No. 600 Won’t Mean Much to Knight

Bob Knight’s next victory is always his most important, so what’s so special about this one?

If you rejoice in personal milestones--and the Hall of Fame coach clearly doesn’t--then you’ll know what’s so special: In his 22nd season at Indiana and 28th overall, Knight needs one more win to reach 600 for his stormy and storied career.

It could come before a national television audience on Sunday when the No. 4-ranked Hoosiers play No. 3 Kentucky at Louisville’s Freedom Hall.

Knight, who at age 52 figures to add plenty more victories to his impressive record, would become only the 15th NCAA Division I coach to reach 600, joining North Carolina’s Dean Smith, UTEP’s Don Haskins and James Madison’s Lefty Driesell as the only active coaches among that elite group. The late Aldolph Rupp leads the list with 875 victories.

But three NCAA championships, 10 Big Ten titles, Olympic and Pan American gold medals, and a flock of All-America and NBA players on his resume speak louder than any individual triumphs.

“Anytime a coach reaches a milestone or is accorded any honor, it is a great honor because it’s a team honor. Anytime a coach reaches any plateau, whatever it might be . . . it is a recognition of our players and the teams and their accomplishments,” Knight said four years ago after his 500th victory.

After victory No. 599 on Monday, he wouldn’t talk about his approaching milestone, or anything else. He skipped a post-game news conference, the Indiana sports information office said, to “read his maps” before a hunting trip on Tuesday.

But don’t expect any Indiana players to rebuke Knight’s nonchalance.

“We want to beat Kentucky whether it’s coach’s first victory or 600th victory. That will have nothing to do with how we approach it,” guard Damon Bailey said after the 85-65 victory over Colorado for the Hoosier Classic championship on Monday. “I don’t think we’ll put any more emphasis on the Kentucky game than we did on the Colorado game or the Butler game.”

Knight, who came to Indiana in 1971 after compiling a 102-50 record in six years as coach at Army, has a career record of 599-211. His only losing season was in 1970-71, when his last Army team went 11-13. The Hoosiers were 32-0 in 1976, winning the first of Knight’s three NCAA championships, and his record at Indiana is 497-161, including a Big Ten record 264 victories.

He was inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991.

Whatever hidden emotions Knight may have about victory No. 600, he’s not likely to change his public stance of four years ago, when he said 500 victories meant only that he has coached a long, long time.

“If I live long enough, what happens next is I outlive my enemies,” he said at that time, with typical Knight sarcasm. “They’ll all be gone and I’ll be an elder statesman and everybody will like me.

“If I can coach long enough . . . I’ll be the nicest guy in the world, because all you . . . will be gone. You can’t last that long with me. I’ve outlasted a lot of you guys as it is,” he told the media.

Knight’s scorn of the news media is legendary, as is the famous temper that has checkered his career, perpetuated his reputation as a master of intimidation and made this larger-than-life coach still the ultimate bad boy of basketball.

His controversies, including the cancellation of the annual team banquet after a loss last spring at Purdue, the hate-Knight capital of the known world, have amused an infuriated Hoosier fans and opponents alike.

He has been publicly reprimanded by Indiana, the Big Ten and the NCAA; he has been convicted of assaulting a policeman in Puerto Rico; he has pulled his team off the court, forfeiting a game to the Soviet national team; he has thrown a chair across the court in another game against Purdue; he has sparked a campus protest by comparing rape with the way he handles stress--If it is inevitable “relax and enjoy it.”

Last year, Illinois coach Lou Henson called him a “classic bully” who thrives on intimidation.

Knight isn’t losing any sleep. And his players almost universally stand behind him.

“The obvious part . . . most good coaches can teach you to be a better basketball player, but what he does is incorporate making you a better person, making you go to class, assuring you that if you work hard you’ll get a degree, learning responsibilities,” said Courtney Witte, a former player for Knight and now video coordinator and college scout for the NBA Indiana Pacers.

Todd Meier, who played on Indiana’s 1987 NCAA championship team, called his four years with Knight “a real experience . . . the way he coaches, the mind games. He makes you improve yourself. You’ve got to put up with his tactics, but it’s a dream to do it.

“Everybody gets a turn in the doghouse,” Meier said. “But when things are going well, it’s a country club. And there were more good times than bad times.”

Two-time All-American Steve Alford, who played four years in the NBA and is now the coach at tiny Manchester College in northern Indiana, recalled “tough times as well as easy times. If you’re going to be successful, it’s not always easy. but it seems after every tough time, something positive comes out of it after players respond the way he wants them to respond.”

The list of other former Knight players or assistants who went on to college head coaching jobs include Mike Krzyzewski of No. 1 Duke; Tates Locke, Indiana State; Dave Bliss, New Mexico; Joby Wright, Miami (Ohio); Jim Crews, Evansville; Bob Weltlich, Florida International; Bob Donewald, Western Michigan; and Kohn Smith, Utah State.