Bob Knight and the Legacy of a Flawed Genius

Bob Knight passed away at 83 years-old on Wednesday and a deluge of tributes and obituaries poured in. Depending on the viewpoint, Knight was a basketball genius, a thoughtful friend, a brutal bully, a misunderstood savant or a volatile tyrant. In reality, the Hall of Fame coach wasn’t any of those things. He was all of them. Like any of us, his life can’t be put into one box or another. He was a complex, complicated figure. So who was Bob Knight? It’s left to us to define his legacy.

How you view Knight depends largely on how you came to know him. I’m a proud Indiana alum, and can tell you opinions on the legendary coach are decidedly mixed in my world. Those who grew up in the state while Knight was coaching the Hoosiers largely view him as a mythical figure and revered hero. Those who went to Indiana while he coached see him largely the same way, though slightly more human depending on the years they where there. Those of us who came after see Knight far differently, especially if we didn’t grow up in the state. Many of my friends were on campus when Knight was fired in 2000. At the time of his ouster, most of the world’s reaction was “finally!” Those in Bloomington started a riot over the news. So, yeah, it’s complicated.

Robert Montgomery Knight was born in Massillon, Ohio, in 1940. He was certainly of another age. Like many great coaches of his generation, he had a far different view of his profession than those who came after. His perspective on life and the sport he loved was forged through his time at Ohio State, where he played with legends on some incredible Buckeyes teams. He played on the 1960 national championship squad which featured future Hall of Famers Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek and was coached by Hall of Famer Fred Taylor. While Knight didn’t play much during his time at Ohio State, he was certainly memorable.

My father once got a chance to meet Lucas and heard him tell a story about Knight. After games, Lucas — a superstar and three-time All-American — would head back to his room where Knight would be waiting. Exhausted from his on-court exertions, Lucas would simply want to go to sleep, but Knight would badger him all night, wanting to break down every play from each game in detail with a near photographic memory of the action. He was basketball nerd through and through. That was Bob Knight.

A few years ago I wore an Indiana basketball shirt to my gym in San Diego and an elderly gentleman stopped me and asked if I had gone there. After we introduced ourselves, and I told him what I did for a living, he sheepishly informed me he had played for Indiana in 1960. After a winding conversation about his experiences I asked about facing that 1960 Ohio State team. He gushed about Havlicek and Lucas, but when I asked about Knight his eyes darkened a tad, before he broke into a wry grin. “He never stopped f–king talking during games, even when he wasn’t playing. Then when he got off the bench he’d foul everyone. He was just a battering ram. No skill.” Then he paused, “But he was brilliant.” That was Bob Knight.

After graduating from Ohio State in 1962, Knight coached high school basketball for a year before enlisting in the U.S. Army from 1963 to 1965, then the reserves from 1965 to 1969. While in the Army, he took a coaching position at West Point and was eventually named head coach of Army in 1965 at just 24 years old. In five seasons he went 102-50, which got the attention of Indiana.

He took over the Hoosiers in 1971 and they reached the Final Four in his second season. By the time his fourth year rolled around, Indiana went undefeated in the regular season, and if star Scott May hadn’t suffered an injury during the NCAA Tournament, Knight & Co. likely would won the title instead of bowing out in the Elite Eight. No matter, the Hoosiers ran it back during the 1975-76 season and went undefeated on their way to a national title. That team remains the last men’s Division I college basketball team to go unbeaten. That 63-1 record is still the best two-season stretch in college basketball history.

In 29 seasons at Indiana, Knight led the Hoosiers to three national titles, 11 Big Ten titles, five Final Four appearances and a .735 winning percentage. Numbers don’t do that stretch justice, though. It wasn’t the wins, it was how they came. Knight’s teams played with an edge few can find these days. They were tough, hard-nosed, smart and ran his brilliant version of the motion offense to perfection. Knight’s Hoosiers were unselfish, disciplined and, while talented, often played above their level due to their togetherness. Watching Indiana during Knight’s heyday was like seeing a symphony at its peak, with a genius conductor directing the action. It was a sight to behold. He also took pride in two things above all others: His program never cheated and his players graduated. Whether they liked him or not, his peers respected the program he ran. His success was so profound that he…