Fifty years after he coached the last undefeated men’s Division I basketball team, legendary Indiana coach Bob Knight will be honored with a statue at the program’s Assembly Hall home in Bloomington, Ind., the school announced Monday.
Knight, who died in 2023 at age 83, led the Hoosiers to national titles in 1976, 1981 and 1987. He produced a 662-239 record in 29 seasons at Indiana, getting the program to the Final Four five times and overseeing 11 Big Ten regular-season-title-winning squads.
The university plans to put the next statue next to a set of statues depicting the top six players from the 1975-76 team that went 32-0 — Quinn Buckner, Scott May, Ken Benson, Bobby Wilkerson, Jim Crews and Tom Abernathy.
“Coach Knight’s influence on the game of basketball is immeasurable, but his impact on this university and Hoosier basketball fans is even deeper,” Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said in a statement. “On a personal level, having started my career here as a student manager under Coach Knight, I saw firsthand the unparalleled standard of excellence he demanded. He taught me, and countless others, that success is the result of meticulous preparation and unwavering discipline. This statue will be a well-deserved tribute to a man who didn’t just win games; he changed how the sport is played.”
Before arriving at Indiana, Knight coached Army to a 102-50 record over six seasons. He left Bloomington after with an impeccable basketball record but after a series of controversies including a chair-throwing incident and numerous instances of alleged bullying behavior inside and outside of the team.
Knight subsequently coached at Texas Tech from 2001–02 to 2007-08, taking the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament four times.
His overall record of 902-371 leaves him as one of college basketball’s winningest coaches.
Knight, who coached the U.S. men’s team to a gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
The bronze statue will be paid for by a private donor, the Indiana athletic department announced.
–Field Level Media
