When Will Bob Knight Return to Coaching?

by royalsreview on Jan 6, 2009 2:57 PM CST Comment 6 comments

Its been almost a year since Bob Knight abruptly resigned in Lubbock. As time has passed, it doesn't seem quite as weird as it did then, although it will be a long time before the second Knight era can be evaluated.

I'm curious as to when people guess Knight will take another job. He's only about one hundred wins ahead of Coach K. He probably knows its inevitable that Mike will pass him eventually, but my hunch is that Bobby may want to make him work for it longer than that (or possibly, be dead before it happens).

Then again, the record may honestly be irrelevant to him. Knight can be hard to read.

Nevertheless, if you look at the resumes of these guys, they almost always keep coaching, even if it means ending up in a completely random place.

Your thoughts?

ps- Here is Seth's vintage post when this first went down. A great read.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Double-T Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Double-T Nation's writers or editors.

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Maybe not when

but where. I just read Seth’s post on RMK’s retirement for the first time and the recap of the recruiting classes (great work, BTW, belated rec’s). I think that recruiting in the Big XII might have been the straw that brike the camel’s back. RMK was a legend in the mid-west. They played his style of basketball there. He was at the helm of a program that he had built that was in contention perennially. Recruiting was easy. They flocked to him and he got to pick the ones that would fit his program.

Texas Tech, on the other hand, was/is not at the top of the Big XII. Kansas, Texas, OU, and OSU get first dibs on recruits. Football is king. The Lady Raiders drew better crowds during my tenure than the men (though they were not far removed from a National Championship and were in contention under Marsha Sharp). Bob Knight was known more for throwing chairs than teaching basketball in Texas. Recruiting was not easy, and the quality guys that he was able to draw knew (or thought) they could play at an equally good program without ahving to put up with the dark side of Knight. Indiana was as good as it got, and the guys were willing to put up with more to be a part of that type of program. As Seth pointed out, what he was able to do in 2007 with the group that he had was impressive. It enabled him to grab a few quality guys to leave for Pat, who I think was doing most of the recruiting anyway.
RMK is not a young man. I think he looked in the mirror last season and decided he just didn’t have it in him to recruit and build a program from the ground up any more, so he hung it up. If he were to be offered a job with an elite program with a reputation for winning and able to draw recruits, preferably in the midwest, he would probably be a fit. I just don’t know which school that is.

by NM99 on Jan 6, 2009 5:17 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

INDIANA

I really think deep down he was wanting another crack at returning to Indiana . I was told that some alumni were wanting him back for a last 2-3 , 3-4 year hoorah !! ,after they fired their last coach ;[Samson ?]. Since Miles Brand is gone., I really think he thought they would offer it to him. Age, attendance. Pat., recruiting, and ego all factors. I agree with NM99 ,The right school, he would probably be back in coaching,but not in Lubbock.

by DR.MARK on Jan 7, 2009 2:16 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Wow

I’m vintage. I also see Knight in the midwest, but if a program needs a coach, are they going to want a guy who may not have quite a few years left coaching or go with a young guy who can maybe build the program. Finding recruits that want to play for old-school Knight may be tough.

Go Raiders . . .
Double-T Nation

by Seth C on Jan 7, 2009 7:26 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Agree

That was basically my point. It would have ot be a school with a winning reputation looking for a quick fix with no better options available at the time. I think he’s only got maybe 5 years of coaching left in him, and that number decreases with each passing season. Hiring RMK anywhere would be the basketball equivalent of hiring Bill Snyder.

by NM99 on Jan 7, 2009 8:23 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs