not sad to see knight lose again.
For about 10 seconds last weekend I was happy to see Bob Knight return to the Sweet Sixteen with his Texas Tech Red Raiders. He is, without a doubt, one of the best college coaches ever. In the postgame press conference, Knight was funny; almost giddy. But it doesn't take long for the pendulum to swing back the other way. It didn't take him long to remember he hasn't taken a pot-shot at Indiana University in awhile, so it's time to make up for it by kicking a program when its down:
"They created that for themselves," Knight said in a recent interview. "The guy that's coaching there (Mike Davis) is a guy that I told Pat (Knight) we were going to replace at the end of the season. There's no way that I would have kept the guy any longer than that. That's their problem."
He continued, "I stayed at Indiana six years too long because of the administration. The administration handled a lot of things poorly. I was working for an athletic director that didn't know his ass from third base. I ended up staying because of the kids that I liked and the people I did like rather than focusing on the real negatives there."
Nice.
Here's a guy that I used to love and respect as a coach because he was a disciplinarian. He was fierce. He was a throwback. But now, he's a caricature of his former self. Coaching abilities notwithstanding, Bob Knight has become a punchline. Sadder yet, BobKnightNation loves his act. They cherish it. They eat it up. They are sycophantic in their adoration of a man who acts more like a schoolyard bully than a classy coach.
BobKnightNation will remind you of the coach and his charitable efforts, which are numerous. That's fine, I say, but at no point do charitable efforts earn you a lifetime pass of being as asshole.
I don't mind the Bob Knight that doesn't take shit from reporters. I do dislike, however, his antics at making hay where no hay is to be found, and he has done that on numerous, embarrassing occasions. BobKnightNation, of course, laps it up. I grew more and more tired of it during his final years at IU. It became a sideshow, an embarrassment. Sure, there were times when it was not his fault and I certainly jumped to defend him to the anti-Knight crowd. But there were other times when Knight clearly just couldn't get out of his own way. In fact, he proudly and stridently declared himself beyond reproach.
And BobKnightNation hates the fact that then-IU president Myles Brand yanked on the leash and reined him in.
Truth be told, I hated the way the firing went down. Had Brand and IU wanted him out, they shouldv'e spared us the nonsense of a "zero tolerance" policy. Just fire the guy, already!
Knight, however, has done little to make me feel the least bit sorry for him. In his immediate interview after the firing, he chose to take personal and cheap shots at Jeremy Schaap simply because Schaap wouldn't be his puppet and his enabler. Schaap stayed on topic adn didn't let Knight off the hook. Of course, that's like trying to catch a tiger by the tail. Knight stormed out of that interview, refusing to shake Schaap's hand.
And since then, Knight hasn't missed an opportunity to rile up his base of supporters in Bloomington and beyond by taking cheap swipes at Mike Davis.
I'm not here to defend Mike Davis, mind you. But it's a real Bush-League approach to continue to land suckerpunches on a program and a university that loved and respected you...for four solid years after you've been gone.
So while I don't take away a thing from Bob Knight's on-court accomplishments, I must confess a little bit of private satisfaction in seeing him out of the tournament. No, I don't like to gloat. I hate to gloat. I just wish the old man would once-and-for-all get the fuck over his big hard-on for IU. We get it, Bob. You hate IU and you hate Mike Davis for not kissing your ring. But what's the big deal? It's not like Mike Davis ever took IU to the championship game or anything.
Oh wait . . .
"They created that for themselves," Knight said in a recent interview. "The guy that's coaching there (Mike Davis) is a guy that I told Pat (Knight) we were going to replace at the end of the season. There's no way that I would have kept the guy any longer than that. That's their problem."
He continued, "I stayed at Indiana six years too long because of the administration. The administration handled a lot of things poorly. I was working for an athletic director that didn't know his ass from third base. I ended up staying because of the kids that I liked and the people I did like rather than focusing on the real negatives there."
Nice.
Here's a guy that I used to love and respect as a coach because he was a disciplinarian. He was fierce. He was a throwback. But now, he's a caricature of his former self. Coaching abilities notwithstanding, Bob Knight has become a punchline. Sadder yet, BobKnightNation loves his act. They cherish it. They eat it up. They are sycophantic in their adoration of a man who acts more like a schoolyard bully than a classy coach.
BobKnightNation will remind you of the coach and his charitable efforts, which are numerous. That's fine, I say, but at no point do charitable efforts earn you a lifetime pass of being as asshole.
I don't mind the Bob Knight that doesn't take shit from reporters. I do dislike, however, his antics at making hay where no hay is to be found, and he has done that on numerous, embarrassing occasions. BobKnightNation, of course, laps it up. I grew more and more tired of it during his final years at IU. It became a sideshow, an embarrassment. Sure, there were times when it was not his fault and I certainly jumped to defend him to the anti-Knight crowd. But there were other times when Knight clearly just couldn't get out of his own way. In fact, he proudly and stridently declared himself beyond reproach.
And BobKnightNation hates the fact that then-IU president Myles Brand yanked on the leash and reined him in.
Truth be told, I hated the way the firing went down. Had Brand and IU wanted him out, they shouldv'e spared us the nonsense of a "zero tolerance" policy. Just fire the guy, already!
Knight, however, has done little to make me feel the least bit sorry for him. In his immediate interview after the firing, he chose to take personal and cheap shots at Jeremy Schaap simply because Schaap wouldn't be his puppet and his enabler. Schaap stayed on topic adn didn't let Knight off the hook. Of course, that's like trying to catch a tiger by the tail. Knight stormed out of that interview, refusing to shake Schaap's hand.
And since then, Knight hasn't missed an opportunity to rile up his base of supporters in Bloomington and beyond by taking cheap swipes at Mike Davis.
I'm not here to defend Mike Davis, mind you. But it's a real Bush-League approach to continue to land suckerpunches on a program and a university that loved and respected you...for four solid years after you've been gone.
So while I don't take away a thing from Bob Knight's on-court accomplishments, I must confess a little bit of private satisfaction in seeing him out of the tournament. No, I don't like to gloat. I hate to gloat. I just wish the old man would once-and-for-all get the fuck over his big hard-on for IU. We get it, Bob. You hate IU and you hate Mike Davis for not kissing your ring. But what's the big deal? It's not like Mike Davis ever took IU to the championship game or anything.
Oh wait . . .
