Written Spring 2020 during Introduction to Sportswriting with Mike Wells
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For the last 30 years of the 20th century, Indiana University and Hoosier basketball was synonymous with their fiery, crimson sweater-clad coach, Bobby Knight.
It was a program, and state, already steeped in basketball tradition and fanaticism. With two NCAA Championships under legendary basketball coaching pioneer, Branch McCracken, and a significant pride in their high school programs, it was hard to think any one individual could strengthen that love and bond for the game of basketball.
However, in his 30 years in Bloomington Bob Knight did strengthen Hoosier’s bond to hoops.
He coached hard, he graduated his players and above all else, he won.
In Robert Abbott’s “Last Days of Knight,” he does not set out to vilify the old coach nor does he fetishize a love for him like many Indiana fans continue to do to this day.
No, in this ESPN 30 for 30, Abbott does a laudable job in addressing the coaching giant in a balanced, matter-of-fact type of way. For anyone, it would be easy to make an entire hit piece on Bob Knight, it has definitely been written before and likely will be written again. The man was not free of shortcomings.
Infamously, he threw a chair clear across Assembly Hall, berated refs with language not appropriate on daytime television, and had publicized arguments with students and administrators. Knight also notably snatched players towards him on the bench and didn’t mind shoving his players around, like Neil Reed who viewers meet in the film.
In the college basketball world, you do not have to go far to find an opinion of coach Knight.
Many will bash the coach for the aforementioned actions, that eventually led to his bitter divorce with IU and the perceived bully-like mentality of Knight as reasons to downplay the love many show for the coach. While others will applaud his coaching ability, personability, presence in the Bloomington community and especially his 80% graduation rate amongst players under him.
He is one of the polarizing figures sport.
And just weeks ago, he made his return to Assembly Hall. In an emotional day for many Hoosiers fans, Knight walked back on to the hardwood, where he coached some of the best teams in Hoosier history, to a rousing applause and plenty of raw emotions.
The approximately 18,000 Hoosiers (and a few Boilermakers) in attendance stood for nearly the entire halftime, embracing The General for the first time in two decades.
Abbott’s film, however, shows the arduous idolization amongst the Cream and Crimson fanbase.
In the “Last Days of Knight” viewers are let into the culture that allowed for the chair throws, cuss words and player grabbing. Some may call it abusive; it certainly would be by today’s standards. Others may call it “old-school” coaching.
Knight’s actions were not only inappropriate, brash and rude during his time in Bloomington, but Indiana’s administration had little to no ability to control coach Knight.
Coach Knight was more like King Knight in Bloomington.
No matter what little things arose, publicly or privately, the Hoosiers were still winning, which kept fans happy, students interested and money flowing. A couple cuss words towards a student or a little “tough love” shown to his players was easier to brush under the rug than potentially infuriate the short-fused coach.
The film does well to show how this unchecked behavior, quite directly, set up Knight and IU’s messy divorce 20 years ago.
Abbott shows that winning can solve most things in sports and winning is what gave Knight power. Winning so much that he was nearly the most powerful man in Blooming, if not all of Indiana for stretches of the 70s and 80s.
Everyone recognizes power’s ability to complicate and corrupt.
The IU-Knight divorce is a clear example of this. Knight, after a complicated 1990s dealing with a rapidly changing media and basketball environment, was issued a zero-tolerance warning by the institution in 1997 after the Neil Reed incident.
For Knight, this was a complete turnaround from the last 20 years. For much of his time in Bloomington he was the judge, the jury and the hangman when it came to his own actions (unless the Big Ten stepped in). Suddenly, Knight was on an impossibly short leash.
Fast-forward three years and Knight is berating an IU student for addressing him only as “Knight.” Something out of line, but realistically, not the first time this likely happened, but now under a zero-tolerance policy.
Knight was fired the next day.
Another 20 years forward and its back to the floor of Assembly Hall, welcomed back with open arms. Knight’s Assembly Hall return combined with Abbott’s film set up a dichotomy that rings true throughout basketball.
Knight did a lot of things wrong, but he also won and did tons of things right. And being in Assembly Hall on February 8 for his return, it is clear that, by-and-large his players adore him, and the community he was an integral part of for thirty years loves him too.
Does that mean the negative stories should be buried? Absolutely not, but everyone has made mistakes in their past, many have also touched a lot of lives and done a lot of good.
In Knight’s case, while his negatives were awfully negative, they largely exist in the past. Whereas his good ideals and lessons continue to live on through the players he’s influenced. Chris Beard, Keith Smart, Bill Parcells, coach Krzyzewski and many more are scattered across the sports landscape continuing on the winning legacy of their coach, Bobby Knight.
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