Kirk Haston - Days of Knight: How the General Changed My Life

What others are saying about Days of Knight

People dont realize the type of positive impact Coach Knight has had over the years. This book not only gives a true depiction of his greatness as a coach but it also gives a true depiction of his greatness as an individual who cares about others.

Calbert Cheaney, Indiana Hoosier, 198993; NBA player with the Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics, and Golden State Warriors, 19932006; assistant coach at St. Louis University

Ive been a fan of Kirk for a long time, going back to his high school days, when Tom Izzo and I tried to recruit him at MSU. Kirk is a person and player who has EARNED everything hes gotten out of basketball. He has always had a rare work capacity and it carried him a long, long way. He was also very hungry and humbled in his pursuit to be successful with a desire to be coached and taught. It shows up in this book.

Coach Tom Crean, Indiana Hoosiers

I really enjoyed this book. It was very detailed and brought back tons of memories. Fans wanting to know both the competitive and compassionate sides of Knight should definitely read Days of Knight.

A. J. Guyton, Indiana Hoosier, 19962000 (All American, 2000); NBA player with the Chicago Bulls and Golden State Warriors, 200103

Ive always had the ultimate respect for Coach Knight as one of the great coaching minds of our time. When I was a young coach, he took me under his wing and provided valuable knowledge, just as he had with so many of his players. Thanks to Kirk Haston, a player I once recruited and have always appreciated, readers will gather insight as to what made Coach Knight successful, while also offering a view to a side of him that not all of us were fortunate enough to see.

Coach Tom Izzo, Michigan State Spartans

Days of Knight is a great look at how Coach Knight made the young players he coached better men first and better players second. Its a personal glimpse into how the legendary Indiana basketball coach taught and mentored his team.

Jared Jeffries, Indiana Hoosier, 20002002 (member of the 2002 NCAA runner-up team); eleven-year NBA veteran, current pro personnel scout for the Denver Nuggets

Coach Knight is a complex man with a very clear vision. Through a vast array of techniques and emotions, Days of Knight is an incredible inside look at Coach Knights version of teaching the game of life and basketball. Most importantly, we see all sides of a fascinating leader and a brilliant tactician.

Dane Fife, Indiana Hoosier, 19982002 (member of the 2002 NCAA runner-up team); assistant coach at Michigan State

This is an outstanding read. Kirk has done a great job of portraying the very unique relationship that is player/coach. This book will take you inside one of the most storied college basketball programs and give you insight into one of the games greatest coaches.

Michael Lewis, Indiana Hoosier, 19972000 (IUs all-time assists leader); assistant coach at University of Nebraska

Coach Knight stories and teachings are in the veins of Indianaand they are in the pages of Days of Knight. Filled with previously unheard Knight stories and quotes, this book gives an inside look at what it was like to be a player who experienced the final three seasons of the Knight era at Indiana. If you are a Hoosier fan, youre going to want to read this book.

Jeff Overton, Indiana Hoosier, 20022005; PGA Tour player; member of the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup Team

Ive read lots of words about Bobby Knight, but never from one of his players. I cant wait to read this.

Tony Kornheiser, co-host of ESPNs Pardon the Interruption and former sportswriter for the Washington Post

Heres a Bet You Didnt Know, Hoosier Fans: among IUs three-year-career players, only Scott May, Archie Dees, and Walt Bellamy outscored Kirk Haston; only Bellamy, Dees, and Steve Downing outrebounded him. And none of those Hoosier all-timers was blessed and cursed with the emotional peaks and valleys that Kirk went through in his IU years. His mother was a school teacher, an English teacher. She would have been very proud of the excellence her son shows here as a writer, andthanks to her urging to be a note-takeras an inside observer of the most tumultuous years in recent IU athletics.

Bob Hammel, author of Knight: My Story and Beyond the Brink with Indiana: 1987 NCAA Champions, and member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame

Haston paints an intense picture of what it takes to be an Indiana Hoosier and provides an inside look at the most controversial news story in IU historythe firing of Coach Bob Knight.

Stan Sutton, author of 100 Things Hoosiers Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, former sportswriter for the Courier-Journal (Louisville), member of Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame

DAYS OF KNIGHT

DAYS OF

HOW THE GENERAL CHANGED MY LIFE

KNIGHT

KIRK HASTON

INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS

Bloomington & Indianapolis

This book is a publication of

Indiana University Press

Office of Scholarly Publishing

Herman B Wells Library 350

1320 East 10th Street

Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA

iupress.indiana.edu

2016 by Kirk Haston

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481992.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Haston, Kirk, 1979

Title: Days of knight : how the general changed my life / Kirk Haston.

Description: Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016004455 (print) | LCCN 2016030776 (ebook) | ISBN 9780253022271 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780253022400 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Haston, Kirk, 1979- | Basketball playersUnited StatesBiography. | Knight, Bobby. | Basketball coachesUnited StatesBiography. | Indiana University, BloomingtonBasketball.

Classification: LCC GV884.H266 A3 2016 (print) | LCC GV884. H266 (ebook) | DDC 796.323092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016004455

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Contents

If the Game Doesnt Fit Then You Didnt Commit

Tennessee Knight Game

The Day after Knight

Welcome to B-Town Greenhorn

A Hall of Fame Kind of Day

Talking about Practice

Hoosier Family Counseling

This Is Assembly Hall

Close to Greatness & Close to Great Failures

Let the Games Begin

Phone Call

An Intolerable Policy?