Posted 3/20/2005 11:17 PM
By Greg Boeck, USA TODAY
TUCSON — Not long ago, Bob Knight was cast as the Scrooge of college basketball, the bah-humbug bad boy who threw chairs, bullied players, berated students and bashed the media. Once, he even insulted a country.
Times, and people, can change, as evidenced by Knight playfully whispering in one of his players ears for all to hear that he's "a lot like a latter-day Santa Claus" — and everybody, past media critics included, buying in with laughter.
This much is certain: Christmas came in March for Knight and his Texas Tech Red Raiders. Their surprising run as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament's Albuquerque Regional continues against West Virginia on Thursday, part of an improbable journey from zero tolerance to the Sweet 16 for Knight.
The onetime incorrigible coach appears to have come full cycle since last taking a team — Indiana — to the Sweet 16 in 1994. Then, he was a ticking time bomb six years from losing his job for violating a zero-tolerance policy imposed by the basketball-crazed school after repeated behavior issues.
Now, in a far-off football hotbed where he has enjoyed life under the radar the last four years, a more mellowed Knight returns to the Sweet 16, which launched three of his Indiana teams to the national championship.
Make no mistake. At 64, 26 wins shy of surpassing Dean Smith's Division I men's record of 879 victories, Knight still brings a sarcastic wit, tart tongue and fiery passion for winning to the sidelines. Asked about approaching Smith's record, he said, "I really haven't given it any thought. I've just been trying to figure out what flies I'm going to use next time I go fishing."
But bookend Sweet 16 to bookend Sweet 16, a different coach has evolved the last 11 years.
Ask his son, Pat Knight. He was on the bench as a player for that last Sweet 16 team. Saturday, as the Red Raiders (22-10) roared from 13 points behind to eliminate No. 3 seed Gonzaga 71-69, he was on the bench as his father's associate coach.
"He won't say it," the son said, "but he's a little more laid-back. Everybody thinks he chews everybody's (tail) out. But he doesn't. You're not going to turn on "SportsCenter" if he has his arm around some guy. He's his own worst enemy. They play all the bad stuff. But he doesn't get enough credit. He's really matured over the years. He's more mellow in a sense. It's an adjustment."
Life in Lubbock, said his son, has added years to his career.
"He would have already been retired" if he had stayed in Indiana, the younger Knight said. "We're kind of in the middle of nowhere. There's only one newspaper. You don't hear a lot about him. He likes it that way. People in town are great. It's not Mayberry, but no one bothers you."
Having a blast in Lubbock
With Knight's return to the Sweet 16, there's no hiding anymore.
Knight still coaches with the driven demeanor of a man on a mission, but he appears at peace with himself, his surroundings and, mostly, his players. He has particularly taken to 6-2 guard Ronald Ross, the former walk-on who has emerged as the team leader as a senior.
"I'm not sure in my time of coaching there's been a better story than Ronald Ross," Knight said. "The kid has had such a tremendous determination to be a good player."
"He could have been bitching and whining that he didn't have a scholarship, but I never heard the kid complain about anything. I've never had a kid I have more admiration for, particularly when he hit that three" to help beat Gonzaga.
Knight smiled, an occurrence that comes easier these days.
He still challenges the media. Asked about reports he had been contacted about the Tennessee basketball vacancy, he said, "I read something at some time during the season where I was interested in coaching a job that would be one of the last jobs — I mean I'd quit before I'd have taken it. I've got a little bit tired of that over my time in coaching."
Pressed whether that was a yes or no, he answered, "If you can't get an answer from that, you ought to go back to school."
He still gets in his players faces, perhaps none more so than Ross, who will make a triumphant return to his home state of New Mexico (he's from Hobbs) as the leader of a team few expected to get this far.
In Saturday's win, Knight pulled Ross aside during a break and unceremoniously chewed him out. Ross, who scored 52 points in the first two rounds, embraced the lashing — and then nailed a three-pointer with 1:09 left to give Tech the lead for good.
"It's all learning, teaching," Ross said. "When he gets on me, I listen and observe."
Knight, his son said, picks his spots and his players these days. He doesn't treat everybody the same. "We have a couple players he puts his arm around. No one sees that."
The Red Raiders, to a player, talk in admiring, almost loving terms about their coach. Asked the biggest misconception of Knight, Ross said, "People stereotype him and his ambition to win by saying that he yells too much."
Added sophomore guard Jarrius Jackson, "A lot of people confuse his desire to win when he is just trying to be competitive. He wants to win every game, and he expects the exact same thing from his players."
The respect appears mutual. Knight is clearly fond of this bunch of overachievers and has bonded with them. His son echoed the sentiment of Knight's longtime friend, teaching guru and Hall of Fame coach Pete Newell, who said this is one of Knight's better coaching jobs.
Knight doesn't agree. "If Pete thinks that, I appreciate that," he said. "But it's not as good as 32-0," a reference to his undefeated 1976 NCAA championship team at Indiana.
Even that team, however, takes a back seat in enjoyment for Knight to this one, a season he said has been a "wonderful experience."
"It's as enjoyable a team to watch and to be around as any I've ever had."
Still has the fire but mellower
Knight is embracing the moment. The big smile, the heartfelt hug with his wife, Karen, after the win against Gonzaga and the laughter with his players during the postgame news conference all portray a more approachable Knight.
He even poked fun at himself after the victory.
Asked about bringing his wife, a former coach, on the court, where they embraced, Knight said, "My wife is a better coach than I am. I wanted to thank her for all the help she'd given me in preparing for this game and season. She deserved to be a real part of this because she doesn't always agree with the way I coach. She thinks I do a lousy job with our post players."
Few would challenge the job he has done since arriving in Lubbock, however. The Red Raiders, always second fiddle to the football team, reached the Sweet 16 in 1996 and had another winning season before four consecutive losing seasons.
Enter Knight for the 2001-02 season. With Texas Tech's little tradition and even less of a recruiting base to build on, he has produced four consecutive 20-plus win seasons, three trips to the NCAA Tournament and now a Sweet 16 appearance.
He has done it with a team short on talent but long on desire. The Red Raiders play hard for their coach.
Down the stretch Saturday, forward Devonne Giles saved the game by grabbing one rebound with his pants falling off and another falling out of bounds before he called timeout.
That's the moxie and heart Knight has infused in this team.
"We're a good family, and with Coach Knight there are no limits," Ross said. "He's been really relaxed, but at the same time he's let us know what to do.
"People always ask, "Has he mellowed out?' But I don't think his desire to win has come down any. People doubted us, but with Coach Knight, you can never doubt anybody."
Knight's son acknowledged that getting back to the Sweet 16 "meant everything" to his father, but Dad defiantly balked. It was time to defend himself against critics who pointed out he was 3-8 in the NCAA Tournament since 1994 coming into this season's first round.
"In the years we had difficult times getting anywhere in the NCAA, maybe, just maybe, it was a real positive that we'd gotten that far and maybe we'd just run out of gas," Knight said.
"I don't think we were ever seeded lower than eighth. I never felt any real remorse for not going any farther than we did."
He's feeling a lot different now, bah-humbug.
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