With the retirement of the General, 2 questions arise.
1st: Is Bobby Knight the Greatest College basketball coach of all time?
2nd: Do his transgressions tarnish his career/legacy?
1: I say no, but he is in the top 3. He won games with sub-par talent, and does more with less than anyone else. He graduates his players, has a clean program, and is respected by al his peers, even if they hate him. Hell, he made Texas Tech a solid program where nothing existed before.
2: Yes, but unfairly. He is from a different era, and a different background than todays coaches and players. Most of his major gripes are that he was too harsh on his players, but all but a handful love him, and speak highly of his intense loyalty and support. While I would never want to go Hunting with him, I would have loved to watch him coach.
Other than Huggins, I was exposed to Knight the most gorwing up, and going to school in Indianna, I grew to understand the psychotic loyalty his diehard fans had for him. Eventhough every kid in indianna could recite his famous rants by memory, they all loved him and dreamed of playing for Bobby Knight one day. And if you think the backlash of UC fans over the Huggins firing was intense, the backlash over the Knight firing was 10 times worse. And you do not get that without being a great coach.
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5 comments:
You better hope the ombudsman doesn't see how you spelled "Indiana" Flipper, he's been on the warpath of late.
In response to your questions:
I have to say, John Wooden won a ridiculous number of championships, and yes, he was doing it with a dominant program and guys who ended up being some of the most incredible pros in history, but still, 10 championships out of 12? Nothing, in any sport, will ever resemble that. So no, he's not THE best, though I will agree that his results merit a pretty high spot.
Which brings me to number 2. I don't think era is an excuse to straight up degrade people in front of their peers, and have such an antagonistic stance towards people who criticize you that you fly off the handle at a moments notice.
No one begrudges any major college head coach a bit of a temper, but that guy reinvented rage, and there are men who have accomplished arguably a similar level of success, without flipping their shit at every third presser. So yes, I think his image is tarnished, and rightfully so, he tarnished it himself.
Also, I think we can agree that player loyalty doesn't necessarily mean they feel they were treated with respect. Men who played under Wooden and Smith surely feel the same way towards them, and neither of those guys ever strangled anybody.
It's okay...we all make mitsakes.
Besides, Flip may have been referring to that exotic dancer down in Indianapolis, "Indy Anna".
Hey-O!
But back when he nwas winning all those championships he was the only game in town. If you were a good player, you played for Wooden. Not to mention he still played in the era when only the conference champions could play for the National title, so often the best teams did not compete. I am not trying to downgrade Wooden, but you have to consider the competition and recruiting advantage.
And I hate spelchek
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