Legendary Indiana Basketball Coach Bob Knight Dies at 83
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Legendary Indiana coach Bob Knight passed away on Wednesday (Nov. 1, 2023). He turned 83 years old last week. The news was released by his family on social media.
"It is with heavy hearts that we share that Coach Bob Knight passed away at his home in Bloomington surrounded by his family. 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 — The Knight Family
Knight coached for 29 years at Indiana, from 1971 to 2000, and was one of the sport's most popular — and polarizing — figures. The man in the plaid jackets and red sweaters won national championships in 1976, 1981 and 1987. He also coached the Hoosiers to two other Final Fours in 1973 and 1992 and helped Indiana to become one of the bluebloods in college basketball.
He was also controversial and had several run-ins with the Indiana administration. He was fired in September of 2000, a move that splintered the Indiana basketball community for 20 years, until Knight returned to Assembly Hall for the first time on Feb. 8, 2020, surrounded during a tear-filled halftime introduction by several dozen former players.
Knight was born in Orrville, Ohio, on Oct. 25, 1940 and he played basketball at Ohio State. He was part of a national championship team in 1960 that was coached by Fred Taylor and he was teammates with future NBA Hall of Fame greats Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek.
After college, Knight was a high school assistant for a year before getting hired at Army by Tates Locke. He replaced Locke as head coach in West Point in 1965, when he was only 25 years old.
Knight coached six years at Army and won 102 games. He was hired in 1971 to coach the Hoosiers, and he had them in a Final Four two years later, losing to a great UCLA team led by Bill Walton in the national semifinals in 1973 when he was still just 29 years old.
Knight won 662 games at Indiana and his three national titles are forever memorialized at Assembly Hall with banners three, four and five. Indiana also won national titles in 1940 and 1953 under Branch McCracken.
He won 353 Big Ten games, which was a record until 2022 when he was passed by Tom Izzo of Michigan State. He won 11 Big Ten regular season titles.
Knight coached at Texas Tech after his firing from Indiana, and he retired in 2008. His 902 wins were an NCAA record at the time, and is currently No. 6.
Knight was well known for winning, but also for his temper that often got him in trouble many times. He was accused of assaulting a police officer during the Pam American Games in Puerto Rico in 1979 when he was coaching the U.S. national team. He also was widely criticized for insensitive comments about sexual assault in a 1988 interview on NBC with Connie Chung.
In what is likely Knight's most famous moment, he threw a chair across the floor during a game against Purdue at Assembly Hall in 1985 after being upset by a bad call by the referees. Jokes about the display continue to this day, and even though it was upsetting at the time, Knight was able to laugh about it for years.
Knight's downfall at Indiana started in 1997, when he was shown on video on CNN/Sports Illustrated with his hand around the neck of Indiana guard Neil Reed during practice.
Following a lengthy investigation and nationwide criticism of his actions, Indiana president Myles Brand chose not to fire Knight over the event, instead putting him on a “zero tolerance” policy for his behavior. After an altercation with a student in 2000, he was fired. There was a massive protest by a large portion of the fan base, which turned its back on the school for years after his firing.
Knight coached six seasons at Texas Tech, where he won 138 games and took his shots at Indiana's administration often. When he retired, he was replaced by his son, Pat Knight, who was one of his assistant coaches.
In 2019, Knight and his wife Karen moved back to Bloomington to be back around friends and family. He was spotted around town often, and the hopes of a thaw between Knight and the university finally happened when he returned to Assembly Hall on Feb. 8, 2020.
In a reunion that took months of planning but didn't become real until just a few days before, Knight was back in the building for the first time in 20 years. He spent several hours before the game visiting with former players, and went out onto the floor at halftime, must to the delight of Indiana fans who waited two decades for the moment.
He didn't attend any more games — the COVID-19 pandemic started a month after his Assembly Hall visit — but he became a regular at practices the past two years after one of his favorite former players — Mike Woodson — took over as head coach of the Hoosiers.
He has been in poor health for several years, and on Oct. 20 during the Hoosier Hysteria event at Assembly Hall, Woodson asked for prayers for Knight and his family.
He died 12 days later.
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- PHOTO GALLERY: Hall of Fame coach and beloved Indiana University basketball icon Bob Knight passed away on Wednesday. He was 83 years old. Knight had been in declining health recently. Here are the best pictures of Knight's legacy through 29 years at Indiana that included three national championships. CLICK HERE
- BIG TEN NETWORK MARATHON: In honor of legendary Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight, who passed away Wednesday, the Big Ten Network is debuting "Remembering Bob Knight" and running a 15-hour marathon, packed with footage of Knight and the Hoosiers. CLICK HERE
- SOCIAL MEDIA REACTS: Indiana's three-time national champion head coach Bob Knight passed away Wednesday night. Several fellow coaches, former players and many others shared their thoughts on Knight's legacy on social media. CLICK HERE
