Re: my question on Knight

[Joe Pacuska <jpacuska@epix.net>]

Have to say that I agree with you, Gene.   There is, however, a difference
between a coach who's passion for the game results in bad behavior, and one
who's ego needs to be satisfied by degrading those around him.

My senior year of high school I played basketball for a fellow by the name of
John Gallagher who was Bobby Knight's assistant coach when Knight was head-coach
at Army.  Knight was Gallagher's idol and he modeled himself and his approach to
coaching after Knight, right down to the red-faced screaming, brow beating,
kicking bleachers, grabbing/pushing of players, and leading the league in
technical fouls.   More about Gallagher in a moment....

During my sophomore and junior years I played for Gene Guarilia, the former
Celtic player of the sixties.  Playing for Gene was an adventure (to say the
least).  He also ranted and raved, and he was known to let his temper get out of
hand, sometimes during practice (I can remember him throwing a basketball at my
best buddy for continually missing his assignment), other times during games
(though mostly against officials).  The difference between Guarilia and
Gallagher was that Guarilia didn't abuse or degrade his players to satisfy his
ego.  Gene yelled at everybody, but when he did you knew he had good reason.  He
was trying to teach, and that was his style.  If he demeaned a player, it was
always for the purpose of attitude-adjustment or to bring the player's ego back
down to earth.  He never did it for the express purpose of degrading someone,
and he wasn't selective.  The best player on the team took the same abuse as the
guy who rode the bench.  Best of all (and I believe anyone that played for Gene
will attest to this), sometime after he chewed you out Gene would find an
opportunity to let you know that he had confidence in you, and that you were an
important part of the team.

Back to Gallagher,...

Admittedly, I didn't like playing for the man.  In my opinion, his style wasn't
intended just to teach, he also meant to demean and degrade for the purpose of
drawing attention to himself.  I can remember a game where we were down by about
6 when Gallagher brought a guy in off the bench, and the guy scored a quick 10
points to put us ahead.  It was a great effort.  Then, with only about a minute
left in the game, and us up by about three, the guys gets the ball at the foul
line, shoots and scores, and gets fouled in the act.  As the guy walks to the
foul line Gallagher jumps up off the bench and bellows "YOU IDIOT!!!"  He yelled
it so loud, and it was such a shocking thing to hear him yell at his own player,
that the entire gym fell to a hush.  He continued to shout "WE DON'T NEED THE
POINTS, WE NEED THE BALL!!!"

Now, it's true that the smart thing for the player to do in that situation would
have been to eat up the clock.  (We won the game, by the way.)  He made a dumb
mistake.  But the coach's reaction humiliated the guy in front of a gym full of
people.

And I know for a fact that the coach never apologized to the guy, or tried to
soften the blow in any way afterwards.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that psychology is a big part of coaching, and
yelling, ranting and raving aren't necessarily bad techniques.  Even a coach who
occasionally demeans a player to get that player's attitude straight isn't (in
my opinion) a bad coach.  But when a coach abuses his players (and others around
him) with complete disregard for what effect it has on the player, or the coach
does it simply because he can, then that coach should find another profession.

Sorry for such a lengthy post.  But your comments hit a nerve for me.

Joe.

Gene Kirkpatrick wrote:

> When I asked "what kind of parent sends his son to play for Bobby
> Knight?" I purposely left it open--I hadn't thought of that angle before.  I
> have lots of thoughts on Knight, but since this is not an Indiana list, and
> since I would be tracked down and rubbed out if I put my criticisms on
> such a list, I should only say, I can't imagine allowing my son to be
> browbeat by someone who rules everyone around him, from student to
> college president, by intimidation.
>
> Go Celtics!
>
> Gene