Sports

COMMENTARY: Don't be shocked if Knight's retirement is not permanent

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The tendency is to get all worked up whenever Bob Knight is the topic. Some love him, some hate him, but nobody yawns.

Guess what? I'm yawning now over Knight's decision to quit on Texas Tech, a team with at least an outside shot at making the NCAA Tournament field.

Every man has his limits. This one apparently grew weary of pulling on his red sweater and pretending he was on fire, especially when women's basketball games were a bigger draw in his own gym at Lubbock.

It's the difference between throwing a chair in anger and settling into a recliner. In the all-or-nothing existence of college basketball, Knight finally is satisfied to give nothing for a while and let his son Pat take the wheel with the Red Raiders. End of story.

Unless it's not.

How shocking would it be for Knight to return to coaching after a short break? He is 67, the perfect age for vegging out with old pal Tony La Russa at the St. Louis Cardinals' spring-training site in Jupiter, Fla. — but, again, every man has his limits.

The guess here is that big bad Bob won't know how to be a retiree any more than he ever knew how to be a grownup on the sidelines.

Folks will continue to fawn over him in public, and a loyal squad of fellow coaches and former players will continue to sing his praises as a teacher of the motion offense and an overall gem of a fellow, but all that power is in the past tense. It fades much more quickly than any celebrity can imagine, even one whose 902 victories are an NCAA Division I record.

On Tuesday, Knight went on a Minneapolis radio show to talk about his abrupt decision, saying, "Well, I won't have to see any more bad calls, that'll be one thing."

Still snarling, even as he leaves the stage. Classic, like all those famous tantrums and insensitive remarks and bullying tactics, but not classy. Knight does it his way, and after three national championships there will always be another school willing to adopt an "infinite tolerance policy" regarding his misbehavior, rather than the "zero tolerance" that eventually ended his Indiana run.

Given the greatness of his accomplishments, it's really not fair to yawn. All the loathing he brought on himself, though, was so unnecessary. Numbers alone don't define a coach, especially when he seems bent on becoming a caricature.

Yes, Knight won three national titles in 42 seasons.

John Wooden won 10 and retired at age 64. He was still at the top of his game, too, making the announcement one day before his final UCLA championship game was played.

Yes, Knight won three national titles in 42 seasons.

Billy Donovan has two of them in the last two years.

Yes, Knight won at least 20 games in a season 26 times.

Tubby Smith had 14 seasons in a row with 20 wins or better, but Kentucky would have fired him all the same if he hadn't left for Minnesota first.

All have their own styles, and critics, too. Yes, even the humble and praiseworthy Wooden, who was accused by none other than Jerry Tarkanian of looking the other way while Bruins stars took payoffs from a slimy booster.

Knight's response to all of this is his famous request to be buried face down so all his critics can kiss his hindquarters.

Fighting words from a General who has lost his fight. Maybe Knight will get bored and decide to give it another shot some day soon. Maybe he'll even trot out a kinder, gentler public persona, rehabilitating his image before it's too late.

Now that would be reason to get interested in Bob Knight again, a victory over his own bearish nature.

The greatest upset, you might say, in college basketball history.

Dave George writes for The Palm Beach Post.