-“I faced it all and I stood tall;

And did it my way.”

Frank Sinatra wrote those words for himself in his song “My Way,” but they could have just as easily been written for Bob Knight. The most infamous coach in collegiate basketball history has coached his last game, but his impact will live on forever; an impact he left on basketball, in his own way.

Sinatra’s song fits the life of Bob Knight like a glove. When the 24-year-old Ohio State graduate took over the head coaching job at West Point Academy in 1965, the sports world had no idea what it was in for. One of the youngest basketball coaches the NCAA had ever seen, Knight would soon become the most polarizing sports figure to walk the earth. The “General” stayed six seasons at Army, leading the Black Knights to four National Invitation Tournaments (NIT), while amassing a total record of 102-50. The coach put the Academy’s basketball program on the map in his six years there, but his legacy was just getting started. Knight moved to the head coaching position at Indiana University in 1971, taking a job that would change the game forever.

Knight’s credentials at Indiana speak for themselves; in 29 seasons, he had a record of 661-240, including a 353-151 mark in Big Ten Conference play. He led the Hoosiers to an astounding 24 NCAA Tournament appearances, making five Final Four’s and winning three National Championships. He made three NIT’s as well, winning one, and led eleven Indiana teams to a Big Ten Championship. And oh by the way, he coached the ’75-’76 National Championship team to an unblemished 32-0 record. They stand today as the last unbeaten team in NCAA Men’s Basketball history. But as impressive as his coaching statistics were, his questionable behavior, on and off the court, was just as widely publicized. His coaching style made him the most legendary coach to roam the bench. His temper made him the most controversial character ever to grace the world of sports.

At the 1979 Pan American Games in Puerto Rico, Knight was arrested for assaulting a police officer after finding that the practice gym was closed to his team. The charges were later dropped after Knight was pronounced “in absentia” in Puerto Rican court.

He allegedly kicked his own son, a ball boy, during a game. Knight claimed he kicked the chair.

However, Knight’s most infamous outcry occurred in 1985 in a game against the Purdue Boilermakers. Angry with a referee’s call, Knight protested by taking a chair from the bench and throwing it across the court, earning him an ejection and one game suspension. It also earned him a reputation that would follow him without end.

Knight’s list of controversies goes on and on. He got three technical fouls in one game (you get ejected after two). He spent an entire post-game news conference explaining how the “f-word” was the most descriptive word in the English language. He told a room full of reporters that he would rather “have a daughter who was a whore than a son who was a sports writer.” At Indiana’s Senior Night in March of ’84, he stood before a packed arena (university faculty and officials included) and shouted over the P.A. system, without hesitation, “When my time on Earth is gone, and my activities here are past, I hope that they should bury me upside down, so my critics can kiss my (you know).” He may have been the most honest man in sports, but he was also a man with no inhibitions. His honesty only seemed to lead to more trouble.

As entertaining as his antics were at times, they did little to help his career. In April of 2000, CNN released footage of an IU practice where Coach Knight was shown with his hand around the neck of one of his players. Although Knight had previously denied the reports, the footage forced the university president to implement a “zero tolerance” policy with Knight. One more questionable incident and Knight would be gone for good.



In September of that same year, Knight finally out-stayed his welcome. According to an IU freshman student, Knight grabbed the student by the arm, berating him for referring to him as simply “Knight” instead of being more respectful. University president Myles Brand was forced to take action, stating that this was one of many complaints directed toward Knight since the “zero tolerance” policy was put in place. On September 10, 2000, Brand asked the coach to resign. When Knight refused, Brand fired him, affective immediately. Bob Knight had finally gone too far.

However, his career was not yet finished.

After taking a year off, Knight was hired for the head coaching position at Texas Tech University. The Red Raiders had not as much as sniffed the NCAA Tournament since 1996, but The General quickly turned the program around. In his first six seasons, Knight led his team to one NIT appearance and four NCAA Tourney appearances, including a Sweet Sixteen run in 2005. Despite the ugly divorce with Indiana, Knight was able to prove his worth as a coach thanks to the opportunity given to him at Texas Tech.

On January 1, 2007, Knight recorded his 880th win, breaking the record for most wins in Men’s College Basketball history, a mark previously held by Dean Smith. On January 16th of the next year, Knight recorded his 900th win. However, the 900 had taken their toll. Less than a month later, on February 4, 2008, Knight resigned from Tech, 20 games into the season. He felt it was the right time for him to step down and hand the reigns over to his son, Pat Knight. This time, Knight got to leave on his own terms.

“Regrets, I’ve had a few;

But then again, too few to mention.

I did what I had to do

And saw it through without exemption.”

Knight’s days of walking the sidelines are over. Looking back, both the good and bad of the coach’s career are blatantly evident. The controversies at Indiana will follow him for the rest of his life; he will forever be “the guy who threw the chair.” But he will also be a coach that was committed to the education of his students, having one of the highest all-time graduation rates among coaches. He will be a coach that did things the right way, never once being involved in any type of recruiting scandal or NCAA rules violation. And most importantly, he will be the coach with 902 wins.

Bob Knight may be many things, but he is certainly not a fraud. He has never been anything but true to himself. Unfortunately, his pride vilified him. It ultimately led to his downfall at Indiana and the end of his career. But it also made him the winningest coach in NCAA Men’s Basketball history.

And when it was all said and done, he did it his way.