Athletes - Bobby Knight

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	Athletes - Bobby Knight

Robert Montgomery "Bobby" Knight (born October 25, 1940 in Massillon, Ohio, USA) is the head men's basketball coach at Texas Tech University. He previously held the same position at Indiana University and the United States Military Academy. Knight is one of NCAA Division I college basketball's most controversial coaches but is the third all-time winningest coach in the men's division. With only 10 wins separating him and all-time leader Dean Smith, Knight will probably break the all-time record next season.

Playing career

Bob Knight began his career as a player at Orrville High School and continued under Hall of Fame coach Fred Taylor at Ohio State University in 1958. He was a reserve on the Buckeyes' 1960 NCAA Division I National Championship team, which featured future Hall of Fame players John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas. Knight graduated with a degree in history and government in 1962.

Coaching Career

Army

After graduation in 1962, Bob Knight coached at Cuyahoga Falls (Ohio) High School for one year, then accepted an assistant coaching position at Army in 1963, where, two years later, he was named the head coach at the relatively young age of 24. In six seasons at West Point, Knight won 102 games. One of his players was future Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Indiana

Knight was noticed as a rising star, and when Indiana University was seeking a new coach in 1971, they turned to Knight. Knight immediately endeared himself to the basketball-mad state of Indiana with his disciplined approach to the game. Educated in military history, Knight was given the nickname "The General" by former University of Detroit and Detroit Pistons coach-turned-broadcaster Dick Vitale.

Within two years, Knight turned a mediocre team into a Big Ten Conference powerhouse. Indiana reached the Final Four in 1973, losing to UCLA. In 1975 the Indiana Hoosiers were undefeated. the number one team in the nation, when leading scorer and All-American Scott May, the father of former North Carolina star and current Charlotte Bobcats player Sean May, broke his arm during the Hoosiers' historic defeat of arch-rival Purdue on Purdue's home court. Indiana subsequently suffered a heartbreaking 92-90 loss to Kentucky in the regional finals of the Division I Men's National Championship tournament despite a determined, but ultimately ineffective, May gamely playing with a heavily-braced arm. The final game between UCLA and Kentucky was historic, as it was Indiana-born UCLA head coach John Wooden's final game.

In 1976, the Hoosiers made history, posting a perfect 32-0 record and winning the championship, beating Michigan 86-68. Immediately after the game, Knight lamented that "it should have been two." No Division I men's team has replicated the feat since. Under Knight, the Hoosiers would also win championships in 1981 and 1987. The 1981 team featured future Hall of Fame NBA point guard Isiah Thomas, and the 1987 team featured guard Steve Alford. That championship game was won on an exhilarating last-second shot by Keith Smart.

Additionally, Knight's Hoosiers won the 1979 NIT championship, and Knight won the Olympic gold medal as coach of the Michael Jordan-led 1984 team. He also won eleven Big Ten Conference titles. Knight is only one of four coaches to win NCAA, NIT, and Olympic championships, joining the legendary coaches, Dean Smith of North Carolina, Adolph Rupp of Kentucky, and Pete Newell of California in that achievement.

The Indiana Hoosiers were undefeated in Big Ten Conference play from 1974 to 1976, and, in fact, only lost one game during the period (the aforementioned regional final against Kentucky).

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Athletes - Bobby Knight

Playing career

Coaching Career

Army

Indiana

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