posted on Monday, February 04, 2008 5:32 PM by mike.hlas

Good Night, Bobby

So someone who has spent his whole career espousing principles has walked out on his team with over a month of this season still to be played?

"He said he was tired and that it was best to go ahead and do it now. I think Bob is through with coaching. I think he got to the point where it wasn't fun for him."'' -  Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance

Unless Knight was sick and isn't telling anyone ... boo hoo. He was tired? It wasn't fun for him? I'm sure a few hundred of his players were tired and not having fun in February, too. You start a job, you finish it.

Maybe it's just a coincidence Knight waited to retire until he broke Dean Smith's record for career wins by a men's basketball Division I coach last season. Maybe it's just a coincidence he hung it up two weeks after getting his 900th win (He closed with 902), and put a season's worth of distance between himself and Smith's 879.

Of course, numbers don't mean anything to Knight. Just ask him.

Hey, maybe they don't. It's very possible he is doing the best thing for Texas Tech and his team by stepping down now instead of after the Red Raiders' inevitable loss in the NIT. Maybe by getting his son, Pat Knight, some on-the-job training during a season, Texas Tech basketball will be stronger for it in years to come.

Maybe Texas Tech men's basketball wasn't much nationally before Knight got there, won't be much now that he's gone, and wasn't a Big 12 champion or national-title threat while he was present.

Dude won a lot of games, lasted a lot of years. Many of us thought this would end far worse for him than it did. You know, Woody Hayes-type bad. Insane-type bad. It didn't. That's good.

Big Ten basketball for decades was Bob Knight. There were national-champs at Michigan and Michigan State, but Big Ten basketball was dominated by Knight's Indiana Hoosiers.

Big 12 basketball since Knight got to Lubbock has mostly been ... Kansas. The Jayhawks are on their way to their fourth-straight Big 12 regular-season title and sixth overall since Knight arrived at Texas Tech. That covers two different Kansas head coaches.

Legendary coaches still need to be at the right institution to lead a basketball dynasty. Texas Tech wasn't the right institution. But it let Knight be Knight, which is what he needed and demanded.

He'll be missed, at least by those who didn't think he was already gone.




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