1. Robert Montgomery Knight was an American men's college basketball coach.
94 Facts About Bob Knight
1. 2.
Bob Knight later worked as a men's college basketball studio analyst at ESPN.
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Bob Knight sparked controversy with his outspoken nature and his volatility.
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Bob Knight once threw a chair across the court during a game and was once arrested following a physical confrontation with a police officer.
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Bob Knight was accused of choking an Indiana player during practice in an incident that was recorded on video, prompting the university to institute a "zero tolerance" policy for him.
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Bob Knight was one of college basketball's most successful and innovative coaches, having popularized the motion offense.
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Bob Knight received national coach of the year honors four times and Big Ten Coach of the Year honors eight times.
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Bob Knight was successful on the international stage, winning gold medals at both the 1979 Pan American Games and the 1984 Summer Olympics with the US men's national team.
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Bob Knight is one of only three basketball coaches to win an NCAA title, an NIT title, and an Olympic gold medal.
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Bob Knight was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991.
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Bob Knight was born on October 25,1940, in the town of Massillon, Ohio, and grew up in Orrville, Ohio.
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Bob Knight's father Pat worked for the railroad and his mother Hazel was a school teacher.
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Bob Knight began playing organized basketball at Orrville High School.
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Bob Knight continued at Ohio State in 1958 when he played for Basketball Hall of Fame coach Fred Taylor.
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Bob Knight was a member of the 1961 and 1962 Buckeyes teams that lost in the finals to the Cincinnati Bearcats.
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Bob Knight got the ball in the left front court and faked a drive into the middle.
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Bob Knight graduated with a degree in history and government in 1962.
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Bob Knight then enlisted in the US Army and served on active duty from June 1963 to June 1965 and in the US Army Reserves from June 1965 to May 1969.
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Bob Knight conducted initial training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and was transferred to West Point, New York, in September 1963.
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In six seasons as a head coach at West Point, Bob Knight won 102 games, with his first coming against Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
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Bob Knight led Army to four NITs, advancing to the semifinals three times.
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Bob Knight was one of seven candidates vying to fill the Wisconsin men's basketball head coaching vacancy after John Erickson resigned to become the Milwaukee Bucks' first-ever general manager on April 3,1968.
23.
Bob Knight was offered the position but requested more time to think it over.
24.
Early in his tenure while he jogged in the practice facility during basketball practice, Bob Knight yelled at him to leave, using more than one expletive.
25.
Years after the incident, it was reported that Bob Knight choked and punched Indiana University's longtime sports information director, Kit Klingelhoffer, over a news release that upset the coach.
26.
In 1976, Bob Knight grabbed IU basketball player Jim Wisman and jerked him into his seat.
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Bob Knight was involved in several controversies in the 1980s as well.
28.
Video replay later shown by Bob Knight showed Barnes had thrown the first punch, and that Thomas was merely reacting to this.
29.
Therefore, in place of King, Bob Knight brought onto the show a "jackass" wearing a Purdue hat as a representative of Purdue.
30.
Bob Knight, irate, insisted the first of the two calls should have been for a jump ball and ultimately received a technical foul.
31.
Purdue's Steve Reid stepped to the free throw line to shoot the resulting free throws, but before he could, Bob Knight grabbed a red plastic chair from Indiana's bench and threw it across the floor toward the basket in front of Reid.
32.
Bob Knight was charged with a second and third technical foul and was ejected from the game.
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Bob Knight apologized for his actions the next day and was given a one-game suspension and two years' probation from the Big Ten.
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Former Indiana basketball player Todd Jadlow has written a book alleging that from 1985 to 1989, Bob Knight punched him in the face, broke a clipboard over the top of his head, and squeezed his testicles and the testicles of other Hoosiers, among other abuses.
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However, less than a month later, the network aired a tape of an Indiana practice from 1997 that appeared to show Bob Knight placing his hand on the neck of Reed.
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Bob Knight asked that they not hold a grudge against Harvey and that they continue to support the basketball team.
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Bob Knight's firing made national headlines, including the cover of Sports Illustrated and around-the-clock coverage on ESPN, as well as mentions on CNN and CBS.
38.
Two days after Bob Knight was fired from Indiana University, Jeremy Schaap of ESPN interviewed him and discussed his time at Indiana.
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Towards the end of the interview, Bob Knight talked about his son, Pat, who had been dismissed by the university, wanting an opportunity to be a head coach.
40.
Schaap, thinking that Bob Knight was finished, attempted to move on to another subject, but Bob Knight insisted on continuing about his son.
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Schaap repeatedly tried to ask another question when Bob Knight shifted the conversation to Schaap's style of interviewing, notably chastising him about interruptions.
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Bob Knight ultimately returned to Assembly Hall at halftime of Indiana's game against Purdue on February 8,2020, and received a rousing standing ovation.
43.
Bob Knight accepted the head coaching position at Texas Tech University, although his hiring was opposed by a faculty group led by Walter Schaller, associate professor of philosophy.
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Bob Knight quickly improved the program, which had not been to an NCAA tournament since 1996.
45.
Bob Knight led the Red Raiders to postseason appearances in each of his first four years at the school.
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The best performance by the Red Raiders under Bob Knight came in 2005 when they advanced as far as the Sweet Sixteen.
47.
In March 2006, a student's heckling at Baylor University resulted in Bob Knight having to be restrained by a police officer.
48.
On November 13,2006, Bob Knight was shown allegedly hitting player Michael Prince under the chin to get him to make eye contact.
49.
Bob Knight was telling me to go out there and don't be afraid to make mistakes.
50.
On October 21,2007, James Simpson of Lubbock, Texas, accused Bob Knight of firing a shotgun in his direction after he yelled at Bob Knight and another man for hunting too close to his home.
51.
Bob Knight denied the allegations; however, an argument between the two men was recorded via camera phone and aired later on television.
52.
The younger Bob Knight had said that after many years of coaching, his father was exhausted and ready to retire.
53.
In 1978, Bob Knight was named the head coach of the United States men's national team for the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
54.
Bob Knight was later tried in absentia, found guilty and sentenced to a six-month prison term and a 500 dollar fine.
55.
Bob Knight held a 72 player tryout camp in April 1984 before settling on the 12 man roster which included Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin and Knight's Indiana player and protege Steve Alford.
56.
Worries that his behavior would again cause embarrassment during the games turned out to be unfounded and, despite rants and raves at officials, Bob Knight was considered to be on his best behavior.
57.
Bob Knight led the United States to victory in all eight games and to a gold medal.
58.
On February 27,2019, Don Fischer, an IU radio announcer since 1974, said during an interview that Bob Knight was in ill health.
59.
Bob Knight continued by saying Knight's health "has declined" but did not offer any specifics.
60.
Bob Knight appeared with longtime friend and journalist Bob Hammel and spoke about different aspects of his career.
61.
Bob Knight was an innovator of the motion offense, which he perfected and popularized.
62.
Bob Knight continued to develop the offense, instituting different cuts over the years and putting his players in different scenarios.
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Bob Knight was well known for the extreme preparation he put into each game and practice.
64.
In contrast to set plays, Bob Knight's offense was designed to react according to the defense.
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Bob Knight sardonically said at the time that he supported institution of the three-point shot because if a team's offense was functioning efficiently enough to get a layup, the team should be rewarded with three points for that basket.
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On defense Bob Knight was known for emphasizing tenacious "man-to-man" defense where defenders contest every pass and every shot, and help teammates when needed.
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However, Bob Knight incorporated a zone defense periodically after eschewing it for the first two decades of his coaching career.
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Bob Knight achieved his 880th career win on January 1,2007, and passed retired North Carolina coach Dean Smith for most career victories, a title he held until his win total was surpassed by Krzyzewski on November 15,2011.
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Bob Knight is the youngest coach to reach 200,300, and 400 wins, as well as among the youngest to reach other milestones of 500,600,700, and 800 wins.
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Bob Knight is the only coach to win the NCAA, the NIT, an Olympic gold medal, and a Pan American Games Gold medal.
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Bob Knight received a number of personal honors during and after his coaching career.
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Bob Knight was named the National Coach of the Year four times and Big Ten Coach of the Year eight times.
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Bob Knight was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991.
74.
On November 17,2006, Bob Knight was recognized for his impact on college basketball as a member of the founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
75.
Bob Knight was inducted into the Army Sports Hall of Fame and the Indiana Hoosiers athletics Hall of Fame.
76.
Knight's autobiography, written with longtime friend and sports journalist Bob Hammel, was titled Knight: My Story and published in 2003.
77.
In 2013, Knight and Bob Hammel published The Power of Negative Thinking: An Unconventional Approach to Achieving Positive Results.
78.
Bob Knight discussed his approach to preparing for a game by anticipating all of the things that could go wrong and trying to prevent it or having a plan to deal with it.
79.
In 2017, sports reporter Terry Hutchens published Following the General: Why Three Coaches Have Been Unable to Return Indiana Basketball to Greatness which discussed Bob Knight's coaching legacy with Indiana and how none of the coaches following him have been able to reach his level of success.
80.
Bob Knight appeared or was featured in numerous films and television productions.
81.
Bob Knight himself appears in the film and coaches against Nolte in the film's climactic game.
82.
Bob Knight made a cameo appearance as himself in the 2003 film Anger Management.
83.
In 2008, Bob Knight appeared in a commercial as part of Volkswagen's Das Auto series where Max, a 1964 black Beetle, interviews famous people.
84.
Bob Knight made an appearance in a TV commercial for Guitar Hero: Metallica and Risky Business with fellow coaches Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino, and Roy Williams.
85.
Bob Knight married the former Nancy Falk on April 17,1963.
86.
Pat Bob Knight coached Texas Tech after his father's retirement before he moved to Lamar.
87.
In 1988, Bob Knight married his second wife, Karen Vieth Edgar, a former Oklahoma high school basketball coach.
88.
Bob Knight had a high regard for education and made generous donations to the schools he was a part of, particularly libraries.
89.
At Indiana University Bob Knight endowed two chairs, one in history and one in law.
90.
When Bob Knight came to Texas Tech in 2001, he gave $10,000 to the library, while his wife gave $25,000, donations which included the first gifts to the Coach Bob Knight Library Fund which has now collected over $300,000.
91.
Later, in 2005, Bob Knight donated an additional $40,000 to the library.
92.
Bob Knight supported Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and later made an appearance at his rally in Indianapolis for the 2018 midterms.
93.
At the rally, Bob Knight called Trump "a great defender of the United States of America".
94.
Bob Knight died in Bloomington, Indiana, on November 1,2023, at age 83.