The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 2 of 14)

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Bobby Knight may have been one of the greatest X-and-O coaches ever, he has the most wins by a men's coach at the D-1 A level, and he has an Olympic god medal...but he was still a horse's rear end! You can try to slice it any way you like it, but he was and his actions prove it.

p>Remember, this is a man who: br> 1. Refused to speak to Coach K for years after losing to Duke in the Final Four. br> 2. Gave a player a head butt on the sideline during a game. br> 3. Slapped a Texas Tech player upside the head for messing up in a game. br> 4. Kicked his own son in a fit of anger during a game at IU. br> 5. Wouldn't even send a former player Luke Recker a get well card after he was almost killed in a car accident after transferring from IU. br> 6. Choked player Neil Reed during a practice, lied about repeatedly, and tried to make Reed out to be the villain...until the videotape of the incident surfaced. br> 7. Defied the administration at IU and blew off a scheduled meeting with the school president to go hunting. /p>

For all of his accomplishments as a coach, he would not be anyone that I would entrust my son to. How can you teach young men to behave like adults, when you act like a petulant child when you don't get your way? Men like John Wooden, Dean Smith, Lute Olson, and Lou Henson all managed to be successful without being such boorish jackasses as Bobby Knight.

I for one will not miss his temper tantrums, his belittling the press, and his acting as if the university administration worked for him...and not the other way around. And, for the record John Wooden also said that he didn't always agree with his methods...not just that Knight was one of the best teachers of the game. I think it means something when John Wooden makes that type of statement about Knight's methods and how he didn't quite agree with them.

p>Maybe, just maybe, it's not such a bad thing that there aren't any more Bobby Knights out there in college coaching. br> --

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