My Two Cents: Mike Woodson Talks Visits With Coach Knight, Epic Chair Throw and Rants

Mike Woodson loved fighting the battle with Purdue with his coach, Bob Knight, and he loves it still these days as coach of the Hoosiers. He talked about his coach, the chair throw and the in-state rivalry on the eve of Saturday night's primetime showdown at Mackey Arena.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — For me, the best part of the Indiana-Purdue rivalry was the two decades where Bob Knight and Gene Keady tangled against each other. The two explosive personalities were so good for the game — and for this terrific in-state rivalry. 

They're both in their 80s now, and we don't get to see them out in public, really. But for Indiana coach Mike Woodson, he loves the fact Knight, his own coach from 1976-80, lives back in Bloomington now still comes by practice every week.

Those moments, however brief, mean the world to him. 

"He comes to practice once a week, and it's a beautiful thing. It's been that way for the last month and a half,'' Woodson told me when I asked him about his beloved mentor earlier this week. "He pays me a visit and sits at courtside. It's just nice to see him sitting there where he belongs.''

It sure is. For 20 years, Knight was a no-show in Bloomington after his firing, but that changed three years ago when Knight returned to Assembly Hall on Feb. 8 2020 in a game against Purdue. Several dozen of his former players returned to Bloomington — including Woodson — for the movie-like moment and for me, it was one of the great moments in recent basketball history.

A year later, Woodson replaced Archie Miller as the head coach of the Hoosiers, and it was great having someone from Knight's family tree at the helm of this historic program. Having. those ties really does mean something

Woodson met with the media on Thursday and talked glowingly about Knight. And since Thursday was the 38th anniversary of Knight's infamous chair throw across the Assembly Hall floor in 1985, Woodson was asked about that, too. 

"That chair throwing was something I saw from afar,'' Woodson said with a smile. "As coaches we're crazy, man. We do a lot of crazy shit on the practice floor and during the game, and a lot of it is ... sometimes it's not warranted and sometimes it is based on the officiating and things that go on during the course of a ballgame.

"For the mast part, I've tried to keep my composure, but sometimes it's just hard (laughing). It really is. So I understand Coach Knight's frustrations that day (laughing). You know, in New York. I got kicked out of a game against Chicago. (Carmelo Anthony) got kicked out. Tyson Chandler got kicked out. Hell, I thought I needed to get kicked out. So I lost my cool and leaned into the officials, and I got kicked out of the game.''

I call the chair throw ''infamous'' because it's one of those things in Indiana that everyone thinks is so, but I never got that. I thought it was foolish and uncalled for at the time, but then it took on a life of its own. Lots of Indiana fans still say it's one of their favorite moments, but I can't go there. 

I'll take his return to Assembly Hall in 2020 over the chair throw any day for the coolest non-game moment. I still love that day, and when you think about what happened to the world a few weeks later when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, I'm sure glad we all got to see it.  

Knight and Keady are two of my favorite coaches from days gone by. Not long after Knight's return, I had a long breakfast interview with Keady and it was wonderful. We made that an annual thing, and when we met again in 2021, it was the morning after Keady had visited his friend in Bloomington. The conversation was phenomenal. (Here's the link to my story: CLICK HERE)

Keady actually had a winning record against Knight, going 21-20, but Knight has the three national titles, of course. They fought hard back in the day, but have maintained a great friendship throughout retirement.

Matt Painter took over for Keady, and Indiana has been through a slew of coaches since then, from Mike Davis to Kelvin Sampson, Tom Crean through Archie Miller, and now Woodson.

Woodson is here because Miller went 0-7 against Purdue during his four years at Indiana and was shown the door — and a $10.3 million buyout check. Woodson is 2-1 so far against Purdue, winning twice in Bloomington — including a 79-74 win in Bloomington just three years ago. 

Indiana lost here last year, but only by two points. There's some competitiveness to the rivalry again, and that's a great thing. Purdue had won nine in a row before Rob Phinisee's game-winner went down.

Purdue is having the better year, but it is indeed a rivalry again. It's the first time since 1994 that both teams are ranked in the Associated Press top-20 while meeting at Mackey. So let's hope it lives up to the hype. 

I've been watching these rivalry games for 47 years, and they really are pleasure to watch. We get the two best big men in the country — Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis and Purdue's Zach Edey battling each other on every possession. We get a match of wits between Painter and Woodson, and all sorts of individual battles within the game.

We also get a national TV primetime audience on Fox, so everyone gets to enjoy it.

So let's do just that.

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