Calling It A Knight

One of the biggest shocks of the college basketball season comes the day after one of the biggest shocks in football history. I like to think Knight resigned as head coach of Texas Tech to try and lure media attention away from the Patriots’ loss (can you still tell I’m crying myself to sleep over it?) Whatever Knight’s reason for resigning is, you can’t help but question his timing. Why in the middle of the season, with ten games remaining on the Red Raiders schedule? It doesn’t seem like Bobby Knight to not finish what he started. Some could question his age, where at 67 he’s getting up there and it’s not like he can coach forever. Others can say he did it to move over and make way so that the reigns could be handed over to his son Pat, who will serve as head coach for Texas Tech for at least the remainder of the season. Neither of these reasons for resigning explain why he did so in the middle of the season. The timing would suggest that Knight was after the 900 win plateau, but everyone knows he doesn’t care about that. Again, it seems un-Knight-like to seemingly abandon his team in mid-season, but he left them in good hands, and then again, it was never really Knight’s style to do anything that the media would consider “appropriate.”

To me it is almost certain that the way Knight went out indicates that he is done coaching. It’s over for him. He is clearly ready to move on to the next phase of his life, and all that is left of his coaching career is its legacy. And his legacy is undeniable. Knight leaves the game the all-time leading coach in men's Division I victories with 902, and he did so with three different teams; Army, Indiana, and Texas Tech. He won three NCAA Championships, all with Indiana, in 1976, 1981, and 1987, according to ESPN.com, and that 1976 Hoosier team was the last Division I men's team to complete a season undefeated. Despite all these accolades, Knight will be more known for his actions than his success. All his collisions with the media, tossing a chair across the court in the middle of a game, and allegedly choking a player all come to mind before his numbers do. The thing that remains constant about Knight, and what I love about him, is that he just doesn’t care. I don’t think he ultimately cares about his legacy or how the media portrays him, but there are enough people out there who support him and will not leave his legacy tarnished, and rightfully so. He leaves the game as one of the best coaches of all time, and probably the most talked about and famous...or infamous.


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