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10/25/00- Bobby Knight- Goodbye, Good Riddance...
Bobby Knight was fired a few months ago. It was about time. Bobby Knight is a brilliant coach. His players had a phenomenal graduation rate while he was at Indiana. He also is a temperamental bully who considered himself above what most people would consider good behavior. Now I'm going to go out on limb and excuse his behavior on the court. I'll ignore his chair throwing antics, his berating of players, and his treatment of reporters. It's a game...All coaches engage in theatrics to motivate their players. I'll even excuse his manhandling of players during practice. I don't agree with his coaching tactics but any basketball player attending Indiana should have known what they were getting themselves in for. No one can honestly believe that any 6 foot something player was ever in actual physical danger from Coach Knight. My problem is with his behavior off-the court. The incident in Puerto Rico involving a police officer, his throwing of a vase at an Athletic Department secretary, his berating of Indiana Athletic Department officials, etc. etc. A good coach should train his players how to prepare. They should come away from their sport with the skills to succeed in life. What lessons did Bobby Knight teach his players? Intimidate the weak. Ignore authority. Be a law unto yourself. You're not responsible for your actions. Try that in the real world. How many of you could get away with throwing things at a secretary at your workplace? How many of you have been involved in a police incident and fled jurisdiction? Bobby Knight is unfit to coach a basketball team because he is bad example. How can a coach preach discipline when he can't exhibit it in his own life? His worst transgression is his all encompassing arrogance. Everyone is wrong but him. He didn't do anything wrong. It's everyone else's fault. There's a good lesson to teach young people. Indiana University is not blameless. Someone should have reigned Coach Knight in a long time ago. A final reason that Bobby Knight should have been fired is that he was a terrible role model for coaches. Every baseball, football, and basketball league across this country has a wanna-be Bobby Knight. The amateur coach who can emulate Knight's poor behavior but not his brilliance. The coach who thinks that Knight was successful because of his boorish behavior. Through my involvement in amateur athletics (high school football, little league baseball) I've seen coaches who operate with this mentality. If the firing of Bobby Knight makes even one of these coaches think twice before berating an official or needlessly screaming at a young player than it was well worth it. The really sad thing is that the good things about Bobby Knight have been overshadowed by the incidents of the last couple of months. But in the end he has no one to blame but himself. Go Blue! |
