The Power of Negative Thinking: An Unconventional Approach to Achieving Positive Results by Bob Knight & Bob Hammel

Author:Bob Knight & Bob Hammel [Knight, Bob & Hammel, Bob]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780544027718
Publisher: New Harvest
Published: 2013-03-04T23:00:00+00:00

West Point: My Biggest Break in Coaching

One of the satisfying things about my start in coaching under Andy Andreas at Cuyahoga Falls High School was that, after his own career in education had ended with retirement, I was able to bring him to Bloomington for something of a payback: He joined me as an assistant coach—a valued, contributing coach—just in time to go with me on the greatest ride a coach could have: our undefeated national-championship season at Indiana in 1976.

There was one vital step for me between Cuyahoga Falls and Bloomington.

At the end of my first season with Andy, I faced the last crucial decision: graduate school, maybe law school, or a continuation in coaching? Now I was twenty-two, and there was still an army draft—no real Vietnam threat yet, but the possibility of a draft. I exasperated my dad by volunteering to go into the army for two years, but I did it with a plan.

At the 1963 NCAA Final Four at Freedom Hall in Louisville just before the championship game between Loyola and Cincinnati, I was talking with Coach Taylor about what I wanted to do next: Go back to Cuyahoga Falls in a higher coaching position? Enter graduate school and do some coaching there? The coach at Army, George Hunter, was a friend of Coach Taylor, and he happened to hear our conversation. He told Coach Taylor, “If he’s ever going to be drafted, let me know and I’ll bring him to West Point.” That wasn’t really likely to happen, given the state of the draft then, but I said directly to Coach Hunter, “What would happen if I volunteer for the draft?” He said, “I’ll bring you to West Point and you’ll coach our plebe [freshman] team.” (Fifty years later, I consider that question—“What would happen if I volunteered for the draft?”—the second-most important one I have ever asked in my life, only behind when I asked my future wife, Karen, to marry me.)

After that conversation with Coach Hunter, when I was off by myself with time to do some thinking, I did a little calculating. I had made $5,050 in my first year at Cuyahoga Falls: $4,600 for teaching four classes and a study hall, $450 for coaching. Bill Raybuck, who was Andy’s assistant and an excellent coach, left to take a head coaching job, so I was going to be the varsity assistant, which meant more coaching money.

With that and an across-the-board salary increase for all teachers, my salary was going to jump 25 percent to about $6,300. And in addition, I had a chance to make $50 a game playing with some Cleveland Browns on a basketball team that in their off-season went around northern Ohio playing local teams—maybe as many as fifty games, so I was looking at another $2,500 on top of $6,300. For a kid who didn’t have any obligations, that was pretty good—about $165 a week, average.

Wow!

All the reasons that would normally influence a young man’s decision—starting with net income—were weighted against the choice I made.

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