Legendary Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight passes away at 83

BLOOMINGTON — Former Indiana men's basketball coach Bob Knight, a towering and controversial figure in collegiate sports who led the Hoosiers to three national championships and the sport's last perfect season in 1975-76, died on Wednesday at the age of 83.

Renowned for his basketball acumen and a fiery personality that earned him adulation and criticism in equal, Knight’s intensity was at the heart of his success. In addition to the three national titles in 1976, '81 and '87, Knight finished his career with a then-record 902 wins, 11 Big Ten regular-season championships, five Final Four appearances, a National Invitational Tournament title and an Olympic Gold Medal for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

That intensity was also the root of his downfall. Knight was fired by IU President Myles Brand before the 2000-01 season for a confrontation with a student after Knight had been placed on a "zero tolerance" policy stemming from allegations and video evidence that he grabbed and choked former player Neil Reed during a practice.

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Knight followed his 29 seasons on the Assembly Hall bench with seven years coaching Texas Tech, leading the Red Raiders to four NCAA Tournaments and the Sweet Sixteen in 2005.

"It is with heavy hearts that we share that Coach Bob Knight passed away at his home in Bloomington surrounded by his family," the family, said in a statement. "We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as Coach requested a private family gathering, which is being honored. "

"We will continue to celebrate his life and remember him, today and forever as a beloved Husband, Father, Coach, and Friend."

Knight had previously been hospitalized in April with an undisclosed illness that prompted the family to release a statement asking for privacy.

While he kept a low profile in recent years, his move back to Bloomington in 2019 with his wife, Karen Veith Edgar, preceded a reconciliation. After two decades of estrangement, an emotional Knight returned to Assembly Hall for a game against Purdue in February 2020 to a rousing ovation from the capacity crowd.

"It was one of the greatest and most emotional things for me," former player Randy Wittman, said at the time. "I don't know if we'll see something like this again in college basketball. When he moved back here, I told him, 'You're back here because this is where you belong.’”

Knight, who also earned an NCAA national championship as a player for Ohio State in 1960, established himself as the preeminent figure in Indiana basketball history. He carried over the defensive-minded philosophy he employed at Army — thanks in part to the school’s stringent height restrictions — as the then-youngest head coach in the country.

That reputation earned him the nickname "The General" and Indiana made the Final Four within two years of hiring Knight in 1971. A national title was on the horizon. The Hoosiers went 32-0 in 1975-76, beating Michigan, 86-68, in the championship game.

The talent-laden starting lineup featured Scott May, Kent Benson and Quinn Buckner, who all went on to have NBA careers, but Knight didn’t leave anything to chance as former guard Bobby Wilkerson explained to Sports Illustrated back in 2001.

“I'll tell you part of the reason we were so good," Wilkerson said. "Under Coach Knight, the games seemed like a vacation.”

There hasn’t been a Division 1 men’s team to go undefeated since, but Indiana would win two more titles under Knight. His list of former players is a Who’s-Who of Indiana basketball luminaries that includes former consensus first-team All-Americans Isiah Thomas, Steve Alford and Calbert Chaney.

Knight’s success cast a long shadow in Bloomington as did his departure in September 2000.

Then university president Myles Brand put a “zero tolerance” policy in place for Knight just four months prior to that in the wake of allegations the coach choked former player Neil Reed. CNN obtained video of the incident that occurred in a practice during the 1997 season.

At the time, Knight pledged to work on the temper that fans had grown accustomed to seeing directed at officials, most famously when he threw a chair across the court in 1985. That incident earned him a one-game suspension and two years probation from the Big Ten.

''Practically all of us have some problem to deal with in life,'' Knight said, in a statement at the time. ''For some, it's something as simple as meeting people or talking in front of people. My temper problem is a lot more troublesome than those, and it is something I have had to deal with for as long as I can remember.”

Brand fired Knight four months later after he allegedly accosted a student on campus citing a “persistent and troubling pattern of behavior.”

Knight remained a fixture in college basketball, first, as Texas Tech's head coach then with a lengthy stint as a college basketball analyst for ESPN. His son Pat, who is currently a scout for the Indiana Pacers, succeeded his father when he retired midway through the 2008 season.

Through it all Knight had a non-existent relationship with Indiana.

Mike Woodson, who played for Knight in the late 1970s, helped repair the bond before landing the head coaching job at his alma mater. He hasn’t shied away from discussing his mentor and welcomed him with open arms when he started attending team practices.

Woodson wants to bring Indiana basketball to the same heights it reached when Knight was patrolling the court in his famed red sweater.

For Woodson, like many fans, that image defines Indiana basketball.

“I love the hell out of him,” Woodson said in a televised interview, after his first win in the NCAA Tournament (link). “He’s the greatest coach that has ever graced the college floor.”

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on Twitter @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Former Indiana men's basketball coach Bob Knight dead at 83