Bob Montgomery Knight, (God in Indiana basketball) changed Indiana basketball forever. Sure McCracken put Indiana on the map but it was Bobby who lauched Indiana in the all time greatest college basketball programs. Say what you will about his rants and tactics but there is a lot more good you can say then bad. I'll let the 3 national championships, 11 big ten titles, Olymipic gold medal, almost 30 NCAA Tourney appearances, the winningest coach in men's NCAA history, and one perfect season that almost was two. Not to mention the good things like how he devoted his front row section for the handicap, not taking pay increases, graduation rate, running a CLEAN program, making men and basketball players out of just regular old high school kids.

It's funny how we all like to dwell on all of the bad constantly on every issues. I think at this time for our histroy sake it's about time we give credit where credit is due. When you think of Bob Knight he is not a person where you think "Yeah, he's an OK guy" It's either fight or flight with your feelings, your either love or hate the man but regardless you have to face that facts of his accomplishments alongside the personality. That will always be and will never change.
I have heard more things called about BMK than I have about any other person, bully, child abuser, chair thrower, can't coach anymore, hasbeen, nutts, the list goes on, but let thy cast the first stone.......

Having said that, love or hate him, I think his good outweights the bad immensely and I'm so thankful that he was at Texas Tech when he retired and not IU. As I state before I can't stand Pat Knight.


Bleeding Crimson

I was about to start thinking what I would say and then read your post realizing it sums up my thoughts already. Good work.

"When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want they bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass!"-RMK

"YOU'RE A JOKE"!!!

I agree with the below comment. As Dickie V said in our December 2005 Acc-Big Ten Challenge game against Duke, the court should be named Robert Montgomery Court. 3 National Championships, 11 big ten titles, Pan Am Gold Medal, Olympic gold medal, the winningest coach in men's NCAA history, graduation rate of 80% when it was 40%, he ran a CLEAN program, and got the most out of players who weren't that great. Best moment, "when my time has passed, i want them to bury me upside SO MY CRITICS CAN KISS MY ASS"

The moment that made me cringe is seeing Bob Knight put on that Texas Tech sweater and say "this is the most comfortable red sweater I've had on in 6 years"

I'll remember how he devalued my degree from IU. I graduated from IU in the mid 90's then moved to Chicago. Whenever I'd tell someone I was an IU grad the first thing they'd talk about is crazy Bob Knight.

I hated the way he made everyone outside of Indiana perceive IU while he was there and I hated the way he bashed IU when he was kicked to the curb. We're 18-3, tied for first in the Big Ten and have the greatest soap opera game in the last 5 years on Thursday yet we're wasting time talking about a douche bag who bad mouths IU every chance he gets...unbelievable.

Wow, you are a disgrace to real IU fans everywhere.

Calling Bob Knight a "douchebag", the same coach that won 3 National Championships and went to five final fours in Bloomington, is insulting. Knight had a nearly 100% graduation rate, coached just one NBA All-Star and had an a NCAA infractions record as clean as a whistle.

You talk about this year's team being 18-3? Yeah that's great. It's also great that we have NCAA sanctions hanging over our head for the 2nd straight year. It's also great that we now have a head coach that is perceived to be a cheater. Remind me, how many times were we in trouble with the NCAA while Knight was "devaluing" your degree at IU?

I love Indiana and I love this year's team and I do support Sampson so i don't want to come off as an 80-year old Knight loyalist (24-year old IU grad). Say what you want about Knight, but he has more integrity in his pinky finger than Sampson has in his whole body. To insult him and praise Sampson and this year's 18-3 start is hypocrisy at its finest.

devalued your degree???? that may be the dumbest thing i've ever read on here.

look in the mirror, because the douche bag is you.

Nope....another IU grad here whose degree has been devalued by Bob.

....and Bob's still a giant douchebag.

you people saying knight hurt your degree are pathetic. that's the lamest thing i've ever heard. i suppose knight is responsible for you ed, too?

really, take responsiblity and stop blaming other people if you can't get a job.

so how much has your degree gone up in value since knight left???

did your salary increase dramatically after he was fired?

that comment alone tells me what hurts your degree...YOU.

You know what hurts the value of my degree even more then bob?


Idiots like you.


Sigh.....

or perhaps the fact that you don't know when to use "then" and "than"

I think the only douchebag here is you, Timmy!

I wouldn't say he devalued anyone's degree. But as a fellow alumnus who loves Indiana University unconditionally, I have a problem with anyone who brings negative attention to my school. As an important and prominent figure at IU, where the men's basketball coach is arguably the most important and prominent position, Coach Knight brought more than his share of negative attention, disgrace, and ridicule to the University. He obviously brought positive attention, success, and championships as well. But his routinely embarrassing actions as the coach of IU did more damage than he was worth.

What are your feelings about Kelvin Sampson and the negative attention, disgrace and ridicule that he is bringing to the university via his NCAA recruiting violations?

I said I would have fired him over six months ago.

I guess we're supposed to view every article to find where you said that. Hopefully, your buddy, Clifford, reaches down and eats you, so we don't have to read of your stupid posts anymore.

The first and only time I was able to see Coach in-person was last saturday against Texas. I now feel lucky.

Timmy, are you on crack? You probably don't know the reason why IU has one of the better libraries around. I give you one guess. No, that's wrong. It was Bob Knight. He donated tons of money to make that library one of the best in the nation. He was all about education. Yes, he was a little crazy at times, but saying he devalued your degree is just plain ignorant. One more thing, I'm guessing you're not a big basketball fan, because you're talking about degrees instead of what the man did for the great game of basketball. Every point you try to make, says nothing about what Coach Knight did for the great game of basketball.

lol...this is funny considering i'm a season ticket holder who runs into the real Todd Lindemann all the time at games this year. For right or wrong, college coaches are the most high profile reps of their university and should be held to a higher standard in regards to how they represent themselves and their institution in public. Knight lived by the standards of the lowest common denominator.

do you hold Sampson to those high standards as well Timmy? Because if you do, you should be just as critical of him as you are of Knight.

I don't care that you don't like Knight, just don't be a hypocrite. You can't degrade one guy (Knight) for "living by the standards of the lowest common denominator" and ignore Sampson's transgressions.

Timmy, you sound like one of those stupid media types that refuses to acknowledge anything positive about Coach Knight and only focuses on the negative. You should be the poster boy for the pussification of the USA.

I think the fact that we have to ask the question, "How will you remember coach Knight?" pretty much tells you everything we have to know. Do you think Duke alumni will have trouble answering that question about Coack K someday or do you think UNC alumni have to debate the legacy of Dean Smith? It would be great if we could just answer the question with praise for all of the basketball accomplishments, laud the clean program, and describe all of the good things he did outside of basketball. However, you cannot come close to answering the question without bringing up the chair throw (which, by the way, is 99% of America's first thought when they hear about Knight, including most IU fans' knee-jerk reaction), the incident and subsequent trial for his interaction with a police officer in Puerto Rico, the profanity-laced tirades, the Neil Reed incident, and his occasional displays of complete disrespect for non-basketball players/personel. I echo the sentiments of previous poster who described the embarassment he felt when he would go on vacation and people from other parts of the country would associate you with Bob Knight and his tantrums (I was often the one who had to bring up the 3 rings, the clean program, etc.). In the end today marks the end of successful but tragic career. If Knight had been able to display even a minimal amount of respect for others' opinions and displayed a modicum of decorum in some critical situations, we would be praising a legend and be mentioning him among the great coaches across all sports, not just basketball. However, because of his inability to acknowledge his own flaws and adapt to changes in his environment, we are reduced to debating what his legacy should be. It is unfortunate that his actions on and off the basketball court have prevented us from seeing nothing but greatness in Coach Knight. I hope that his retirement will eventually lead to the reunification of Indiana fans where we all support the team for who they are and not who they are not.

If you were really that disturbed by someone making fun of your IU degree because of Coach Knight's actions, you have your own problems. Did you cry when they made fun of your IU degree? As Coach Knight would have said, suck it up and quit being such a pussy.

I actually don't have an undergrad degree from IU (and no, it's not from Purdue, either). I just feel like the guy was a poor representation of how one should conduct himself in a public setting. I never appreciated being automatically associated with the guy and the way he acted publicly. As a tactician, few, if any, have been better. As a man of integrity on the subject of academics, I applaud Coach Knight. As an example of how treat other individuals, I can think of few people in sports that demonstrate a more pathetic example of how to conduct yourself publicly. Unfortunately, he never realized this fact. As a result, we're reduced to debating his place in basketball history. Continue to take cheap shots as much as you want, but it's not going to change my opinion or make me think that I'm "pussy" for stating an unpopular (at least on this board) opinion.

Why are you so upset about someone associating you to a man you did not know? Larry Bird is known as the Hick from French Lick, so should I be ashamed if someone wants to call me a hick simply because I was born and raised in Indiana? While I do not condone all of his actions, the view that you see via the media is negatively distorted because it makes for a more interesting story (especially in the ESPN highlight world that we live in today) than all the good behind the scenes actions taken by Coach Knight. If you want a real perspective on how he treats individuals, ask Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Dick Vitale, Roy Williams, Coach K, Digger Phelps, etc. as I bet they have a very different opinion than you because they actually knew him.

The "kiss my ass" quote of course sticks out, but I'll never forget the game face routine that Knight put on...I think that was 1992. Plus he busted out the whip as well that year, I think. That game face clip is still my alltime favorite, and an early memory for me. His press conferences were always classic, even if not PG.

I had a bit of a temper when I was younger, and I've mellowed, but maybe I identified with Knight because of his unpredicability.

I can't comment on Robert Montgomery Knight as a coach or a person...because I don't know him that way. I just know what we saw on TV. I think his results speak for themselves as a coach. As a person, there are people who will testify under oath that he is a class act in many ways. Just ask Landon Turner.

To those of you who want to put Coach Knight down, that is your right.

However, based on your extremely articulate responses, it's pretty obvious who is lacking class.

I home when my time on this Earth has come to pass they bury me face down HoosierSmitty, just for you....classy.

and Sampson hopes that they'll bury him with his phone records.

Timmy, isn't it time for you to break out your Barbies and have a tea party?

Sorry to change the subject, but I have an IU insider saying NCAA will come out with more illegal activities against K.S. , more than just phone calls, and other big 10 coaches submitted complaints against IU. (probably cry baby weber) not good stuff heading into the tournament... Anybody else hearing seriuos stuff?...
PS ,, Happy fishing Bobby!...

Wouldn't be surprising, but that's all hearsay until I see something in writing from the NCAA.

I was two rows under the basket when he threw the chair against Purdue.

I had a great vantage point of him, sitting on the bench, launch a fully loaded cup of water up, over his head and about 15 rows deep into the lap of a random, unsuspecting Assembly Hall onlooker.

I was an Air Force ROTC student and one of about 20 seniors that would, each year, go to his office for an hour-long discussion about leadership, fortitude and integrity.

From the outside looking in, Bob Knight was a case-study in human emotion. He generally detested the media and the fact that he knew that they were trolling for an outburst, baiting him, really, to put their story on the front page if (and ofter when) he would boil over.

But for all of the bad on the exterior, behind the scenes, Bob Knight was the greatest "x and o" coach of all time. Behind the scenes, the life lessons learned by those around him did far more good than bad. I do think it was time for him to leave Indiana. Sadly, like many relationships, his with IU had become one of dysfunction. Both parties were to blame, though. I mean, placing a ridiculous "zero-tolerance" policy on a figure like Bob Knight was doomed from the start. And to have his departure sealed because of his response to a freshmen student who showed a total lack of class himself represented the worst way to send off the best coach IU had ever seen

I graduated from IU in 1987. I started there on the same dorm floor with guys like Steve Alford, Todd Meier and Marty Simmons. Indiana is my team, and Bob Knight is my coach. I wish him well.

Check some of these videos out.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/baske...

The Boiler Donkey is classic. I had never seen that until today.

The Purdue donkey Jack S. clomping onto Knight's weekly TV show set! My gosh that was funny. Can you imagine anyone in the Big Ten doing that now? Neither can I, which is too bad.

I was a Junior at IU when Bobby got the shaft from the evil Miles Brand (who was just looking to make a splash and parlayed this into a NCAA President position). My friends and I drove around in a pick up hanging a Miles Brand doll off the side pleading for everyone we drove by to come and join in the rally/riot that was taking place at Miles house in the middle of campus. After being chased off that sight a hoard of thousands made there way to Assembly Hall where the General made an appearance. He told us to go home and that he would address the whole campus later that week. Good times...

So how will I remember the general? As the man that made IU basketball fun... i was not an IU fan before i enrolled and after AJ Guyton hit a three to beat Temple early in my freshman year, i was hooked for life. I had never heard an arena so loud and that's because the General made IU b-ball important and exciting...

I agree with most of what Displaced Hoosier sad.

I would have wanted to play for Coach Knight if I was good enough at basketball, and I think he has done far more good than bad...but it's sad that this is a debate, and a lot of that rests on his actions.

The John Woodens and Coach K's of the world will be beloved by their schools and their fans forever. It's unfortunate that Bobby Knight will be viewed as a controversial figure.

Purely from a coaching standpoint, Knightwas the most brilliant coach of all time. From a personal standpoint, some of his behavior was enigmatic. IU should be ashame of not naming the floor the Bob Knight Court.

The floor is already named for Branch McCracken, otherwise known as the coach who won championships at Indiana without being an asshole.

How do you know he wasn't an asshole? Did you interview all of his players and everyone who ever knew him?

Coach Knight was probably as good as any when it came to X's and O's and how to play the game properly. I always felt the advent of the shot clock and the 3-pt. line neutered some of his ability to really coach as it did with other fine coaches although he was successful in both eras. Recruiting has become the byline of today's game and as a great high school coach once said, "Give me the best talent and I'll show you one of the best coaches."
Coach Knight did/could not recruit well in his later years as a coach and he experienced a level of mediocrity he was not accustomed to that probably turned him off as much as anything. Mediocrity was something he had a terrible time dealing with, be it players, referees, administrators, or just people in general. His son said it best in that he was tired and it was time. But OOOOOOOHHHHHHH what a time he gave us as fans. Most of it was great, some not so great. If you were to talk about the man in positives and negatives, only the foolish would spend more time on the negatives.
Thanks for the memories, Coach.

Bob Knight spent many years building up the IU program to a National Championship caliber team. Unfortunately, I was too young to have many memories of those early years. In the same way that he built up this team, he also brought it down - whether it was his anger, his childish behavior, or something else he did/didn't do. For all the talk about how great a basketball coach was, he was routinely getting out-coached in the postseason towards the end of his career at IU and even times before the exit (Pepperdine, Colorado - Chauncey Billups destroyed IU).

Maybe he stayed too long, maybe he lost his coaching touch. I don't know. For all the good that Knight has done at IU (and he has done a lot), for me, it will never overshadow the public image that Knight routinely trotted out for the rest of the nation to witness.

The angry, angst-filled, sometimes-violent Knight that we saw far too often in his later years, unfortunately is the Knight I will remember.

I'll say it right here, anyone who thinks negatively of the "Neil Reed" incident is weak, just like Reed. "Neil Reed" was a pussy in every sense of the word. You didn't come to Indiana freakin University not knowing what you are getting yourself in to. You came to play basketball for one of the greatest programs in the nation under the greatest coach in the game. I'm sure Reed wouldn't have been dealt with if he hadn't ran his mouth off to someone who knows more about the game than he ever will. What would happen if you backtalked your 75 year old Kung-Fu master? You would be pulling rice duty for a month as well as daily ass-kickings until you were doing things correctly. When you come to college you are 18 years old, a man, act like it. I have seen high-school football coaches more physical with their players. I would be honored to take a head butt from RMK, just putting that our there.

Bob Knight is Indiana Basketball, as Damon Bailey said when he left Bloomington he took a part of Indiana with him. Many people say love him or hate him, I say the haters never look for anything other than the negatives. I, like many of you have had numerous personal encounters with the man and none have been negative. He also took the time for a photo, to sign something, or to even walk down to court level with my brother and myself to show us the floor. He is the best and always will be! He set the standard in what we expect at Indiana, we write in complaints about what we are lacking these days well look at what we were used to: toughness, pride, tradition. He is very complex but a lot of us are, just not constanting in the public eye.
I heard him once quote Lincoln and pretty much summarizes all of the why leave now stuff: "When it comes time for me to lay down the reigns of this administration and I am left with one friend and that friend lies within myself I will be satisfied." Hail to the General, Hail to the Dragon. Go Hoosiers

I won't remember Coach Knight to fondly. He was and still is an asshole, and he would tell you so himself, probably using more colorful words and gestures. Coach Knight did a lot of great things for Indiana basketball, wins and championships and respect and tradition. But how you do things also counts, and he went about coaching while he was swimming in a bath of mud which he slung around at anyone who didn't line up behind him.

Coach Knight did things his way, and he made sure you knew it. That is how he'll be remembered, and quite frankly, I think that's how he wants to be remembered. He won't be remembered like Coach Wooden, Coach Smith, or other who are thought of only fondly. He probably won't even be remembered as a winner first and an asshole second. To a lot of people, he'll simply be that old asshole basketball coach. Based on how he lives his life, he deserves to be remembered just that way, too.

You must have had a coach/adult chew your ass early in life and now, you are all bitter about it. Just relax and let all the hate go.

I don't buy the 'You either love him or hate him' argument. He's a polarizing figure.

I love the way that he coached. I hate the way that he treated the media. I love the way that he helped build IU's library and help kids graduate. I hate the way he constantly contradicted himself, holding himself to different standards then his kids. (Pat Forde wrote a great article about this.)

I loved some things about him, but hated other things. Overall, I think there's no question that his good outweighed his bad, but it's not as black and white as "love him or hate him"

A great article? In my opinion Forde's words were callous and rang untrue. This read like an article written by someone looking to get some publicity or with an ax to grind. I lost a lot of respect for Forde with this article. Maybe that's because I grew up loving Knight and IU basketball - I'm certainly biased in that regard. While there is plenty of truth to what he wrote, I don't feel like you can just flat out characterize Knight in that way, ignoring all the good things he has done. People on a blog...go for it, but I just don't think that was a good piece of journalism by a seasoned writer with more ability than that.

I don't understand all of you posters who have so much hate for a man that you never really knew. Life is too short...let go of all the hate.

An article by Pat Forde? Are you kidding me? I guess you didn't realize the Coach Knight and Pat Forde did not get along very well during Pat's time at the Louisville Courier Journal, so yes, Pat Forde has an axe to grind with Coach Knight. I'm sure Lou Henson would also have "great" things to say about Coach Knight.

I'll remember him as an asshole in the press...a stubborn old man who held grudges...A stubborn man who won't say "when I was at Indiana," and instead says, "when I was in the midwest."

But I'll also remember him as a Hall of Fame coach, a friend to almost every player that played for him, a friend to many of the coaches around the league, a guy who recruited fairly, graduated players, and basically built the library that I study in.

But most of all, I'll remember him as the guy who when my mother sent a letter and a card for him to sign for my 10th birthday, returned it, signed, in less than a week.

What if Kelvin Sampson does get canned at the end of this season? Imagine Assembly Hall next fall: "My God! That's Bob Knight's music!"