Appropriate for this time of year, finally got around to reading
A Season on the Brink, a practice by practice, game by game recounting of Indiana’s 1985-86 basketball season, and, more memorably, a too-close, relentless encounter with Coach Bob Knight’s fiery demeanor. In the introduction updated for the book’s 25th anniversary, the author, John Feinstein, writes:
“What made A Season on the Brink so successful was the access I had to Knight. The book would not have sold as well if I had access to Dean Smith or John Thompson…If I had waited six years and had that same access to Mike Krzyzewski after his back-to-back national titles at Duke, the book still would not have become a publishing phenomenon. There isn’t anyone like Knight.”Few other outward personalities translate to the page or screen as colorfully as Knight. For every scene Knight makes by losing his temper at practice or with refs, there’s another side of Knight’s loyalty and appreciation:
“Whenever Indiana stays in a hotel near a Bob Evans, Kight is apt to eat there three times a day, the last time usually at two or three in the morning. Many a Knight diet has gone aglimmering at Bob Evans over apple pie and ice cream in the wee hours on the morning of a game. Knight was sipping an iced tea when a boy of about twelve gingerly approached him. Behind were two older men…Kight is eminently approachable in these situations, patient and polite. He always signs an autograph when asked politely. The young man’s name was Garland Loper. Shyly he explained that his father and older brother were deaf-mutes and would like to meet Coach Knight. Garland was the family spokesman. When the other two wanted to say something, they signed it to him and he spoke it to the world. Knight was completely charmed by Garland Loper. He talked for several minutes to the three Lopers, gave them his autograph, and asked Garland for his address. When Knight returned to school, he had Indiana shirts, brochures, and an autographed team picture sent to the Lopers. Then he called and invited the whole family to come to a game. ‘Sometimes,’ he said softly, leaving the restaurant, ‘you see what it really means to have guts.’”Once Feinstein’s account of the 1985-86 season gets going, what I like best is knowing how many of my older, distant relatives from my Mom’s side in Indiana, some of whom were IU students at the time, followed in real time, watching each game or listening on the radio. To this day they’ll remember game-by-game seasons of Indiana basketball better than they bother to keep track of today’s headlines. According to them, college basketball is what got the state through Indiana’s long winters.
Two thirds through
A Season on the Brink, Knight’s short temper starts draining the pages. Which is about when Knight lets up a little, mostly happy with his team, led by Steve Alford, overachieving for a 2nd place finish in the Big Ten. But Indiana’s late loss to Michigan and eventual upset by Cleveland State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament makes for a disappointing end to the season. Fortunately, the epilogue is devoted to the next season, when Indiana would win the 1987 National Championship, beating Syracuse in the final with
Keith Smart hitting the game winner.
