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Knight addresses fans in front of three NCAA Championship banners. Knight won three of IU's five banners during his 29 years with IU. / Photo courtesy of Indiana Daily Student
During Bob Knight’s 29-year reign at Indiana University, fans watched three big red banners rise above the court of Assembly Hall. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the last time IU won an NCAA Championship title, so what better time to reminisce on our favorite memories of Bob Knight?
The perfect season
Knight led the 1976 Hoosier team to a 32-win, 0-loss season and an NCAA Championship title, beating Michigan in the final game 86-68. Decades later, IU is still the last college basketball team to have an undefeated season with an NCAA Championship title.
The donkey
In 1981, Knight entertained fans by bringing a donkey named Jack in place of a Purdue official who refused to appear on “The Bob Knight Show” with Chuck Marlowe. The donkey sported a Boilermaker’s hat.
The fourth NCAA title
Later that year, Knight and the team won Indiana’s fourth NCAA Championship title against North Carolina by 13 points, 63-50.
The chair
In a fateful February 23, 1985 game against Purdue, Bobby threw his cherry-red plastic chair across the hardwood floor of Assembly Hall after getting two technical fouls. He was ejected from the game.
The Hoosiers’ last big win
Keith Smart hit a jump shot in the last five seconds of the 1987 Championship game against Syracuse, marking Knight’s third and last time to win a big red banner for IU.
The Hall of Famer
In 1991, his second year of eligibility, Knight was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The critics
On senior night in March 1994, The General delivered a doozy: “When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are past, I want they bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass.”
The farewell
Thousands of IU basketball fans gathered in Dunn Meadow to say goodbye to Coach Knight after months of allegations that eventually led to his firing in 2000. Knight’s time at IU was marked as the longest in the NCAA’s 100-year history.
Very informative! Thanks