The basketball world mourns the loss of Bob Knight, who has died at the age of 83. The college coach became a legend in Indiana – and showed wise foresight
In the summer of 1984, Robert Montgomery Knight proved that he knew a lot about basketball before perhaps anyone else did. It was the summer in which he led the US Olympic basketball team, which included a certain Michael Jordan, to a fitting gold medal. So far, so normal.
“He’s the best player I’ve ever seen,” Knight said pompously, even before Jordan, who had been a very good but not an outstanding college player, had played a single NBA game. Out of the way, Bill Russell, out of the way, Wilt Chamberlain, “Magic” Johnson, Larry Bird. What had sounded pretty daring in 1984 was soon to make Knight look like quite a genius.
The former forward also proved to be such a genius as a college basketball coach, a career path he took early on due to his lack of talent as a player. At the University of Indiana, he coached the famous Hoosiers between 1971 and 2000, leading them to the NCAA title three times in 1976, 1981 and 1987. In those 29 years, he won 662 games with legendary point guard Isiah Thomas and others, with only 239 losses, an impressive win rate of 73.5 percent.
Knight’s era ended because he choked a player
Knight, nicknamed “The General”, was also feared for his aggressive temper, which eventually cost him his job in 2000 after he choked one of his players. He then coached the Texas Tech team between 2001 and 2008, having started his great career as a college coach in 1963 with the Army.
Even before Knight was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006, he had received this honor in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991. On Wednesday night, his family announced that he passed away after years of illness. Knight was 83 years old.
