Villanova Once Again Not Helping Our SOS; also, Bobby Knight

Bobby Knight was an abuser and a crybaby.  He is the embodiment of the worst in sports and the worst in people.

I watched the Knight 30 for 30 a week ago or so. What I didn’t realize was that Dakich was an assistant for him at the time Reed got choked. Dakich didn’t say anything at the time. It took Knight skipping the ‘76 team reunion for Dakich to come out against Knight. I lost whatever respect I had for Dakich when I heard that. Say what you will about his commentating, but raising a classy kid like Andrew speaks well of Dan. I just can’t get over him putting more importance on a reunion over a kid’s dignity.

P.S. And the story about Knight and the bathroom was shocking. What an asshole.

Bo, Woody,  Bobby Knight, were best of friends.

Enough said, different time, 

Now give everyone a trophy.

Villanova is just not good at basketball. Taking all the joy out of curb stomping them.

Bob Knight is an epic cunt. That is all I have to say about that

P.S. Elton John called and said those striped IU warmups are obnoxious. 

Whining about nova losing...come on man.  We're not a bubble team.  Life is not bad.  Move on.

I was recruited pretty hard by IU in a non revenue sport.  There were a couple of eateries they took me on trips that were essentially Knight shrines.  I was/am too young to really know much about him.  Plus, I never really followed hoops that closely as I was always practicing.  I knew he was hard-nosed but I assumed the players were just being a little dramatic towards him.  Based on the way people talked about him.  

I never knew half the things they talked about on that documentary.  He wiped his ass in front of his team?  It boggles my mind the way grown adults talked about him.  And the way he talked to the media?  How could people take his word that he didn't choke the kid.  Like it is that far fetched that a man who would berate a powerless reporter would put his hands on someone.

Tribalism is a hell of a drug. 

The Bobby Knight story of wiping his ass in front of players pretty much sums him up perfectly: a giant cocky asshole.

It’s not even a funny shit coaching story like Rick Majerus who would apparently have managers fetch him towels and he take dumps in them as his desk and have the managers throw the towel away. At least that causes you to chuckle

I noticed that was on and decided to read up a bit more on the history; this is an extremely sobering take from an Indiana perspective.  The list of alleged incidents is astonishing.

For a long time, I felt weird about his dismissal because it seemed to be an over-the-top punishment for the actual offense.  He didn't get fired for choking a kid in practice -- he got fired for grabbing a student's arm on campus.  However, given some time to reflect, it's a travesty that he was allowed to stay as long as he was.

There's a difference between tough love and abuse.  Knight fell on the wrong side of the line, and he was tolerated -- idolized, really -- because his teams won.

Villanova was overrated all year. Aside from Paschall, they don't really have any impact players 

Bobby Knight is a bully and should burn in hell.

I liked Bobby in the 70s and 80s - graduated players, clean program, some BIG F-ing wins. From 76-89, the BIG won 5 titles (IU 3, MSU 1, UM 1) in 14 years. We've won ONE since (MSU 2000).

He was still a dick back then, but gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Starting strongly disliking him the 90s - when he became an out of control A-hole. It seemed the more his team struggled, the bigger jerk he was to everyone.

He should have been canned before the student incident, but even IU fans I know thought he was no longer God.

His behavior toward IU since then, skipping out on reunions, etc. shows the true character.

Villanova just isn't that good. Probably a tournament team, but we sure weren't playing a top 10 team or anything close to it last month

I don't think I've ever respected an opposing B1G coach more than Coach Knight. Dude was military through and through. Those of you who say he couldn't coach today cuz the kids wouldn't handle it are saying more about the kids than Knight's style. 3/4 of the coaches I had growing up in sports worked for the county prison. Seriously. They were all different coaches in different sports but you can imagine what their coaching style was like. To this day, I respect every single one of them and how hard they were on men

Since the majority of amateur athletes will never go pro, what's the point in playing if not to make you a more adept, tougher, stronger, individual? Coach Knight, Bo, Harbaugh all do that. Just ask their players. 

point 1: who cares

point 2: coach beilein makes it obvious that you can be a good coach and not a controlling bullying asshole, which is what knight was

point 3: make threads about one thing, not two rando things

Nova is just inconsistent. I think it will be a quality win come March. They have solid wins against Florida State, Temple, and Oklahoma State. 

Their 3 losses are against: 

Michigan 10-0

Furman 11-0; and 

Penn 9-2 (who very welll might win the Ivy League). 

Interesting reading to be sure.  I wonder if more than two of those who commented actually knew Bo, Woody or Bobby Knight?

The 30 for 30 was slanted to provide a point of view in the extreme. The "choking" of Neil Reed as shown on video was not as Neil had described it prior to the video surfacing in 2 key respects:

1) Knight had one hand, not both hands, around Reed's neck, Reed did not appear to be choking or gasping for air at any time. Knight's hand was in place for 2.4 seconds though the way that ESPN kept replaying it over and over and over, it made the viewer feel like it was a lot longer. Briefly grasping him around the neck, is more accurate than choking. As others have noted Bo sometimes grabbed players by the facemask, and yanked them to get their attention.

2) No one had to pull Knight off of Reed, Knight removed his hand voluntarily after the afore-said 2.4 seconds. Reed had alleged that Dakich and unidentified others had to pull Knight off of him. Dakich can be seen at the other end of the court in the video when Knight pulled back on his own.

Still this was just one of many examples of Knight losing his temper and that was a character flaw. Per Dakich (for whatever that is worth) the toilet paper incident was an urban legend before he (Dakich) got to IU, which was well before Reed got there, and he never saw anything like it, but now multiple guys "remember" it. That doesn't mean it didn't happen. Dakich also says Bobby never kicked the school president out of practice

Knight is a complicated guy. I didn't like him then (he got to IU around the time that I got to UM), and I don't like him now but the complete truth is likely more nuanced than the ESPN piece. Even though it's old, I recommend the John Feinstein book "A Season on the Brink." for what seems to be a balanced, warts and all piece on Knight.  Along with the tantrums and bullying, he recounts Knight spending hours on multiple occasions at the bedside of a former player who had been paralyzed in an accident, something he did quietly and without reporters around.

As a Michigan fan, the book was particularly gratifying because although Knight pretty much owned us at that time, we beat Indiana both times that season which irritated Knight no end.

That's the State Pen Peda. . . gologists to you, son.