The Complicated Legacy of Bobby Knight

When I first started training new mortgage brokers, one of my first proteges was a broker named Alberto. I began training Alberto with another broker buddy of mine. For a while Alberto was a dutiful student, but after he closed his first loan, he turned. He started believing that he knew more than my buddy and me, and he slowly began to listen less and less to us. One day, I came up with an idea. I called my buddy and told him that it was time for us to go "Bobby Knight on Alberto". By going Bobby Knight, what I meant was that we would humiliate him mercilessly until he was ready to break and then try and build Alberto back up. If we did this properly, he would be built up much stronger. Now, this is actually quite similar to the tactics that Knight has used for four decades plus of coaching. In fact, he didn't invent them. They are the same principles that the Army uses and he likely learned them in his time there. It is hard to argue with his effectiveness in using them. He has three national championships, and even one perfect season, among numerous lesser accomplishments to show for the effectiveness of his training techniques.

Most of Knight's detractors fail to see the method of his so called madness. They fail to recognize that more times than not his heavy handed methods have an overriding goal. For the most part, he rides players in a sophisticated training strategy of breaking them down and then eventually building them back up. While his success is unquestionable, his detractors insist on fixating themselves his out of control tirades and other bouts of anger. While they can't and shouldn't be excused, his entire career doesn't boil down to several incidents of throwing chairs. Not only does he have an extremely impressive on court resume, Knight is also tied to decades of running a clean program. Furthermore, his players graduate in numbers unrivaled by nearly all his peers. Furthermore, out of the thousands of players that have played for him, most continue to swear by him and stay loyal to him.

Still, his legacy is complicated by his out of control anger. A buddy of mine made a very perceptive observation. He considers Knight a hypocrite. His whole entire philosophy is built on discipline, and yet the discipline he expects from his players, he doesn't give of himself. For all of his lessons about discipline that Knight has given his players over the years, he doesn't seem to heed any of those lessons when he let's his own anger get the best of him.

I can't excuse this clear hypocrisy and it does detract from his legacy, however I can't see how overall Knight's positives well outweigh his negatives. Whatever faults he has, they don't take away from his accomplishments. The three national championships can't be overlooked, however it goes well beyond that. He takes an active role in making sure that his student athletes are truly students first. He runs a clean program, and ultimately he earns the respect and loyalty of the overwhelming number of his players. His legacy maybe mixed, however ultimately, he has contributed a huge positive to college basketball and athletics in general.