Bob Knight

In college basketball, the name Bob Knight is synonymous with greatness and winning. Just take a glance at the Bob Knight file. The numbers and achievements that illustrate what he has done for the game of basketball are there for all to see. Among his numerous achievements:

41+ Seasons as a head coach at the Division one level Career Record: 902 - 371 Established the standard for career NCAA wins (880 victories) on January 1, 2007. 98% Graduation Rate

Bob Knight is among the youngest head coaches to have won 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 and 800 career games. He is the only coach to have reached 900 wins. When he was 62-years old, he became the youngest of the four coaches to ever reach the milestone of 800 victories. Coach Knight earned his 880th career win at Texas Tech on January 1, 2007 with a Red Raider win over New Mexico (70-68). Coach Knight completed his coaching career at Texas Tech on February 2, 2008 with a 67-60 win over Oklahoma State University and announced his retirement soon after.

During his six seasons at Army, his 29 years at Indiana University and his six and a half seasons at the helm of the Texas Tech Red Raider program, he has experienced nothing short of excellence. There are the wins, the conference titles, the national championships and the exemplary graduation rate and player success after basketball. Most telling, there is the bond that exists between Coach Knight and those who have played for him.

Bob Knight is his own man, one who represents high principles, expectations and demands for his players, his coaching staff and, most of all, himself. But he is foremost an educator. His ability to teach young men the game of basketball and the game of life is one of his most noted characteristics. Coach Knight has proven over and over again that he is the finest basketball coach in America. No other coach can cite NCAA and NIT championships and Olympic and Pan American gold medals among his achievements. There are only two coaches in the history of collegiate basketball who have won more than the three national championships Knight has won during his career. His coaching achievements were honored in May of 1991 when he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2011 Knight was voted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

Committed to mentoring, Coach Knight's coaching techniques and teaching skills place him in great demand as a speaker around the country. High school coaches flock to his clinics and his summer camp for youngsters is always filled to capacity with a waiting list. He has long been active in the National Association of Basketball Coaches, serving in various capacities. He served a term as a trustee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and was named an honorary member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the national business honor society. He has also lent his name to help support numerous charitable and youth organizations.

Bob Knight's legacy stretches far beyond the realm of his numerous achievements and highly recognized status on the hard court. In August 2003, he was honored as the first inductee in The Vince Lombardi Titletown Legends. The honor and responsibility pays tribute to those individuals who possess the characteristics instilled by Vince Lombardi in all his players: Dedication, Teamwork, Respect, Love, Family and Discipline.

A native of Orrville, Ohio, Knight is a graduate of Ohio State where he was a member of the Buckeye hardwood teams that won Big Ten titles in 1960, 1961, and 1962 and the NCAA in 1960 while posting an overall record of 78-6. Many of the Big Ten team records that Knight's Indiana teams shattered were those he had a part in making as an OSU player.

After graduating with a degree in History and Government, Knight was an assistant coach at Cuyahoga Falls (Ohio) High School one year before entering the U.S. Army where he was assigned to assist Coach Tates Locke at West Point. When Locke became head coach at Miami (Ohio) University in 1965, Knight, then only 24, was named to succeed him and became the youngest Varsity Coach in major collegiate history.

Bob Knight is the father of two sons. Tim is a 1986 graduate of Stanford University, and Pat, who played for him at Indiana University from 1991-95, is now the head coach at Lamar University. Bob Knight and his wife, Karen, were married in 1988.

Most recently, he served as an analyst for "ESPN College GameDay" and released the book "The Power of Negative Thinking: An Unconventional Approach to Achieving Positive Results," in which Knight explains why "negative thinking" will actually produce more positive results, in sports and in daily life.

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