In this week's edition of He Said/She Said, Bluegrass Lady and I argue whether we would send our kids to play basketball under Bobby Knight.  As always, your comments and opinions are welcome.

Bobby Knight’s coaching legacy is undeniable.  Last year, he became the winningest coach in college basketball history.  He has led three University of Indiana teams to national titles.  In 1975-76, he coached the last team to go undefeated for an entire season, an effort that seems more and more unattainable with time.  Dating back to his first years coaching at Army in the 1960s, Knight has won an astonishing 71% of the games he has coached.  In his over forty years of coaching at the highly competitive college level, the man known as ‘The General’ has won nearly 900 contests and his graduation rate is as high as anyone’s in the NCAA.  He is a three-time national coach of the year and at a six-time Big Ten coach of the year.  Needless to say, his resume speaks for itself.

Despite these accomplishments, in 2000, Bobby Knight was released from duty at the University of Indiana for his lengthy record of insubordination and physical altercation.  The controversy surrounding Knight’s career is as noteworthy as his on-court success.  Dating back nearly forty years, Knight has repeatedly been involved in acts of physical violence with police officers, students, players and fans.  His tirades are as legendary as his coaching record.

He is probably most famous for his 1985 outburst where he tossed a chair clear across the court during a conference game against in-state rival Purdue.  That incident, however, was only the tip of the iceberg.  There was his famous 1988 interview with Connie Chung where he stated on-air that if rape were inevitable, why not lay back and enjoy it.  In 1993, Knight kicked his son who played on the team.  Later that season, he head butted another player during a timeout.  In 1999, he was investigated for allegedly choking a man outside a local restaurant.  In 2000, the University investigated Knight for choking a former player, Neil Reed.  The list of Knight’s indiscretions presents a colorful rap sheet.  After former I.U. President Myles Brand imposed a ‘zero tolerance’ policy against Knight, he was ultimately fired for grabbing a student that failed to “show him respect” by addressing him simply as “Knight.”

Knight’s disciplinarian mindset failed to attract local Indiana high school phenoms such as Shawn Kemp and Zach Randolph in a state where playing in Assembly Hall is a childhood dream.  Top athletes simply refused to play for a madman and submit themselves to four years of brutality.

In the modern basketball landscape, players do not have to put up with that sort of physical or psychological abuse.  Despite his coaching legacy, there are countless other coaches these days that can teach today’s youth the game without leaving strangle marks around their necks.  Although Knight has more career victories than any other coach, Tubby Smith, Lute Olson, Bob Huggins, Jim Beoheim, John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Mark Few, Bruce Pearl, Mike Krzyzewski and Thad Matta are all active coaches with higher winning percentages.  Billy Donovan and Roy Williams have successfully taught discipline and respect while winning the last three national championships without putting their hands on players or wearing them down mentally.  Knight is unquestionably a basketball genius, but he doesn’t hold a monopoly on the wisdom required to reach the sport.

Despite not having coached there for seven years, Bob Knight is still a hero in Indiana.  His name is legendary and synonymous with success.  It is also, however, synonymous with rage.  With the wide range of excellence in the coaching ranks today, it would be awfully hard to justify sending a child to play for a loose cannon like Knight.  While the General has preached discipline over his forty years of coaching, it is actually his own lack of restraint that has tarnished his coaching legacy.

This way to..... She Said:  On Bobby Knight

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