Saturday, June 12, 2010

Coach on Coach Crime (Guilty of H8in'?)

Interesting silence on the death of John Wooden from Bobby Knight, who did not approve of Wooden's blind eye towards a corrupt booster:
Wooden didn't care for Knight either, although he admired the IU coach's talent. No two major coaches were more opposite in their approach to teaching. Wooden was your grandfather, who, if he caught you shoplifting a candy bar, would sit you down and tell you a story about how he walked 10 miles to return some change he found in the sofa. Knight was your uncle, who saw the same crime and turned you over to the cops. But not before making you eat the wrapper.

Hey, both got results. My opinion? Wooden was somewhat of a phony, quoting Bible verses while, in plain sight, Gilbert gouged the NCAA rulebook with a devil's pitchfork. Knight was a better tactician, and scrupulously honest. But he was flawed as well, as the fingerprints on Neil Reed's throat will attest. Too bad we couldn't combine the best qualities of these two great coaches; then we'd really have something.

Oh wait, we did. His name was Pete Newell.

No comments: