Bob Knight: The Unauthorized Biography

By Steve Delsohn and Mark Heisler

Book Overview

Brilliant, intimidating, charming, or profane, Coach Bob Knight is an enduring contradiction who has long fascinated and repelled basketball fans, for whom he has provided as much to dislike as to respect. Bob Knight: The Unauthorized Biography is the first comprehensive biography of Knight, one of the most successful and controversial coaches in the history of American sports. Detailing the entire scope of Knight's playing and coaching career through extensive interviews -- including many with people who have never gone on record about him before -- authors Steve Delsohn and Mark Heisler give a candid yet balanced account of the man who will likely end up as the all-time winningest coach in college basketball. In 1965, at age twenty-four, Bobby Knight became the head basketball coach at Army and began a career that would soon take him to Indiana University, where for the next twenty-nine years he would become the game's most famous and notorious coach. While there, he won three national championships (1976, '81, '87) and once compiled a perfect 32-0 record with an amazing 63-1 record over two seasons. Knight was NCAA Coach of the Year three times (1975, '76, '89) and coached U.S. teams to gold medals in both the Olympics and the Pan-Am Games. Yet he is equally, if not more, famous for some of his misbehaviors -- pulling his team off the court against the Soviets, making insensitive comments about rape to Connie Chung, putting a tampon in a player's locker to let him know that Knight thought he was a wimp -- and other alleged misbehaviors: kicking his own son Patrick during a game, stuffing an LSU fan into a trash can, assaulting a policeman in Puerto Rico -- and the list goes on. One of Knight's closest friends once said of him, "Bob Knight is an asshole. But he knows it and he tries like hell to make up for it." Unfortunately, over the years there has been more and more to make up for. The story of Bob Knight has moved on to Texas Tech, where he continues his quest to become the winningest college basketball coach of all time. He already is the most fascinating. Love him or loathe him, Knight keeps winning and forces you to watch him and have an opinion. Bob Knight: The Unauthorized Biography is an extraordinary look at a legendary coach with a monumental temper and an appetite for confrontation.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 074324348X
• ISBN13: 9780743243483
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 335 Pages
• Weight: 1.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.7" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Very Good yet Scary Work

Mr. Delsohn does a great job of telling the story of Bob Knight which undoubtedly was not an easy story to tell. Given the strong feelings either for or against Mr. Knight, the author does a superb job at being balanced yet not pandering to sentationalism. Often when one sees the words Unauthorized Biography, you search to see if it is an anagram for hatchet job. In this book, the author presents a detailed history of Mr. Knight's well known actions and often his boorish behavior. While ample attention is paid to Mr. Knight's positive attributes his many examples of bad behavior are explored in-depth and no ink is spared to let the bad actions tell their own story. After reading this work it is truely scary that Mr. Knight was able to act in such a foul, crass manner for so long only because he was able to win a few championships. Kudo's to Mr Delsohn for making it clear that Coach Knight's actions do have implications and the fact he's won a few games does not allow him carte blance to act in such a foul and often obscene manner. This is really a good work of investigative journalism and took great courge to write. I hope this work serves as an example that bad behavior is not something to be tolerated as it was in this case.

Highly Recommended

Like the BOOKLIST REVIEW says this is a book that is hard to put down. I read the intro at the bookstore, bought the book and was almost through it by the next day. The writing style is crisp and gives you a fly on the wall perspective as you tour Bob Knight's career to date. It comes across objective, not trying to sugarcoat the persona of Knight nor deride him. The authors tell the story and let you make up your own mind. I laughed out loud a few times and thoroghly enjoyed the book. It is worth the price of a hard cover and could make a nice gift for the college bball fan.

Great Book!!

I got an early copy of the book and absolutely loved it. I've read almost all of the other bios, and this one is really different because it really looks at his entire careeer. The whole thing, good, bad and ugly. It seems like the authors really went out of their way to find new sources too, because there is some new info I had not heard before. A great read all around. Fantastic.