My Two Cents: Knight's Return is Closure For Many Former Players

Indiana's former players love being "Bob Knight guys,'' and several dozen of them were thrilled to be a part his return to Assembly Hall on Saturday.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — He came. He saw. He conquered. Just like you knew he would.

Bob Knight was back on the floor at Assembly Hall on Saturday, a place where he roamed the sidelines for 29 years and made basketball THE THING in the state of Indiana. He's been gone for 20 years after his unceremonious firing, and why he's stayed away all those years has been well documented.

But mostly, he stayed away because the hated the place, and everything about it. He hated everyone associated with Indiana University and refused to set foot on campus for two decades because he could never get over that hatred. 

He wished the people involved in firing him were dead, and even when they all really did die, he still didn't come back, even on nights where his best teams and best players were being feted in this college basketball cathedral.

Along the way, he disappointed a lot of people by staying away. There are still hundreds of thousands of Bob Knight fans throughout the state of Indiana, from Schererville to Salem, and Evansville to Fort Wayne. They love the man. And when he walked out on that floor at halftime on Saturday, it was a moment so large that it literally erased 20 years of pain and suffering, for Knight, for the fans, for ... well, everyone.

Sharing a deep heartfelt belly laugh! @IndianaMBB #coachknight #hoosiers a day we will never forget! pic.twitter.com/FmHpt6xgq3

— Isiah Thomas (@IsiahThomas) February 9, 2020

There is no group that loves Bob Knight more than his former players, and it's not even close. For most of his former players, Knight's 20 years in exile really wasn't a big problem because they could call him when they wanted, or see him when their paths crossed anywhere in the country. 

The hardest moments were when there was something special going on at Assembly Hall and Knight would refuse to join them. He defiantly refused to attend celebrations for all three of his NCAA championship teams (1976, '81 and '87), and even missed the night that '76 group was honored as the best all-time college team. A.J. Guyton begged him to come to his Hall of Fame induction in a very public manner, and Knight still wouldn't come.

Quinn Buckner, the guard on that 1976 team and probably still the all-time best leader to ever play at Indiana, has talked often about missing the public moments with his coach never really mattered, because he would always see him or talk to him before and after any way. He's said for years that his one-on-one moments with his coach always mattered the most. He knew. 

Stubbornness defines Knight, and players know it

Buckner and the other players know better than anyone how stubborn Coach Knight can be. So they always understood why this animosity lasted so long. Sure, they wished it would change, but they knew that Coach Knight was always going to do what Coach Knight wanted to do.

Randy Wittman knew that, too. And when this weekend was first planned to honor his  1980 team, he was the one who got things done with Knight.

He called, repeatedly. They talked, often. And when Wittman said, "Coach, we want you there with us,'' Knight finally agreed. It helps, of course, that Knight is living back in Bloomington again. Just being here has changed him, softened him, soothed him in a way. He's out and about in town, and people see him, at a restaurant or a high school game. He's Bob Knight, and he's back.

And he's ours. 

Bob Knight at center court in Assembly Hall on Saturday. 

Every one of Knight's former players will tell you that there is nothing harder than playing for Coach Knight. And then there's nothing better than being a former Knight player and having survived it with a man who would do anything for you afterward. That's the relationship they all have.

"One we got out there on the floor, it was a different emotion,'' said Todd Leary, who played for the Hoosiers in the 1990s. "It's been a long time coming, and I'm glad the fans got to have that closure. Having Coach in here today, it's a big deal, and I'm glad I got to be a part of it.''

Butch Carter, a senior on that 1980 team, has had a lot of tussles with Knight through the years, but even through all that, he still always acknowledges the impact that Knight and his coaching staff have had on his life. He wasn't going to come Saturday, but Isiah Thomas wasn't about to let that happen. You're coming, Thomas said, and so he did.

And he's glad he did. He brought his son with him and he had some nice moments with his coach in private before the halftime ceremony, and he loved being around all the former IU players.

"It was a great, great day,'' he told me in the tunnel at Assembly Hall afterward. "We all owe a lot to Coach, and to Indiana University, so I'm really glad I was here to be a part of it all. What a day. I mean, that was really special being out and just listening to all those fans roar for him. I'm glad it finally happened.''

Keith Smart at Nick's

Fans still rock the No. 23 Keith Smart jersey.

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Keith and his coach

Keith Smart visits with Bob Knight in Cook Hall prior to Saturday's celebration.

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Posing with fans

Dean Garrett and Keith Smart pose with fans on Friday night at Nick's English Hut in Bloomington.

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Signing the "Players Wall'' at Nick's

Keith Smart and I did that together.

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Heroes and legends

It was great spending several hours with Keith Smart and Dean Garrett, two true Hoosier heroes and all-time great guys.

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Signing the wall at Yogi's

Keith Smart writes "The Shot'' on the wall at Yogi's sports bar in Bloomington

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Radio row

Keith Smart talks with Todd Leary after the game at Yogi's.

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Coach and his guys

A picture from before the ceremony with Coach Knight and all his players.

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Fans say hello to Keith

Keith Smart talks with fans at Nick's English Hut on Friday night.

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On the wall

Nick's staff asked Keith to sign their "Players Wall'' and he did, of course.

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The wives

Cristy Garrett and Carol Smart, the better halves.

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Championship ring

Dean Garrett shows off his 1987 NCAA championship ring.

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Dean Garrett and his wife Cristy at Nick's

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An unforgettable weekend all around

These Indiana players can still reflect on great games and great moments with Coach Knight with the best of them. They are great storytellers, and they share this sort of badge of honor of being a Coach Knight survivor and being able to tell about it. 

There's no such thing as an ex-Hoosiers around here. Once a Hoosier, always a Hoosier, for life.

The perfect example of that was Friday night. I had dinner and drinks with 1987 NCAA Championship heroes Keith Smart and Dean Garrett and their wives at Nick's. We sat at the corner of the bar and laughed and told stories all night long. Both of them posed for pictures constantly all night and loved every minute of interacting with hundreds of fans who still, to this day, adore them as great Indiana players.

Garrett and his wife Cristy flew in from his home in Las Vegas, and the Smarts, Keith and Carol, came from California. They weren't going to miss this. The ceremony was exceptional, of course, but so was the entire weekend.

After posing for a bunch of pictures, Smart sat back next to me and slapped me on the leg.

"What do you think would have happened if I had missed that (game-winning) shot?'' he asked with a laugh. Garrett chimed right in. "I would have tipped it in,'' he said with his big-man's laugh. "We weren't going to lose that game.''

Smart will always be that hero in Hoosiers' eyes, even 33 years later. He posed for pictures with several people who rocked their No, 23 "Keith Smart'' jerseys.

It's forever, as well as it should be.

This was a weekend for Coach Knight to wave to his adoring fans and say thank you in appreciation, and for all those fans — the one in the building and the ones watching on television — to do the same.

It's a moment that will be etched in everyone's memories forever.

Keith Smart visits with Bob Knight before the ceremony

"It was great to see Coach,'' Smart said Sunday morning. "I think when he walked out on that floor, his basketball life and energy all came back. You could see it, feel it, and hear it in his voice.''

For me, the memories of this weekend will ALWAYS be about what spending a few hours with Coach Knight meant for all these former players. They are Coach Knight's guys, and he is their coach, until the day he dies.

The sad and brutal honestly about Saturday's reunion is that it just might be the last great memorable moment for all of them together. Coach Knight will be 80 in October, and he's certainly looking his age. This was, clearly, a one-time moment, which is why all of them cherished it so much. Coach Knight and those 50 guys will probably never be all together in one room again. 

I'm happy for Coach Knight that it finally happened. I'm happy for the fans, too, to finally have some closure to this silly two-decade feud.

But mostly, I'm happy for those players, Bob Knight's guys, the ones who really matter the most.

They wanted one more magical moment in Assembly Hall, and on Saturday they got it. It just might have been the best Assembly Hall memory ever for a lot of them.

And that's a wonderful thing.

Related items from Bob Knight's weekend at Indiana

• VIDEO: Randy Wittman and Quinn Buckner talk about Bob Knight and the halftime celebration.

• VIDEO: Former Indiana star Butch Carter talks about the weekend with his former coach, Bob Knight

• STORY: Bob Knight's return to Indiana's Assembly Hall on Saturday was a lovefest 20 years in the making. CLICK HERE
• PATRICK KNIGHT TALKS ABOUT HIS DAD: He loved returning to Assembly Hall with his father, Bob Knight, on Saturday. CLICK HERE
• THE FORGOTTEN GREAT TEAM: Indiana's 1980 team that was honored Saturday "was better than the 1981 team that won the national championship.'' CLICK HERE
• LIVE FROM ASSEMBLY HALL: Many of Indiana's most famous alums were back for Bob Knight's return on Saturday. CLICK HERE
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