Very good read. Only thing most others of my age remember him for are his press conferences and the chair throwing incident - Rewatched the ESPN 30 for 30 "The Last Days of Knight" and it's a very good watch if you all haven't seen it yet.

He was a great coach, and I respect him in that aspect, but don't respect his treatment of others over his career. I certainly wouldn't want to play for a coach that contributes to a negative team culture. Don't really blame Neil Reed / Jason Collier / Luke Recker for leaving.

Btw - TIL Michael Lewis current Balls coach played for Knight in his last years and actively defended him - not sure how I feel about him now.

Was at the Ohio/Indiana game in December 1990 in Indianapolis. Damon Bailey freshman year....Hoosier Classic. I'll never forget that man walking onto the court in his red sweater and the arena erupting. I got goosebumps then and still do thinking about that moment.

And yes...Indiana was ranked 3rd and we got smoked 102-64. Year two of the Larry Hunter era....Lewis Geter...Dan Aloi...Chad Gill....etc....etc.

Yes...we knew he was a controversial and complicated person. I truly wonder if he was ever happy with anything he accomplished. With all his faults, you read about the end of his life with Alzheimer's and I just find it incredibly sad that at the very end he had no clue he coached at Indiana or who his players were.

My high school coach loved Indiana's motion offense and we ran it. They recruited me a little because of it and Bob Donewald from their staff came to one of our practices. After practice, Donewald, me and my coach went to his office to chat. He was describing Knight and how strong willed and tough he was. Then he made a comment " if coach Knight tells you to run through that brick wall, you run through that brick wall". I looked at him and said I could never play for a guy like that and that was the end of it. My coach looked at me in bewilderment. I doubt they would have made me an offer, but I know I could have never played for a guy like that. I had enough trouble with Nee for one year, who thought he was a dictator like Knight.

Hmm . . . I thought that you probably wouldn't have even considered IU because Knight was making more than a dean's salary.

Interesting, I didn't know that. Maybe you should have reconsidered your aversion to running into brick walls! ;-)

This is the first time I've heard Nee described as anything other than a player's coach. Please tell us more.