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Same Knight, Different Channel: Basketball Legend Bob Knight at West Point and Today
Same Knight Different Channel Basketball Legend Bob Knight at West Point and Today Author:Jack Isenhour Basketball legend Bob Knight is fond of saying that he has never gotten over West Point. In Same Knight, Different Channel, Jack Isenhour takes him at his word. A player on Knights first West Point team, Isenhour shows how the controversial coach has changed little from his early days at the academy, temper tantrums and all. Knight made up... more » his mind there to "win-gotta win" and follows that philosophy to this day. Knights sentiment was in step with the core value of "there is no substitute for victory" at West Point, where soldiers were being trained to fight and win the next war. So it came as little surprise following Knights 18-8 record in his inaugural 1965-66 season-a season in which the twenty-five-year-old hot-headed coach berated officials, totaled chairs, and got into his first shouting match with an athletic director-that West Point chose to keep the young Coach Knight on. Whats a tantrum or two in the name of winning? With that, "Bobby T" was born. Knights bad-boy persona-the hair-trigger temper, the acting out, and the defiance-was codified as at least tolerable, if not acceptable, behavior. Relying on firsthand experiences and interviews with teammates, administrators, and Knight himself, Isenhour traces the pattern of misbehavior established during Knights inaugural year at West Point, during his last days at Indiana, and to his reemergence at Texas Tech. The result is the most even-handed portrait of Knight to date. In a narrative both lively and irreverent, Same Knight, Different Channel demonstrates who Knight is today and shows how he was shaped by his experiences at West Point, ending with a thought-provoking discussion of just what it takes to play, coach, and win in the high-pressure world of college basketball.« less