The basketball world lost a legend on Wednesday as Hall-of-Fame basketball coach Bobby Knight, the sixth-winningest coach in Division I men’s college basketball history, died at the age of 83.
Knight coached for 42 seasons, including six with Army, where he began his career at just 25 years old. He then spent 29 years at Indiana, where he won three NCAA Tournament titles en route to becoming a coaching icon.
Though, his career didn’t come without controversy, whether it be his infamous chair toss or brash personality. Knight did things his own way and it left an indelible mark on the game.
“Bobby Knight had a little controversial part to him, but as far as if you needed him or wanted him, that guy was unbelievable to me, to Jud [Heathcote], I think to the game of basketball and I really mean that in every way, shape or form,” Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo said Wednesday morning on Stoney and Jansen.
Noting Knight was a winner everywhere he went — including Army and Texas Tech — Izzo reflected on what he learned from Knight over the years.
“People will argue the antics and the chair throwing and things that I see go his way, but let’s face it guys, Jud Heathcote used to say ‘sooner or later the game makes fools of us all.’ And I’ve had my moments. But I think the mark of a great coach or a respected coach is what do his players think when they’re gone? And if you look at what people think of him that played for him 30 years later, a lot of life lessons learned,” Izzo said.
And he learned some of those lessons firsthand from Knight the year he led the Spartans to the national championship.
“When I won the national championship, it was a couple weeks before and we played Indiana down there and we beat ‘em. And they were good. And I got summoned to his war room by Quinn Buckner’s son, who was a manager,” Izzo said. “And as I’m walking I’m thinking ‘oh boy, here we go. I’m in for it now.’ And I got in there and he sat down and he more or less told me, ‘your team’s good enough to win the national championship. Here’s four or five things you gotta look out for on the road.’”
And then Knight “slapped me on the back and told me to get the hell out of there,” Izzo said.
“And I ran out of there.”
“But I used some of those things and I always said that day meant the world to me because here’s a competitor who’s just lost a tough game and everybody told me if you beat him, he’s gonna do this, do that,” he said.
As for the first time Izzo faced Knight on the sidelines,
“I’ll just give you a hint. I wore a diaper,” Izzo joked before going on to say Knight was gracious — “and I’m sure mad” — after the Spartans pulled off a big upset.