# R.I.P. Bobby Knight (1940-2023) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** basketball-nba\ **Created:** [November 1, 2023, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446 "2023-11-01T23:13:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/1 "2023-11-01T23:13:08Z")
Bobby Knight, the sixth-winningest coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball, has died at the age of 83. > **[Basketball coaching great Bob Knight dies at 83](https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/38796141/legendary-basketball-coach-bob-knight-dies-83)** > > Bob Knight, the sixth-winningest coach in Division I men's college basketball history whose Hall of Fame career was highlighted by three national titles at Indiana, died Wednesday, according to his family. He was 83. I spent a few of my earliest years in Bloomington, and one of the first sentences I put together was “Bobby Knight!” I wonder if they’re going to bury him upside-down. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/2 "2023-11-01T23:25:50Z")
Bye, Bobby Knight. Goodbye. See ya. Adios. Later. You’re dead, right? Lie back and enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Kitten\_Mitten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b782af/32.png) [@Kitten\_Mitten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitten_Mitten)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/3 "2023-11-01T23:35:10Z")
The General has thrown his last chair. @bobot - I like your edit! What an f-ing pig he was. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/4 "2023-11-01T23:43:59Z")
I hope his style of coaching dies with him. Tyrannically berating people is no way to coach. Hell, it’s no way to deal with people, in any capacity. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/5 "2023-11-01T23:45:19Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > You’re dead, right? Lie back and enjoy it. OMG! Best zinger ever! only had to wait, what? 40 years? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/6 "2023-11-01T23:49:49Z")
Instead of throwing dirt on the coffin in the grave, mourners will be asked to throw chairs. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/7 "2023-11-01T23:52:51Z")
He was despicable. I have a BA from IU. It kept him employed for decades just because he won games; that he was abusive and a misogynous pig didn’t matter. This was also a school, the office of disabled students of which, was down a narrow flight of stairs. I am not making that up. It was a school that had a bigger landscaping budget than the budget for scholarships. John Cleese once said that Basil Fawlty was based on a real hotelier he dealt with who acted as though guests got in the way of his running an hotel. Well Indiana University acts as though students get in the way of their running a university. Of course they employed Knight for 3 decades. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/8 "2023-11-01T23:53:35Z")
The man was successful, no doubt, but I certainly didn’t like him. He was crass, arrogant, and obnoxious. Plus, he may have been the worst color announcer ever. At least until Bill Walton came along. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/9 "2023-11-02T22:14:45Z")
Knight had incredible success with the Motion Offense. He won three National Championships with it in 1976,1981,1987! Dusty May took Florida Atlantic to its first Final Four in 2023 by using and _updating_ what he learned working for Bob Knight. It is sad that Knight’s personal demons often over shadows his success as a coach. I read _A Season on the Brink_ fifteen years ago. John Feinstein did a brilliant job getting beyond Knight’s gruff exterior. Bob was a extremely complex man. I believe he could have won even more National Championships if his temper hadn’t marred his career. He was his own worst enemy. RIP > **[Innovative motion offense a trademark of Bob Knight's legacy](https://apnews.com/article/bob-knight-indiana-motion-offense-6df9d9c3668990c002f89a4a60df13e9)** > > Dusty May started his student manager career doing Indiana’s dirty work. Somehow between wiping up sweat, chasing rebounds and filling water bottles, he took enough mental notes to stake a coaching career on Bob Knight’s lessons. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/10 "2023-11-02T23:20:36Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I read _A Season on the Brink_ fifteen years ago. John Feinstein did a brilliant job getting beyond Knight’s gruff exterior. Bob was a extremely complex man. Did it provide any insight into _why_ he was so abusive? I have to presume that’s what he endured as a kid himself. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/11 "2023-11-02T23:36:43Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > John Feinstein The only thing Feinstein noted was Knight was into theatrics to motivate players. He once banned the team from using the comfortable IU locker room because it was for winners. He made the players change in a storage room until they played better. Psychology is a common tool for coaches. But Knight would go in to chew ass and motivate. He’d work himself up into a real rage. 😳 Feinstein claimed the players got too cautious and were afraid to make mistakes. Feinstein pointed out examples of Knight’s loyalty. A former staff member left to coach a team. Knight gathered his staff and went to the first game. Feinstein wrote that Bob scouted the players and wrote coaching notes for his former employee. I’ve read Bob and his former player Mike Krzyzewski had a close friendship for years. Duke beat IU several times and Mike’s coaching stats strained the friendship. Mike gave the Hall of Fame Induction speech for Bob. I hope they grew closer in retirement. I doubt anyone knows why Bob was so passionate and easily angered. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/12 "2023-11-02T23:52:04Z")
It could be that he was just an asshole. It doesn’t take away from his coaching achievements, but it does explain a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/13 "2023-11-03T01:24:24Z")
Passionate and personal demons are a hell of a way to describe an abusive asshole with a predilection for physical assault. I am happier today than I was yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/14 "2023-11-03T02:47:33Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I hope his style of coaching dies with him. Tyrannically berating people is no way to coach. Hell, it’s no way to deal with people, in any capacity. His style of coaching died years ago, at least among schools that have any genuine national title ambitions. The ubiquity of one-and-done players, the transfer portal, and NIL have transferred power from the coaches to the players, and elite talent don’t have to put up with someone approximating Knight’s bullshit in order to launch their career. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/15 "2023-11-09T05:49:25Z")
Back around the turn of the millennium, I covered my fair share of men’s college basketball games. I have to say, I’m quite happy that I never had any opportunities to rub elbows with Bob Knight. If I had, I imagine I would have sat really far back in the interview room and tried my very best to not give him any reason to know that I was even there. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/16 "2023-11-11T07:35:25Z")
I remember seeing him on TV a bunch of times in the 90’s, and every single time it hit me like a brick how completely bitter, angry, and joyless he was about _absolutely everything, constantly_. He never laughed. He never cracked jokes. He never made a clever zinger. He never said “That reminds me of a funny story.” or “You had to be there.” or “That’s not how _I_ remember it.” He had the charisma of a lead pipe. Why ESPN ever bothered pointing a microphone at him mystifies me. The worst part was how in the insular midwest basketball culture, some early success meant that a coach got a free pass on everything forever and ever. Everyone who had a problem with him got demonized. Every player who didn’t like being constantly berated and occasionally physically assaulted was a whiny crybaby who couldn’t take discipline. Every newsperson who reported the truth about his blowups was a biased bought-and-paid-for shill. Every ref who gave him a technical was crooked. Every NCAA official and athletic director who tried to crack down on him was a petty overreaching meddler who didn’t understand tough love and good old-fashioned values. Seriously, how would you like to have been a basketball rising star with an incredibly lucrative NBA career on the horizon if you just get through college in good shape, and you get thrown to this perpetually angry vicious petty dictator whom absolutely everyone backs 100% against you? If he is buried face down, it’s not my lips that are going to be gracing his rear end, that’s for certain. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/17 "2023-11-11T15:17:56Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > he may have been the worst color announcer ever. At least until Bill Walton came along. > [@DKW](#): > > I remember seeing him on TV a bunch of times in the 90’s, and every single time it hit me like a brick how completely bitter, angry, and joyless he was about _absolutely everything, constantly_. He never laughed. He never cracked jokes. He never made a clever zinger. He never said “That reminds me of a funny story.” or “You had to be there.” or “That’s not how _I_ remember it.” He had the charisma of a lead pipe. Why ESPN ever bothered pointing a microphone at him mystifies me. I think this is what made him such a terrible color commentator. He seemed to wind up on a lot of Big XII games that I watched, and I just got the impression from listening to him that he’d rather be just about anywhere else than where he was, doing what he was doing. Like he just hated being there, and it came across in his delivery, that barely suppressed anger. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-bobby-knight-1940-2023/992446/18 "2023-11-13T03:36:06Z")
Knight did really well the first season at Texas Tech. He still got in trouble. He almost got in a fight with the Chancellor at a sald bar. I remember lmao at the thought of lettuce flying. His only real friend was the Athletic Director, Gerald Myers who had coached against Knight. He hired Knight and had to pull him off the Chancellor of Texas Tech. Crazy stuff. > **[Bob Knight 'Incident' at Grocery Store](https://www.kcbd.com/story/1627072/bob-knight-incident-at-grocery-store/)** > > Coach Bob Knight and Texas Tech Chancellor David Smith are involved in an 'incident' at the Market Street salad bar. [https://vault.si.com/vault/2004/02/16/bobs-salad-bar-brawl-insiders-memo-depicts-knight-as-a-24carrot-nutcase](https://vault.si.com/vault/2004/02/16/bobs-salad-bar-brawl-insiders-memo-depicts-knight-as-a-24carrot-nutcase)