Bobby Knight abruptly resigned as the head basketball coach of Texas Tech University today, leaving a the all-time wins leader in major college basketball with 902 victories under his belt.
The 67-year-old Knight coached for 42 years, the majority at Indiana, where he won three National Championships, including the last undefeated season in college basketball (1976). He coached his teams to 29 20-win seasons, and 4 30-win years.
All-in-all, Knight put 36 players in the NBA, including 15 1st Rounders. In the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 1984, he coached the U.S. Team to a Gold Medal.
In addition to all of his statistical accomplishments, Knight is widely acknowledged as being one of the greatest teachers of the game in the history of basketball. His coaching career started at Army, where he coached current Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who had this to say about the often controversial coach:
"Outside of my immediate family, no single person has had a greater impact on my life than Coach Knight," said Krzyzewski. "I have the ultimate respect for him as a coach and a mentor, but even more so as a dear friend. For more than 40 years, the life lessons I have learned from Coach are immeasurable. Simply put, I love him."
There is no denying Bob Knight's place as one of the best coaches ever. But he is not THE BEST.
I went to school at USC, and took a class called Sports, Business, and Media in Today's Society. In this class, a new guest speaker would come every week to give us a varying perspective on the topics we covered.
One of these guests was former UCLA coach John Wooden.
John Wooden is not only the greatest coach in the history of basketball, he is unmatched in any sport around the world. Not to mention he is truly one of the best human beings this world has ever seen.
Wooden was actually the first man to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a coach AND a player (he has since been joined by Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman). Wooden was a three-time all American at Purdue and a member of their 1932 National Championship team.
But it was as a coach that Wooden made his mark. His career started in 1946 at Indiana State (now most famously known as Larry Bird's alma mater). In his first season, Indiana State won the conference title and received a bid to the NAIA Tournament. However, Coach Wooden turned down the invitation because, at the time, the tournament did not allow African-Americans to play.
The next year, Indiana State again won their conference title, and again received a Tournament bid. Days later, the NAIA changed their policy and allowed African-Americans to play, and Wooden thus accepted the bid. That year, Clarence Walker, a reserve guard for Wooden's squad, became the first black player to play in the Tournament.
After his early success, Wooden was courted by several Division 1 schools with head coaching vacancies, including UCLA and Minnesota. Wooden was born in Indiana, and he and his wife Nellie wanted desperately to stay in the Midwest. Thus, Minnesota was at the top of his list.
After being offered both jobs, Wooden debated what the best job for him would be. He chose Minnesota, and called them to let him know. On that phone call, Minnesota officials told Wooden they would call him back at 6:00 PM that night to confirm.
However, a big snowstorm passed through Minnesota and knocked out the telephone lines. 6:00 PM came and went, with no calls. UCLA called at around 6:15 to get a final decision from Wooden, and thinking Minnesota had gone with another candidate, he took the Bruins vacancy. Later that night, when Minnesota finally called and explained the situation, he thanked them for their offer, but told them that he had already made a promise to UCLA that he couldn't break.
Wooden was the Pacific Coast Conference Title in his 2nd year at UCLA, going 25-7 overall. But his best work didn't come until the 1963-1964 season.
In that year, Wooden won his 1st National Championship.
He would go on to win 9 of the next 11, for a total of 10 National Titles in 12 years, including 7 in a row from 1967-1973 (No other coach has more than 4 National Titles.) During the span, Wooden led UCLA to 4 Perfect 30-0 seasons. No other coach has had more than 1 undefeated year.
After his 10th National Title in 1975, Wooden retired after 29 years of coaching. During his time, UCLA won 88 consecutive regular season games, a number no one has ever of will ever come close to. From 1964-1974, they won 38 straight NCAA Tournament games, and were ranked #1 in the AP Top 25 Poll for 134 weeks.
Wooden ended his career with 671 career wins, compared to 161 losses, an .807 winning percentage (His AVERAGE YEAR was 24-6.)
Coach Wooden's basketball resume speaks for itself. Most of his accomplishments will never be duplicated, but most importantly, there will never be a better person to roam the sidelines.
Today, John Wooden is 97 years old. When he spoke to my class, he was 95. But you would never know it by listening to him. He has the mind of a teenager and remembers everything that has ever happened to him. His philosophies on life and basketball are more inspirational than anything I have ever heard, and just to be in his presence was a true honor.
Maybe this will sum it up: Coach Wooden's wife, Nell, passed away 23 years ago. Before that, the two were married for 53 years. To this day, Coach Wooden continues to write letters to Nell, as he did throughout her life. He has often said that Nell was the greatest piece of his life.
UCLA celebrates John Wooden every leap year on February 29th, 24 days from today. For anyone who is reading this, please keep him in your thoughts on that day.
As a die-hard Trojan fan, I rarely find anything positive about UCLA. But I can honestly say this:
Bobby Knight is a great basketball coach. But John Wooden is one of the greatest men to ever live.
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