Bobby Knight

Bob Knight is one of the most entertaining coaches in any sport of all time. From his smart ass comments, to his dedicated work ethic, to his uncontrollable temper tantrums, he is quite the entertainer on and off the court.

Knight was born in 1940 in Massilon, Ohio and earned the nickname “the general” from his militaristic approach to the sport of college basketball.  Knight has coached at the United Stated Military Academy, Indiana University, and most recently Texas Tech, and is also the winningest coach of all time in Division I basketball.

However what sets Bob apart from the rest is his wide display of emotions while coaching on the court. He has been fined and sanctioned numerous times by the NCAA, thrown a chair across the court and even been arrested for assault as well as threatening members of the press. Knight went to The Ohio State University (my alma matter) where he graduated in 1962 while a member of the men’s basketball star among legends Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek.

Knight was quite successful at Indiana, however a string of events led to his eventual departure following an alleged grabbing of a students arm for disrespect as well as several other events that happened after IU enacted the zero tolerance policy on Knight’s behavior. He is still widely respected among IU fans.

Here are a list of alleged controversies Knight has been involved with courtesy of wikipedia.

• In 1979, Knight was arrested for assaulting a police officer during the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico. Knight was angry that a practice gymnasium was not opened to his team, which went on to a 9-0 record in the tournament. Knight was later convicted in absentia in a Puerto Rican court. However, the charges were later dropped when Indiana Governor Otis R. Bowen refused to cooperate in extraditing Knight to the island commonwealth.^[25]

• In 1985, Knight threw a chair across the court to protest a referee’s call during a game against the rival Purdue Boilermakers.^[26] Knight was suspended for one game and received two years’ probation from the Big Ten Conference.

• 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.”^[27] Knight’s comment was in reference to an Indiana basketball game in which he felt the referees were making poor calls against the Hoosiers.

• Knight allegedly kicked his own son, Pat Knight, during a 1993 game (Knight claims he actually kicked a chair).^[25]

• Knight was shown berating an NCAA volunteer at a 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.”^[28]

• In February 2004, Knight made national headlines when he had an argument with then Texas Tech University Chancellor David Smith at a Lubbock supermarket.^[29]

• 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.^[30]

• 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 as of yet hasn’t 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.”^[25]

• 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.^[31] Knight denied the allegations. An argument between the two men was recorded via camera phone and aired later on television.^[32]

Also I have collected a few interesting videos of Bob Knight off of Youtube.

Bob Knight Golf Video Outtakes (Hilarious)

Random Knight Quotes

Knight Losing Temper