has appeared or been featured in numerous films and television productions. In
1994 a feature film titled
Blue Chips
was about Pete Bell, a volatile but honest college basketball coach
under pressure to win who decides to blatantly violate NCAA rules to
field a competitive team after a sub-par season. It starred
Nick Nolte as Bell and NBA star
Shaquille O'Neal
as Neon Bodeaux, a once-in-a-lifetime player Bell woos to his school
with gifts and other perks. The coach's temper and wardrobe were modeled
after Knight's, though at no time has Knight been known to illegally
recruit. Knight himself appears in the movie and coaches against Nolte
in the film's climactic game.
ESPN's first feature-length film was
A Season on the Brink, a 2002 TV adaptation from John Feinstein's book. In the movie Knight is played by veteran character actor
Brian Dennehy. ESPN also featured Knight in a
reality show titled
Knight School, which followed a handful of
Texas Tech students as they competed for the right to join the basketball team as a non-scholarship player.
Knight made a cameo appearance as himself in the 2003 film
Anger Management. In 2008, Knight appeared in a commercial as part of
Volkswagen's Das Auto series where Max, a 1964 black
Beetle
interviews famous people. When Knight talked about Volkswagen winning
the best resale value award in 2008, Max replied, "At least one of us is
winning a title this year." This prompted Knight to throw his chair
[34]
off
the stage and walk out saying, "I may not be retired."
Knight also made an appearance in a TV commercial for
Guitar Hero: Metallica with fellow coaches
Mike Krzyzewski,
Rick Pitino, and
Roy Williams, in a parody of
Tom Cruise in
Risky Business.
[35]
In 2009, Knight produced 3 instructional coaching DVD libraries—on
motion offense, man-to-man defense, and instilling mental toughness—with
Championship Productions.
Family and charity
Knight married Nancy Lou on April 17, 1963 and the two divorced in 1985. Together they had two sons, Tim and
Pat. Pat played at Indiana from 1991–95 and is now head coach at
Lamar. In 1988 Knight married Karen Vieth Edgar, a former Oklahoma high school basketball coach.
Knight has a high regard for education and has made generous
donations to the schools he has been a part of, particularly libraries.
At
Indiana University
Knight endowed two chairs, one in history and one in law. He
also
raised nearly $5 million for the Indiana University library system by
championing a library fund to support the library's activities. The fund
was ultimately named in his honor.
When Knight came to Texas Tech in 2001, he gave $10,000 to the
library, the first gift to the Coach Knight Library Fund which has now
collected over $300,000.
[36] On November 29, 2007, the Texas Tech library honored this with
A Legacy of Giving: The Bob Knight Exhibit.
Criticism and controversy
1970s
- It was reported (although years after the incident) that Knight
choked and punched IU's longtime sports information director, Kit
Klingelhoffer, in the 1970s, over a news release that upset the coach.[6]
- On December 7, 1974, Indiana and Kentucky met in the regular season
in Bloomington with a 98-74 Indiana win. Near the end of the game, Bob
Knight went to the Kentucky bench where the official was standing to
complain about a call. Before he left, Knight hit Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall in the back of the head.[37]
UK's assistant coach Lynn Nance, a former FBI agent who was about 6
feet 5 inches, had to be restrained by Hall from hitting Knight. Hall
later said, "It publicly humiliated me."[38]
Knight said the slap to the head was something he has done,
"affectionately" to his own players for years. "But maybe someone would
not like that," he said. "If Joe didn't like it, I offer an apology. I
don't apologize for the intent." ... "Hall and I have been friends for a
long time," Knight said. "If he wants to dissolve the friendship,
that's up to him."[39]
Knight blamed the furor on Hall, noting in his inimitable style, "If it
was meant to be malicious, I'd have blasted the fucker into the seats."[40]
- During the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Knight
was accused of assaulting a police officer while coaching the US
Basketball team before a practice session. He was later convicted in
absentia to a six-month jail sentence, but extradition efforts by the
Puerto Rican government were not successful.[41]
1980s
- In a game at Bloomington on January 31, 1981 between Indiana and Purdue, Hoosier star Isiah Thomas allegedly hit Purdue guard Roosevelt Barnes in what some critics described as a "sucker punch".[42]
Video replay shown by Knight later showed Barnes had mistakenly thrown
the first punch, and that Thomas was merely reacting to this. When the
two schools played their second game of the season at Purdue on February
7, 1981, Knight claimed a number of derisive chants were directed at
him, his wife, and Indiana University. In response Knight invited Purdue
athletic director George King on his weekly television show to discuss
the matter, but King declined. Therefore, in place of King, Knight
brought onto the show a "jackass" (male donkey) wearing a Purdue hat as a representative of Purdue.[43][44] The 1980–81 Hoosiers would go on to win the 1981 NCAA National Championship, the school's fourth national title.
- On February 23, 1985 in game at Bloomington between Purdue and
Indiana, with just five minutes into the game, a scramble for a loose
ball resulted in a foul call on Indiana's Daryl Thomas. Knight, irate,
insisted the call should have been for a jump ball and ultimately received a technical foul. Purdue's Steve Reid stepped to the free throw line
to shoot the resulting free throws, but before he could Knight grabbed a
red plastic chair from Indiana's bench and threw it across the floor
toward the basket in front of Reid. Knight was ejected from the game. He
apologized for his actions the next day and was given a one-game
suspension and two years' probation from the Big Ten.
Since the incident, Knight has occasionally joked about throwing the
chair by saying that he saw an old lady standing on the opposite
sideline and threw her the chair so she could sit down.[45][46]
- Women's groups nationwide were outraged by Knight's comments during an April 1988 interview with Connie Chung in which he said, "I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it."[47]
Knight's comment was in reference to an Indiana basketball game in
which he felt the referees were making poor calls against the Hoosiers.
1990s
- At a practice leading up to an Indiana-Purdue game in West Lafayette
in 1991, Bob Knight unleashed a torrent of expletives and threats
designed to motivate his Indiana team. In one portion he exclaims he is
"f**king tired of losing to Purdue." Unknown to most, someone was
secretly taping the speech. The
speech has since gone viral and has over
1.84 million views on YouTube alone.[48] Although the source of who taped the speech remains unknown, many former players suspect it was former manager and current NBA coach Lawrence Frank.[49]
- In March 1992 prior to the NCAA regional finals, controversy erupted after Knight playfully mock whipped Indiana players Calbert Cheaney
and Pat Graham during practice. The bullwhip had been given to Knight
as a gift from his team. Several black leaders complained at the racial
connotations of the act (Cheaney is black.)[50]
- In January 1993, Knight mentioned the arrival of Ivan Renko
to his team, as a trap to expose unreputable basketball recruiting
experts. Even though Renko was completely fictitious, several recruiting
services started listing him as a prospect.
- Knight was shown berating an NCAA volunteer at a March 1995
post-game press conference following a 65–60 loss to Missouri in the
first round of the NCAA tournament held in Boise, Idaho. The volunteer,
Rance Pugmire, informed the press that Knight would not be attending the
press conference, when in reality, Knight was running a few minutes
late and had planned on attending per NCAA rules. Knight was shown
saying: "You've only got two people that are going to tell you I'm not
going to be here. One is our SID [Sports Information Director], and the
other is me. Who the hell told you I wasn't going to be here? I'd like
to know. Do you have any idea who it was?...Who?...They were from
Indiana, right?...No, they weren't from Indiana, and you didn't get it
from anybody from Indiana, did you?...No, I—I'll handle this the way I
want to handle it now that I'm here. You (EXPLETIVE) it up to begin
with. Now just sit there or leave. I don't give (EXPLETIVE) what you do.
Now back to the game."[51]
- Former IU player Neil Reed
alleged that Knight had grabbed him by the neck in a choking manner
during a 1997 practice. A videotape of the incident was shown on CNN.[6]
2000s
- On February 19, 2000, Clarence Doninger, Knight's boss, alleged to
have been physically threatened by the coach during a confrontation
after a game.[6]
- An IU investigation inquired about an allegation in which Knight
berated and physically intimidated a university secretary, once throwing
a potted plant in anger, showering her with glass and debris. The
University later asked the coach to issue an apology to the secretary.[6]
- It was alleged that Knight attacked assistant coach Ron Felling,
throwing him out of a chair after overhearing him criticizing the
basketball program in a phone conversation.[6]
- On September 8, 2000, IU freshman Kent Harvey told campus police
Knight grabbed him roughly by the arm and berated him for speaking to
the coach disrespectfully. Knight admitted putting his hand on the
student's arm and lecturing him on civility, but denied that he was
rough or raised his voice. The coach was fired from IU two days later.[6]
- Two days after Knight was fired from Indiana University, Jeremy Schaap of ESPN
interviewed him and discussed his time at Indiana. Towards the end of
the interview, Knight talked about his son, Patrick, who had also been
dismissed by the university, wanting an opportunity to be a head coach.
Schaap, thinking that Knight was finished, attempted to move on to
another subject, but Knight insisted on continuing about his son. Schaap
repeatedly tried to ask another question when Knight shifted the
conversation to Schaap's style of interviewing, notably chastising him
about interruptions. Knight then commented (referring to Schaap's
father, Dick Schaap), "You've got a long way to go to be as good as your dad!"[52]
- In March 2006, a student's heckling at Baylor University
resulted in Knight having to be restrained by a police officer. The
incident was not severe enough to warrant any action from the Big 12 Conference.[53]
- On November 13, 2006, Knight was shown allegedly hitting player
Michael Prince under the chin to
get him to make eye contact. Although
Knight didn't comment on the incident afterwards and has not yet done
so, Prince, his parents, and Texas Tech Athletic Director Gerald Myers
insisted that Knight did nothing wrong and that he merely lifted
Prince's chin and told him, "Hold your head up and don't worry about
mistakes. Just play the game." Prince commented, "He was trying to teach
me and I had my head down so he raised my chin up. He was telling me to
go out there and don't be afraid to make mistakes. He said I was being
too hard on myself."[54]
- On October 21, 2007, James Simpson of Lubbock, Texas,
accused Knight of firing a shotgun in his direction after he yelled at
Knight and another man for hunting too close to his home.[55] Knight denied the allegations. An argument between the two men was recorded via camera phone and aired later on television.[56]
- On December 17, 2009, Knight insulted longtime rival Kentucky and its coach John Calipari,
saying, "We've gotten into this situation where integrity is really
lacking and that's why I'm glad I'm not coaching. You see we've got a
coach at Kentucky, who put two schools [UMass and Memphis] on probation and he's still coaching. I really don't understand that."
2010s
- On April 18, 2011, video surfaced showing Knight responding to a question concerning John Calipari and the University of Kentucky men's basketball team by stating that in the previous season,
Kentucky made an Elite Eight appearance with "five players who had not
attended a single class that semester." These claims were later
disproven by the University and the players in question, including Patrick Patterson, who graduated in three years, and John Wall, who finished the semester in question with a 3.5 GPA.[57]
Knight later apologized for his comments stating, "My overall point is
that 'one-and-dones' are not healthy for college basketball. I should
not have made it personal to Kentucky and its players and I apologize."[58]
Head coaching record
Source:
[59][60]
Source:
[61]
To see more of Who Is click here
In the balance beam final,
Raisman won the bronze medal. She initially scored 14.966, but after
review, the judges gave her an extra tenth to her routine's difficulty.
As a result, Raisman scored 15.066, matching Romanian Cătălina Ponor for third place, and in the tie-breaking procedure, which prioritizes execution score, Raisman scored higher.[64][65]
She said, "I felt really good on my beam routine today and I'm happy
that it was good enough for bronze. This day has been so crazy and
really special. I am really excited to celebrate with my family and
friends tonight."[66]
