After 902 wins, he's going out . . . quietly

By Robyn Norwood

Feb. 5, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Bob Knight, the famously volatile coach who has won more games than anyone in the history of Division I men’s college basketball, resigned suddenly as coach at Texas Tech on Monday.

The fiery coach who won three NCAA titles and 902 games but was fired at Indiana in 2000 for a pattern of “defiant and hostile” behavior went out not with the sort of angry incident many predicted, but by telling his staff he was burned out and telling Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance he was “tired.”

The school confirmed the resignation, although Knight left without making any official comment. Les Fertig, an assistant athletic director in charge of basketball operations, said Knight’s “health is fine,” and Knight told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal -- which first reported the decision -- that he left in part to ease the transition for his son, Pat, who in 2005 was designated to succeed him. The senior Knight’s contract ran through 2012.

“My thinking was that for Pat and for this team -- most of which is returning next year -- the best thing for the long run for this team would be for Pat and his staff to coach these 10 remaining games,” Knight, 67, told the newspaper.

By leaving abruptly during his 42nd season as a college coach, Knight orchestrated the apparent end of his career to the same tune he chose when he broke Dean Smith’s record of 879 career victories last year: Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”

New Mexico Coach Steve Alford, who starred at Indiana for Knight, said in a statement, “I am very happy for Coach Knight because he got to start and finish his career exactly the way he wanted.”

The normally stoic Knight blinked back tears as “My Way” played over the public-address system the day of his record-setting win.

“I’ve simply tried to do what I think is best, in the way I think you have to do it to do what’s best,” he said after that game.

He spoke of regret, but not extensively.

“Regrets, sure, just like the song, I have regrets,” he said. “I wish I could have, not necessarily done things different. I wish I could have done things better at times.

“Just like he said, I did it my way. And when I look back on it, I don’t think my way was all that bad.”

Knight and others seemed to recognize that for all his accomplishments, he would be remembered as much for his volatility as his record.

Besides the NCAA titles he won at Indiana in 1976, 1981 and 1987 and the 1984 Olympic gold medal, Knight is best known for a long list of incidents that includes being convicted in absentia of assaulting a policeman in Puerto Rico in 1979, throwing a chair during a 1985 game against Purdue, appearing to kick at Pat (then an Indiana player) in 1993, and being captured on videotape gripping Indiana player Neil Reed’s neck during a 1997 practice.

When Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement Monday that “he should be treasured in our sport,” it was an implicit acknowledgment that beyond certain circles, he is not.

John Wooden, whose 10 NCAA titles make him one of only two coaches to win more than Knight -- Adolph Rupp, with four, was the other -- has called Knight “one of the outstanding teachers” the game has had.

“Unfortunately, some of his methods have brought him some bad publicity and a lot of people will talk about that more than what he has done,” Wooden told The Times last year.

“His methods, just as General Patton’s, were different. But wouldn’t you want General Patton on your side in a time of war? I have the utmost respect for Bobby Knight. I just differ and disagree with his methods.”

Krzyzewski, who played for Knight at Army -- where Knight began his career as a head coach at only 24 -- said Monday that “outside of my immediate family, no single person has had a greater impact on my life than Coach Knight. . . . Simply put, I love him.

“As a coach, no one has more passion for basketball,” Krzyzewski said. “No one understands its history or serves it more earnestly. And certainly, no one prepared better or taught the game at a higher level. While this is a tremendous loss for our sport, it is something Coach Knight wanted at this point in his life and as he’s consistently done, he handled it in his own way.”

Knight’s 900th victory came last month in an upset of then-10th-ranked Texas A&M;, making him the only men’s major-college coach to reach that mark. Since then, the Red Raiders had gone 2-2, losing by 26 points to Texas on Jan. 26 before defeating Oklahoma State, 67-60, on Saturday in what proved to be his final game.

With a 12-8 record this season and only three NCAA tournament appearances since taking over at Texas Tech in 2001, Knight seemed unlikely either to win another national championship or reach 1,000 wins. Instead of extending his own career, he decided his son’s should begin.

But as Krzyzewski said Monday, it is “difficult to imagine Coach Knight away from the game.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

robyn.norwood@latimes.com

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Knight’s numbers

NCAA Division I all-time winningest coaches (x -- active):

1. Bob Knight... 902

2. Dean Smith... 879

3. Adolph Rupp... 876

4. Jim Phelan... 830

5. Eddie Sutton-x... 800

6. Mike Krzyzewski-x... 794