Bob Knight

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Bobby Knight (center)

Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940 in Massillon , Ohio ) is a retired American basketball coach . Knight, known as a choleric, is one of the most successful coaches in National Collegiate Athletic Association history . In 1984 he coached the US Olympic gold selection at the Los Angeles Games . In 1991, Knight was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach .

biography

After an inconspicuous high school career, Knight received a 1958 scholarship from Ohio State University . In 1960 he won the NCAA championship , if only as a bench player, alongside John Havlicek and the exceptional player Jerry Lucas . Until 1962 they played two more times in the final. Knight knew his talent would not be enough for the NBA , so he planned a career as a coach. At that time he learned many of the intricacies of basketball from legendary coach Fred Taylor .

In 1965 he began his career as head coach at USMA in West Point . His team played extremely well, and so the major college programs took notice of him. One of his players was Mike Krzyzewski , who would later also become a successful coach. In 1971 he was offered the head coach position at Indiana University and accepted. In the 75/76 season, his team managed the feat of remaining undefeated for the entire season. At just under 35, he was the youngest college coach to lead his team to an NCAA Division I basketball championship . In 1981 and 1987 the team won two more titles. By 2000 he was able to celebrate over 650 victories with Indiana.

On September 11, 2000, Knight was fired by then-Indiana University President Myles Brand after attacking a student. It was just one of many scandals in Bobby Knight's career. In February 1985 he threw a chair on the pitch during a game with his team after receiving a technical foul and was expelled from the hall. He was also known for his often tense relationship with journalists. Knight made no secret of his aversion to this profession and often used language permeated with swear words to express this attitude. A few months after his expulsion, he got the coaching position at Texas Tech University . However, he trained this team with moderate success. On January 16, 2008, he took his 900th coaching victory, a mark never before reached by any other coach.

In February 2008, Knight announced his retirement as a coach. His son Patrick then took over the coaching position at Texas Tech University.

In late April 2016, Bob Knight expressed his support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump . Since then, Knight has been mentioned anecdotally and positively in Trump's speeches.

See also

literature

  • Steve Alford: Playing for Knight. My six seasons with coach Knight. Simon & Schuster, New York 1990, ISBN 0-671-67771-3 . (engl.)
  • John Feinstein: A season on the brink. A year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers. Macmillan, New York 1986, ISBN 0-02-537230-0 . (engl.)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jean-Sebastien Blondel: Bobby Knight throws a chair (High Quality). March 17, 2010, accessed July 7, 2019 .
  2. diStefano87: Bobby Knight Top 10 Soundbites. June 3, 2011, accessed July 7, 2019 .