Legendary Indiana Hoosiers coach Bob Knight once had an unexpected turn of events when he faced one of his players as a rival coach. Back on Jan. 21, 2000, Knight’s Hoosiers were set to face Steve Alford’s Iowa Hawkeyes, with the former team coming out on top with a comeback three-point win, 74-71, after the latter was in control for most of it.
Alford, before becoming a coach in 1991, was one of coach Knight’s best players in the Hoosiers program, as together, they won the 1987 national title. Alford played for a total of four years under the tutelage of Knight at Indiana before taking his talents to the NBA for a four-year stint with the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors.
Eventually, Alford was appointed as the head coach for the Hawkeyes in 1999, and when his team was scheduled to play against coach Knight’s Hoosiers, hype quickly built up in the college basketball world. But, as it turns out, Knight dismissed any animosity that may arise with the matchup when he just briefly shook Alford’s hand after the game. During the post-game presser, Knight addressed a message towards Alford.
“If Alford wants to sit down and talk to me instead of holding press conferences about a lot of bullsh*t, I’ll be glad to sit down and talk to him and explain things to him a little bit. If that’s what in fact he wants to do, instead of going through a lot of bull in press conferences. That’s enough. I’m going to leave this one comment: Alford has never asked me to do anything that I haven’t done. Period,” Knight was quoted as saying.
“And, I’m a little bit tired of the bullsh*t that’s attached to this,” he concluded.
Knight then left the press conference, before storming back with a quick rant as he reportedly shouted to the media to further explain himself as to why he just ignored Alford and didn’t speak to him. Alford, on the other hand, was trying to ease the situation with clarifications during his time to speak to the media.
Bob Knight explained why he was upset with the hype surrounding his first game against Steve Alford
Before Bob Knight crashed out during the post-game press conference of his Indiana Hoosiers’ 74-71 win over Steve Alford’s Iowa Hawkeyes, he explained why exactly did he unexpectedly made the game more at peace than how hostile it was projected to be. For coach Knight, he’d rather be emotional over the unforgettable losses he has had in his storied career.
“You people have got to understand that I’ve coached a thousand games in my career, and the only ones that I remember that are any different than other ones are some real heartbreaking losses we’ve had. And, it’s only different because of what happened in the game. I wish somebody would believe me when I say that,” Knight explained.
Knight retired from coaching collegiate hoops in 2008 with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, finishing with 902 wins, which was the most at the time, to go along with three national championships. He passed away in November of 2023 at the age of 83-years-old.
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