Bobby Knight has 902 wins in his career, the most by any men's college basketball coach. He won two National Championships with Indiana, where he led the Hoosiers to the country's last undefeated season. He's a sports legend. Sure he's had in his bad moments, hitting kids or throwing chairs and whatnot, but I don't think that's the guy we'd have if he landed in Athens. I think we'd have a solid disciplinarian who can not only keep the troublemakers on the team but also keep them in school long enough to graduate. His name is legendary and in the Atlanta hot bed of talent, he's sure to draw some big names in recruiting. Put it all together and you have a coach who knows a hell of a lot about coaching young men, helping them graduate and most importantly how to win games.But is he the right fit for this program?
Dennis Felton came in after a massive scandal, crippling his ability to recruit for a long time. He was brought in to be the guy that would reshape the program into a group of quality young men who could win games and stay competitive in the conference. But during his tenure he kicked off more than a few players (all of whom were top talents), failed to fire up the students to support the team (unlike Tennessee's Bruce Pearl), failed to compete with local rivals Georgia Tech or Florida (see their Final Four success), but hey - he didn't have any scandals.
So now that we've had our guy come in and remove the stain of scandal from the program, can we get back to the business of winning games?
Mark Richt coaches a football team loaded with plenty of troublemakers, players who get arrested for a whole host of dirty deeds - but they still play. Is Richt just letting his boys be boys? These guys get suspensions, they miss games, no matter if they're the best player on the team or the worst. Richt comes down hard enough on these guys that not only will they (attempt to) right the ship, but they continue to help the team win games. Take the Gym Dogs or Lady Dogs as examples too, consistently winning programs at what's supposedly a 'football school'. It can be done - we just need the right man for the job.
Is Bob Knight the right man? Maybe. He's got the pedigree, he loves the game, knows everything about the game, and we won't find a coach who's done it longer or better. So what's the problem? Many will bring up his firey past, where he struck a player or yelled incessantly at them during games. His foul mouth is well known far beyond the courts in Indiana. But putting all of that aside, this is the SEC. We ARE big names: Spurrier, Meyer, Saban, Donovan, Pearl. The SEC has one of the finest crops of coaches in the country, which is easy to argue when you can instantly recall almost all of their names. So Knight would surely fit right in. We would 'win the press conference' as the pundits like to say. But we need that.
We need high school stars to see Bob Knight on television. We need coaches and parents to see how serious we take our basketball program. We need students and boosters to remember that we do in fact have a team, and we play with the big boys every year. We need Bob Knight.
Unless we give Tubby Smith a call. You know, for a reunion.
So that's great if we want Bob Knight. But that's like saying the Detroit Lions want Tony Dungy to come out of retirement. We're simply not an attractive place to coach. Why would Knight want to come here? What makes our program any more attractive than the dozens of programs he could likely choose from (like Alabama). Sure we look good on the surface: a big-time SEC school that's located in a wonderful little city in the middle of the Southeast's hotbed of talent and needs the right coach to help bring them into an era of dominance in a major conference. Sounds attractive enough, right? Certainly sounds more attractive than what Texas Tech must have offered Knight.
Only time will tell what direction Damon Evans and UGA will take to fill the coaching void. As of today his office has given no statement regarding Knight's rumored interest in the job. This could mean any number of things, but at the very least one thing is for sure - some level of mutual interest exists.
Now tell me, who would you like to see coaching the Georgia men?
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