2008 Woodie Awards
Bring on 'The General'
Nelson Gray
Issue date: 4/1/08 Section: Sports
While watching the never ending barrage of college basketball analysis on ESPN in the last few weeks, I was hit with an incredible thought. Bob Knight would look awfully sharp in a columbia blue sweater pacing the sidelines of the hallowed Seawolf Gym. With every anecdote he has offered the sports world since joining ESPN, one thing became very apparent to me. Coach Knight wants to be a Seawolf.
Some of you may not agree with me. But take notes the next time you're watching Coach Knight preach his wisdom. Then look me in the eye and tell me that Coach Knight isn't dying to don the blue of Sonoma State.
I'm sure I wasn't alone in noticing Coach Knight's very obvious itch to storm into Rohnert Park and take over the ship that is the men's basketball team. Sure, he's won national championships. Three to be exact. He may have stumbled to an all-time record of 902-371, making him the winningest coach in men's Division I basketball history. And yes, his 1975 squad of Hoosiers was the last team to achieve the elusive perfect season.
But even a blind squirrel finds a nut. He hasn't seen the challenges that lurk around every corner of that perilous CCAA schedule.
Bob Knight is known for being an intimidator. The General, as he has been aptly named, is a good ol' Midwestern boy who grew up in Ohio before captivating the basketball enamored Hoosier state for 29 years where he became the face of Indiana hoops.
Along the way he has scolded referees, players, fellow coaches, superiors and very notably the media. But Coach Knight hasn't seen the pressure cooker that is the Sonoma county associated press. The ruthless ways of the North Bay are enough to make any man tremble.
Now let's all take a moment and think our SSU athletic director rolls the dice and actually accepts Coach Knight's pleas to be at the helm of next year's Seawolves that I'm certain will be rolling in at any moment.
Let's even go out on a limb and assume that the General isn't skinned alive by the merciless media in Rohnert Park. Will he be able to handle the raucous crowds of the CCAA? Can he keep his players in line despite Rohnert Park/Cotati nightlife, known for being some of the wildest in North America, a mere hop, skip and a jump away from campus? Will he be able to lure SSU students out of the library to support his troops?
Some of you may not agree with me. But take notes the next time you're watching Coach Knight preach his wisdom. Then look me in the eye and tell me that Coach Knight isn't dying to don the blue of Sonoma State.
I'm sure I wasn't alone in noticing Coach Knight's very obvious itch to storm into Rohnert Park and take over the ship that is the men's basketball team. Sure, he's won national championships. Three to be exact. He may have stumbled to an all-time record of 902-371, making him the winningest coach in men's Division I basketball history. And yes, his 1975 squad of Hoosiers was the last team to achieve the elusive perfect season.
But even a blind squirrel finds a nut. He hasn't seen the challenges that lurk around every corner of that perilous CCAA schedule.
Bob Knight is known for being an intimidator. The General, as he has been aptly named, is a good ol' Midwestern boy who grew up in Ohio before captivating the basketball enamored Hoosier state for 29 years where he became the face of Indiana hoops.
Along the way he has scolded referees, players, fellow coaches, superiors and very notably the media. But Coach Knight hasn't seen the pressure cooker that is the Sonoma county associated press. The ruthless ways of the North Bay are enough to make any man tremble.
Now let's all take a moment and think our SSU athletic director rolls the dice and actually accepts Coach Knight's pleas to be at the helm of next year's Seawolves that I'm certain will be rolling in at any moment.
Let's even go out on a limb and assume that the General isn't skinned alive by the merciless media in Rohnert Park. Will he be able to handle the raucous crowds of the CCAA? Can he keep his players in line despite Rohnert Park/Cotati nightlife, known for being some of the wildest in North America, a mere hop, skip and a jump away from campus? Will he be able to lure SSU students out of the library to support his troops?
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