Playing for Knight: My Six Seasons with Coach Knight

by Steve Alford, John Garrity

An Olympic gold medalist recalls his four years on Indiana University's basketball team under the brilliant but controversial coach Bobby Knight, whose volatility and manipulativeness exacted a heavy toll from his players.

An Olympic gold medalist recalls his four years on Indiana University's basketball team under the brilliant but controversial coach Bobby Knight, whose volatility and manipulativeness exacted a heavy toll from his players.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Ben Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

To anyone who grew up playing basketball in Indiana or grew up watching the Hoosiers this book is a must read. It shows you a side of Bobby Knight that does not get shown anywhere else. I gained a lot of respect for Coach Knight, the players during this era, and I learned a lot about the culture that built Indiana basketball.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

If yu want to know what Booby Knight was really like this is the most balanced review I have read.

[Evan White]

Being an avid basketball fan that has a fascination with the older eras of basketball, "Playing for Knight: My Six Seasons with Coach Knight" piqued my interest because it was written by Steve Alford, who is arguably the greatest college basketball player to ever come from the state of Indiana, as well as the time period it was written. This book was published in the year 1989, making it right around when the play style of basketball started to change from the back down and post up/mid-range era to the more outside shooting and spacing era of basketball, with the likes of Reggie Miller and Chris Mullin being widely considered the best shooters in the NBA at the time. This book creates a great image of what that change looked like on the basketball court. The three-point line was implemented into the realm of college basketball during Steve Alford's tenure as an Indiana Hoosier. This book describes the high and lows as well as the struggles and strengths of adapting to the new line of the basketball court.
The author's purpose for writing this book was to not only shine light on the actions that were taken on the court during his career at Indiana University, but also to give insight on the legendary Coach Bob Knight's exuberant tirades. This books paints an immaculate picture of what the inside of the Indiana University Men's Basketball locker room from 1983 to 1987 as well as the 1984 Olympics that were held in Los Angeles. It is almost as if the reader was in the locker room witnessing every curse word that spewed from Coach Knight's mouth and every flagrant gesture that came from his arms and even his legs. Alford tells stories about how Coach would single him out early in his years as a Hoosier but later was forced to take on the main leadership role in the locker room due to his experience with the program and Coach Knight's verbal abuse. All in all, this book is a great read, especially for college basketball fans as well as fans of sports in general. Take some time and read this book and you will not regret it. I promise.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Approximately one week before I started this book I read one about the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi. Like Indiana University coach Bobby Knight, Lombardi was known for the vicious tongue lashings and criticisms of his football players. Yet, both were big winners and despite experiencing their temper tantrums, many of their players spoke highly of them. However, defensive tackle Henry Jordan regularly used the phrase, “Lombardi treats us all the same, like dogs.”
Steve Alford played for Bobby Knight at Indiana University for four years, was a member of the U. S. Olympic Gold medal winning team coached by Knight and the Indiana team went on a world tour in an offseason. Alford uses this to justify the “six seasons” phrase in the title.
Alford depicts himself as a straight arrow as a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which was true when he was a college and early NBA player. Most of the ink is used to describe how Coach Knight constantly belittled the players, making even the faintest of praise so significant. It is clear that most players could not have played for Knight. As Alford states in the book, when Alford and Michael Jordan were on the U. S. Olympic team, Jordan bet Alford $100 that he would not last the full four seasons with Knight.
While Knight was a tyrant, he also ran one of the cleanest programs in the country with one of the highest graduation rates. As Alford states more than once, if a player missed classes or dogged it academically, they were benched first and then kicked off the team if it continued. It is clear that the coaching tactics of Knight and Lombardi are a thing of the past, players and the general public will no longer tolerate it. Given what they did, that is for the better. One wonders if all of the verbal belittlement was really necessary, if not counterproductive. Both Knight and Lombardi were brilliant tacticians in their sports, so they likely would have been successful had they no yelled so much.

[Josh Skogman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a ten year old boy growing up in Indiana when the Hoosiers won the national championship with Steve Alford, this brought back a lot of memories. Enjoyed the stories about Bob Knight. Love or hate his methods, Alford tries to explain the “why” behind his personality. I also appreciated that Alford was not too descriptive with Coach Knight’s language...I would feel comfortable having my son read this without having him get a vocabulary lesson in foul language. Overall a fun read.

[Brodie Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good read because it goes into depth of coach Bob Knight who is one of if not the most controversial coach every. Player a author Steve Alford goes into depth of why coach Knights personality is the way that it was and how it had made him a better player and person over the years playing for him

[Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good basketball book. Alford was a great college basketball player playing in a basketball powerhouse. Much insight into one of the most controversial coaches in the country.

[Chad Veal]

Similar to Season on the Brink, but does a better job of not only showing the good side of RMK, but also the reasoning behind his antics.

Thanks to Nate Morris for the book.

[Danny Weddle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good inside information about Alford’s career at IU and his experiences with Coach Knight.

[Ben Reinert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's purpose in writing this book was to give reader's a player's perspective on the legendary coach Bob Knight. You can tell this was the author's purpose firstly because the author was one of his players, and secondly because he tells stories upon stories about Bob Knight. "'War stories,' we called them. Every Indiana basketball player could tell several on himself." pg. 21. War stories were the terrifying events that Bob Knight's players went through throughout there years under his coaching. All the war stories came from his players' perspectives. "There were dozens of these tales, and over time you realized that they made up the Indiana basketball tradition in the Bob Knight era." pg. 23. This shows that Bob Knight was a very interesting man that probably gave a lot of his players great stories to tell later in life.
The theme of the book is that there are always bad things that comes with the good. Coach Knight is a perfect example. Coach Knight was a very winning coach. He even had an undefeated season. But this came with a price. "'Alford, get off the court! Take a shower and get out of my sight!'" pg. 155. This is what Coach Knight said to Alford a practice before a game against Kentucky. Even though there was bad, there was also some good to it. "The next day, I was 11-for-14 from the field, with 6 rebounds and 7 assists, and we beat Kentucky, 81-68." pg. 155.
The genre of the book was a non-fiction sports book. This was effective because the story was supposed to be a true story about a basketball coach. The book was written in first person. "Coach and I went back down to practice. We could concentrate again on Kentucky." pg. 205. This quote shows that it was written in first person and shows how it was a sports book. This book being written in first person is very effective because it gives the reader a good perspective from an actual player of Bob Knight. It helps make the "war stories" be more believable.
I thought this was a decent book. I liked all of the funny stories Alford and his teammates had told. "'Yeah, and remember the time he punted the ball up in the stands and it hit that hunting buddy of his on the head?'" pg. 23. This story was one the funny stories told. I disliked how sometimes the book would get kind of boring. I would change this book to where it only had the funny stories but they were told in more detail because I like funny things in books. I usually do not read books like this so it has not reminded me of any books. This story is kind of like documentaries I see on ESPN and the Big Ten Network that about different sports events/people/teams. I might read another sport related non-fiction book after reading "Playing for Knight".

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple bucks in a Borders clearance bin and an interesting read. You get a little different perspective on some of Knight's shenanigans, but shenanigans they remain. The fact that Alford came through the experience and reflected on the positives he learned probably says more about Steve Alford than it does Bob Knight. It was interesting to read his daydream at the end about his son playing for Knight at IU in 2010. I suppose then it seemed Knight was firmly ensconced and would retire with honor after a long productive career at Indiana. I guess we know the rest of that story. Good read for fans of the college game and some interesting bits with other big name players of the day.

[Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book “My Six Seasons with Coach Knight” by Steve Alford was a great first hand account of Indiana basketball tradition. I would rate this book 5 stars because if you are a die hard Indiana fan it makes you feel like you're in Assembly Hall listening to coach Knight’s pep talks and hearing about the Hoosier war stories. The book gave a great description of Steve Alford leading up to Indiana University and was very descriptive about coach Knight. This book also displayed many lessons such as you can't give up and run through the tape. I would recommend this book to any sports fan and people who like to read about success and hard work.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story from All-American Indiana guard, Steve Alford, about his years playing for the always interesting Coach Bobby Knight. Highs and lows are recounted from Indiana failing to make the NCAA Tournament to the 1984 Olympic Team to the Hoosiers winning the national title. Learned from this book that Coach Knight is certainly an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in a mystery.

[Tom Sparrenberger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Coach Bob Knight's star player during the mid 1980's, Steve Alford, provides his reflections on what it was like to play for the legendary coach at Indiana University. A good read for any IU basketball fan.

[Kaitan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book if you want to learn about Coach Knight.

[Big · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great perspective from a player who won a championship with knight and later went on to become a very good coach.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read this. Like, seriously I think this was one of the first non-Hardy Boys books I read. I remember liking it though.

[Zackery]

I was into sports biographies in high school.

[CoolBreeze1978 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this when I was a kid and wanted to be a pro basketball player. It was not that good of a book, even then.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book many times as a child in Indiana. I've been an Alford fan ever since. I'm now rooting for his success as a UCLA coach.

[Callie Acker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. I can honestly say that my grandmother loaned me this book. After that she loaned me more and I realized that we had the same tastes in books.

[Randy Wojtasiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of all time. I've read it multiple times and this is the only book I can say that about.

[Conner Mullett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to return to the book that made me a Hoosier fan

[Jackchristopherhill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really good. I'm in middle school and play sports and this book has really inspired me to do more things, including read. I will definitely start reading more in the future. Great book!

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

read SOMETIME in 1997

[Daniel Gochenour · Rating 4 out of 5]

BEST sports book EVER!