Pitchin with Pritch: Good Knight or not, can still learn

There were a number of college coaches that I admired because of their basketball knowledge and how their teams played. 

Some of them were questionable role models of how you went about coaching. 

But, they knew the basics of making players better and having successful seasons year in and year out.  

One thing that helped me was that I wasn’t afraid to pick up the phone and call for suggestions about things I didn’t understand or felt like I wasn’t doing a good job of teaching. 

The calling part was not just relegated to college coaches. 

I would converse with high school coaches if I thought they could help. 

One college coach that I was impressed with as a basketball person was Bobby Knight. 

I did not agree with how he went about various things in his practices, before and after game interviews and many other aspects of his style but he did know basketball. 

I remember calling his office one time and Coach Knight actually answered the phone and I almost fainted. 

Never thought that would happen, but it was just “Hello,” and “Ok, let me get someone to help you.” 

I was transferred to a graduate assistant, who then did help me out. 

I have a lot of Bobby Knight stuff around and some of his thoughts from coaching clinics that I attended are still good ones today just as they were back when I was coaching. 

Thought I would share some of them that I used for my high school teams through the years.

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“Do what has to be done.

“Do it when it needs to be done.

“Do it as well as you can.

“Do it this way all of the time.”

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“Coaches shouldn’t have to push you hard, you should push yourself to work hard because you want to be a great player.”

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“I sit and wonder why no one uses the shot fake. The shot fake, when used correctly, can eliminate a defender.”

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Now as I stated before, there are things that Coach Knight is noted for that are not so flattering. 

Lots of people think that coaches should not use him for inspiration.

I understand some of that, but would it not be OK to learn things from his basketball knowledge. 

I certainly think that is fine.