Robert Montgomery Knight (October 25, 1940 – November 1, 2023) was an American men's college basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", he won 902 NCAA Division I men's basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and sixth all-time record at the time of his death.
Knight was the head coach of the Army Black Knights (1965–1971), the Indiana Hoosiers (1971–2000), and the Texas Tech Red Raiders (2001–2008). While at Army, he led the Black Knights to four post-season tournament appearances in six seasons, winning two-thirds of his games along the way.
After taking the job at Indiana, his teams won three NCAA championships, one National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship, and 11 Big Ten Conference championships. His 1975–76 team won the 1976 NCAA tournament, and, as of 2025–26, remain the last men's team in Division I college basketball to go undefeated during an entire season (32–0).
In the seven full seasons that he coached at Texas Tech, his teams qualified for a post-season tournament five times. He retired partway through the 2007–08 season and was replaced by his son Pat Knight. He later worked as a men's college basketball studio analyst at ESPN until 2015.
Knight sparked controversy with his outspoken personality and his volatility. He once threw a chair across the court during a game and was once arrested following a physical confrontation with a police officer. He was also accused of choking an Indiana player during practice in an incident that was recorded on video, prompting the university to institute a "zero tolerance" policy for him. Following a subsequent run-in with a student, Indiana University terminated his contract in the fall of 2000.
Knight received national coach of the year honors four times and Big Ten Coach of the Year honors eight times. He was also successful on the international stage, winning gold medals at both the 1979 Pan American Games and the 1984 Summer Olympics with the U.S. men's national team. He is one of only three basketball coaches to win an NCAA title, an NIT title, and an Olympic gold medal. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991.
Early life and college career Knight was born on October 25, 1940, in the town of Massillon, Ohio, and grew up in Orrville, Ohio. His father Pat worked for the railroad and his mother Hazel was a school teacher. He began playing organized basketball at Orrville High School.
Knight continued at Ohio State in 1958 when he played for Basketball Hall of Fame coach Fred Taylor. Despite being a star player in high school, he played a reserve role as a forward on the 1960 Ohio State Buckeyes team that won the NCAA championship and featured future Hall of Fame players John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas. Knight was also a member of the 1961 and 1962 Buckeyes teams that lost in the finals to the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Due in part to the star power of those Ohio State teams, Knight usually received scant playing time, but that did not prevent him from making an impact. In the 1961 NCAA championship game, Knight came off the bench with 1:41 on the clock and Cincinnati leading Ohio State, 61–59. In the words of then–Ohio State assistant coach Frank Truitt:
Knight got the ball in the left front court and faked a drive into the middle. Then [he] crossed over like he worked on it all his life and drove right in and laid it up. That tied the game for us, and Knight ran clear across the floor like a 100-yard dash sprinter and ran right at me and said, "See there, coach, I should have been in that game a long time ago!"
To which Truitt replied, "Sit down, you hot dog. You're lucky you're even on the floor."Delsohn, Steve and Mark Heisler (2006). Bob Knight: The Unauthorized Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 22. .
In addition to lettering in basketball at Ohio State, it has been claimed that Knight also lettered in football and baseball; however, the official list of Ohio State football letter earners does not include Knight. Knight graduated with a degree in history and government in 1962.
After graduating from Ohio State University in 1962, he coached junior varsity basketball at Cuyahoga Falls High School in Ohio for one year. Knight then enlisted in the U.S. Army and served on active duty from June 1963 to June 1965 and in the U.S. Army Reserves from June 1965 to May 1969."NA FORM 13164 for Robert Montgomery Knight Military Records" , National Archives and Records Administration He conducted initial training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and was transferred to West Point, New York, in September 1963. He became private first class.
Coaching career
Army
While in the army, he accepted an assistant coaching position with the Army Black Knights in 1963, where, two years later, he was named head coach at the relatively young age of 24. In six seasons as a head coach at West Point, Knight won 102 games, with his first coming against Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He led Army to four NITs, advancing to the semifinals three times. One of his players was Mike Krzyzewski, who later served as his assistant before becoming a Hall of Fame head coach at Duke. Mike Silliman was another of Knight's players at Army, and Knight was quoted as saying that Silliman was the best player that he had coached.
During his tenure at Army, Knight gained a reputation for having an explosive temper. After Army's 66–60 loss to BYU and Hall of Fame coach Stan Watts in the semifinals of the 1966 NIT, Knight completely lost control, kicking lockers and verbally blasting the officials. Embarrassed, he later went to Watts' hotel room and apologized. Watts forgave him, and is quoted as saying, "I want you to know that you're going to be one of the bright young coaches in the country, and it's just a matter of time before you win a national championship."Rock, Brad, and Lee Warnick. Greatest Moments in BYU Sports. Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1984. Print.
Knight was one of seven candidates vying to fill the Wisconsin men's basketball head coaching vacancy after John Erickson resigned to become the Milwaukee Bucks' first-ever general manager on April 3, 1968. Knight was offered the position, but requested more time to think it over. By the time he had returned to West Point, news that he was to become the Badgers' new coach was prematurely leaked to the local media. After consulting with Bo Schembechler, who had a negative experience as a Wisconsin football coaching candidate, Knight withdrew his candidacy and continued to coach at Army for three more seasons. Erickson's assistant coach John Powless was promoted instead.Temkin, Barry. "Good Knight: Badgers finally over Bobby's rejection," Chicago Tribune, Thursday, March 23, 2000. Retrieved March 26, 2020
Indiana In 1971, Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana hired Knight as their head coach. During his 29 years at the school, the Hoosiers won 662 games, including 22 seasons of 20 or more wins, while losing 239, a .735 winning percentage. In 24 NCAA tournament appearances at Indiana, Hoosier teams under Knight won 42 of 63 games (.667), winning titles in 1976, 1981, and 1987, while losing in the semifinals in 1973 and 1992.
1970s
In 1972–73, Knight's second year as coach, Indiana won the Big Ten championship and reached the Final Four, losing to UCLA, which was on its way to its seventh consecutive national title. The following season, in 1973–74, Indiana once again captured a Big Ten title.
In the following two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, the Hoosiers were undefeated in the regular season and won 37 consecutive Big Ten games, including two more Big Ten championships. In 1974–75, the Hoosiers swept the entire Big Ten by an average of 22.8 points per game. However, in an 83–82 win against Purdue they lost consensus All-American forward Scott May to a broken left arm. With May's injury limiting him to seven minutes of play, the No. 1 Hoosiers lost to Kentucky 92–90 in the Mideast Regional. Despite the loss, the Hoosiers were so dominant that four starters—Scott May, Steve Green, Kent Benson, and Quinn Buckner—would make the five-man All-Big Ten team.
The following season, in 1975–76, the Hoosiers went the entire season and 1976 NCAA tournament without a single loss, defeating Michigan 86–68 in the title game. Immediately after the game, Knight lamented that "it should have been two." The 1976 Hoosiers remain the last undefeated NCAA Division I men's basketball team. Through these two seasons, Knight's teams were undefeated in the regular season, including a perfect 37–0 record in Big Ten games on their way to their third and fourth conference titles in a row. Behind the play of Mike Woodson, Indiana won the 1979 NIT championship.
Throughout the 1970s, however, Knight was beginning to be involved in several controversies. 1960 Olympic gold medalist Douglas Blubaugh was head wrestling coach at IU from 1973 to 1984. Early in his tenure, while he jogged in the practice facility during basketball practice, Knight yelled at him, telling him to leave, using more than one expletive. Blubaugh pinned Knight to a wall, and told him never to repeat that performance, and Knight never did.
On December 7, 1974, Indiana defeated Kentucky 98–74. During the game, Knight hit Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall. Hall said, "It publicly humiliated me," while Knight blamed Hall, saying, "If it was meant to be malicious, I'd have blasted the fucker into the seats." Years after the incident, it was reported that Knight choked and punched Indiana University's longtime sports information director, Kit Klingelhoffer, over a news release that upset the coach. In 1976, in yet another incident, Knight grabbed IU basketball player Jim Wisman and jerked him into his seat.
1980s
The 1979–80 Hoosiers, led by Mike Woodson and Isiah Thomas, won the Big Ten championship and advanced to the 1980 Sweet Sixteen. The following season, 1980–81, Thomas and the Hoosiers once again won a conference title and won the 1981 NCAA tournament, Knight's second national title.
In 1982–83, with the strong play of Uwe Blab and All-Americans Ted Kitchel and Randy Wittman, the No. 1 ranked Hoosiers were favorites to win another national championship. However, with an injury to Kitchel mid-season, the Hoosiers lost to Kentucky in the 1983 Sweet Sixteen.
The Hoosiers' 1985–86 season was profiled in a bestselling book A Season on the Brink. To write it, Knight granted author John Feinstein unprecedented access to the Indiana basketball program, as well as insights into Knight's private life. The following season, in 1986–87, the Hoosiers were led by All-American Steve Alford and captured a share of the Big Ten title. The team won Knight's third national championship (the school's fifth) against Syracuse in the 1987 NCAA tournament with Keith Smart's game-winning jump shot with five seconds remaining in the championship game.
In the 1988–89 season, the Hoosiers were led by All-American Jay Edwards and won a Big Ten championship.
Knight was involved in several controversial incidents in the 1980s. In a game between Indiana and Purdue in Bloomington on January 31, 1981, Isiah Thomas allegedly hit Purdue guard Roosevelt Barnes in what some critics described as a "sucker punch". Video replay later shown by Knight showed Barnes had thrown the first punch, and that Thomas was merely reacting to this.