A caring coach (read his lips: he says “Pick your head up”)
Just like a lot of people
Bobby Knight is ready to be the all-time “winningest” coach in NCAA history. In the grand scheme of things, what does it really mean? Not much, unless you really like basketball and for some reason it’s better than taking care of the homeless, making the world a better place, ending wars, etc. (This coming from a guy who’s job it is to put little pieces of silicon into things to we can see things like this pointless blog better.)
Anyway, my point is Bobby Knight comes across as an abusive, egomaniacal, foul-mouthed moron mostly because of political correctness. We expect public people to set a good example for all of us to be polite, caring and nice because that way, we don’t offend anyone. (which is crap, sometimes people need to be offended to understand that things are not always perfect in life and should learn to live with it).
Bob Knight is usually a pretty easy target for critics, but as someone who has blown his stack while coaching basketball with kids, has mentored fresh college grads, has interviewed his share of crappy graduates and now has kids of his own, I can say, I like his approach. Is it crude? Yes. Insulting? Potentially. Honest? Yes.
There was about four years in college that I thought Knight was the biggest idiot on the planet. However, one of his biggest accomplishments is graduating his players.
- Fact: many basketball players come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Fact: 30 teams in the NBA means there are 450 professional basketball jobs at the highest level (for lots of money).
- Facts: college is expensive. you grow a lot at college. you mature at college. you learn how to work with others.
Knight preps his players for life after basketball. He is the hardnosed parent that many of his players never had. He is the hardnosed parent that many of us hated in school. He is the hardnosed parent that many people never had… and therefore don’t understand it.
In today’s hippie-originated, politically correct environment, Bob Knight is a dinosaur. However, if more parents would appreciate and accept the fact that many times honesty and directness are far more effective than “time-outs” and “talking about it”, I think a lot of things would be different. Being offended would not be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Parents would take responsibility for all of their children’s actions, especially at school.
Would I like my son to go away to school for four years and spend it nearly everyday with a guy like Bob Knight? Vs. a guy like Todd Boseman or Jim Lavin, absolutely. I would want him to be with a coach who cared more about him doing things the right way rather than win at all costs. One is sacrifice; one is suicide.
Bob Knight is… my idol? Maybe not exactly, but there are some things that I do believe he has right.
- No player is more important than the team. We are all a part of a team (at home, at work, with friends). Going through life alone would really suck.
- Life is not easy. Discipline and overcoming hardship (in various forms) teach you how to deal with our imperfect world.
- Passion and intensity for what you do is necessary.
- It’s doesn’t always matter what people think about you. You know whose opinion you really care about.
- Using a lot of four letter words in a televised interview, doesn’t translate well after the FCC takes its share.
Congrats, Coach Knight. You are a winner. You make a difference in the world by trying to make high school boys into mature college grads.
You know, usually I disagree with your west-coast hippie liberal views.
But in this case, I agree completely.
Who is this and what have you done with Todd?!?!