Bob Knight, legendary college basketball coach and coach of the United States national team who won Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984, died this Wednesday at the age of 83, Indiana University reported in a statement.
Knight achieved three NCAA titles at the head of Indiana (1976, 1981, 1987) and won a total of 902 games combining his time at Army (1965-1971), Indiana (1972-2000) and Texas Tech (2002-2008), which places him as the sixth coach with the most victories in the history of college basketball. When he retired in 2008, those 902 wins made him the most successful coach.
The 1976 title came in a season in which the Indiana Hoosiers did not lose a single game (32-0), an impressive achievement that no team has achieved since. It is considered the best university team in history. He was also a champion as a player in 1960 with Ohio State.
In addition, Knight, known as 'General', led the American team from the bench that was crowned with Olympic gold in Los Angeles 1984, defeating Spain in the final (96-65) with renowned university students such as Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing or Chris Mullin who would end up being legends in the NBA. Fernando Martín, Spain's leader in those games, would also end up in the best league in the world two years later. The final was already a reward for a team that would begin the successful path of Spanish basketball.
His sporting successes were accompanied, however, by an angry, authoritarian and volcanic character that led him to have countless controversies with rivals, referees - throwing chairs included - and even his own players within an often toxic atmosphere in his locker room. At the Los Angeles Games, controversy surrounded him when he did not call up players like Charles Barkley or John Stockton.
In 2000, his less than exemplary behavior took its toll. First when he received a wake-up call when a video circulated in which he grabbed one of his players by the neck, a fact that Knight had denied. Months later, he was finally dismissed for another incident with a student. His dismissal caused thousands of Indiana students to protest. He was inducted into the American Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991.
