11.1.23 - JR Interview with Scott Ferrall

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We all learned about this, the world did a few hours ago. Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most accomplished coaches, period, in the world of sports. Not just in college, not just in basketball, from his three championships and coaching Team USA.

It's just just colorful and all over the place. And speaking of colorful, we needed to bring on someone who you should probably be very familiar with here on CBS Sports Radio. He knew Bobby Knight personally, actually went to Indiana, was around him, had him here on the station. Right now, he's on Sports Grid, Pharrell Coast to Coast. Hey Scott, every time I see you, I see you in person. I talk to you, but now we got Scott Pharrell here on the radio. Scott, how you doing man? My man, it's good to hear your voice and I always love running into you.

I'm super sad tonight with Bob's passing. You know, just I was stunned. It was the weirdest thing because I'm not even, I'm not even creeping you out. I was sitting in my Indiana hoodie.

I'm just sitting there chilling, watching the start of a college football game and the news broke or whatever. And what's weird about it was that just yesterday on my show, I had on Mike DeCorcy from the Sporting News, who does the show regularly. He lives in Indianapolis and I was telling him the story about Dylan Harper, the kid that, you know, there's, you know, the flag kid that's going to Duke and then there's Dylan Harper who Duke once and Rutgers once. And I know Dylan and I see him.

I play a lot of ball and I see him in the mornings at 5 a.m grinding because I'm balling. And he went to look at Indiana and met with Woodson and I said, what did you think? And the kid said, it was cool. And I said, that's heaven son.

I said, you may not understand me, but I don't think you grasped what you saw. And then I told DeCorcy, who used to live in Pittsburgh, he's from Pittsburgh and he lived in Memphis and other cities. And I said, there's only one state. And frankly, I think it's the greatest state in the country for basketball and in the world.

I've never seen anything like it. It's the Hoosier State. It's like, DeCorcy said, the one thing I'll remember about living here was every driveway has a basketball hoop. And I said, you know, Bob Knight went back to Bloomington to die in heaven because he's old and frail now and he's going to pass. And he went home in 2020 and then he finally went back to Assembly Hall and the place went crazy. And then he would go there and frequent practice for Woodson and just chill and watch.

And he's a God there. And the weirdest thing for me is that he had such an influence on me in my life. Like I went there to be around him. I went there to be a sportscaster. I went there to follow my dreams and it was to be around him. And the fact that I got to spend five years with him every day and do the Bob Knight show and cover the team and to actually go to the 87 national championship game, the last game I ever covered when Alford and the Hoosiers and Smart hit the shot at the Superdome to beat Syracuse. The fact that I was there and that for 42 years and the fact that he came on CBS Sports Radio and would talk to me and call me names, I said to I said to Shep that even when he was cussing me out I loved him. Like he was the most influential person in in my life and respectfully more than my father who Shep knew as just generally one of the greatest human beings ever, this man, my father. But my dad and I were like a sports relationship and I was grateful.

I went to you know six Super Bowls with the Steelers and five Stanley Cups with the Penguins and World Series with the Pirates. But it was like a bonding with sports, right? But Bob Knight was really my father because in a sense, I respectfully say that, in that when I was 18 to 23 years old I worked for him and he lit me up and I grew up. I became a man around him because of him and the fact that he was friends of mine for his entire life and not like, I don't matter, I don't matter. But the fact that he loved me enough to stay friends with me and to call my show and to call me names, when I found out he died tonight I cried for an hour on my own in my home. My dog was looking at me, my wife and daughter were gone, my son's in college now, I'm an old man. But when I lost him I was devastated. Scott Farrell is here with us, the JR Sportbreeze Show CBS Sports Radio. Thank you for sharing more of the detail on that relationship Scott. I know it's tough.

You went to Indiana. How did you start building that relationship? We hear about his thoughts and how he felt about the media.

It's all public for people to listen to. How were you able to build the relationship? So it was really funny. There was a guy named Joe Smith who to this day is still alive and he's there in Bloomington and he's a radio legend there. He did Indiana basketball and football for like 50 years. They pushed him out eventually when he was in his mid 70s which he is now and he still lives there and he made me and when I first met him I was basically at a party getting hammered with him and trying to convince him to put me on the radio. I was 18 years old and I said I'm going to be better than you and he was like who do you think you are?

I said trust me, let's get hammered, put me on the air, watch what happens, I guarantee you we'll be friends for life. And sure enough he put me on the air and then the next thing he said you're going to do Indiana soccer play-by-play, you're going to cover Indiana basketball, you're going to travel with the Hoosiers to every game, you're going to do every game and you're going to work seven days a week, you're going to work 60 hours a week, we're going to pay you a salary and we're going to give you a career in radio. And it was like a real station, it wasn't a college station and so I started going to games and then I saw him lighting people up, cussing people out. I saw him humiliate people, embarrass people, ruin people. I also saw him love people. I saw him buy Landon Turner his home when he was paraplegic. I knew him to hunt and fish and golf and hit a golf ball 300 yards. I knew him to eat. I knew him to be the smartest person I ever met in my life, the most learned person I'd ever met in my life. Watching basketball with him was better than sex. When he was on ESPN doing his analysis gig, which he'd do one or two games a week max, but when he did them he was better than everyone. He described the game better than everyone. I play ball five days a week, Shep knows that. I still play at my age, I'm 58, I still play five days a week with a bunch of NBA retired guys and D1 retired guys. I told him the stories about Bobby Knight and just the other day, last Saturday, a guy was wearing an Indiana shirt.

He played for Cremins at Charleston or something. I was like, you know, I'm good friends with Bobby and I'm good friends with Bobby Knight. I said, I went to IU and I told him, I said, he's dying, he's getting really old, he's frail, he's unstable, it's very sad.

It is what it is, it's life. I'll never forget what he said, bury me upside down and all my critics can kiss my ass. I knew him to be the funniest, smartest. If he was your friend, he was the best friend you could ever have. If he was your enemy, I always told Shep in the audience, you should move.

You should move because you're going to lose. He was never wrong. If he was adamant about something, it was all over.

There was no debating, arguing, asking otherwise. It was his way or the highway, but every kid he ever met graduated. They all became men and he never got busted for cheating. He was the only amateur, the last amateur Olympic team to win the gold in LA. I was there in 84 and then he's really the only guy that's never cheated except for Seshevsky and he taught him everything he knows and he played for him at Army and that's why he was so crazy because when he was at Army, he was around crazy people and they taught him how to be this tyrant and he'd admitted in the later years that he felt bad about some of his behavior, but he never would apologize for it.

He said he was, you know, too old to do that. Well, listen, I was going to reference that point that we all know. I find it to be one of the most famous quotes in sports about burying him upside down so the critics can go ahead and kiss his ass and you went ahead and referenced it, man.

I would tell you this, I don't think that there are critics. Like what is done has been done, his successes. What you said is things that he would decide to take back. I mean, anybody who would want to criticize him today I think is really wasting their time. What's done is done.

Well, I mean, for sure. I think that he is one of the greatest that ever lived that did it. He won three national championships. He would have won more if Brand hadn't come along with his zero tolerance, you know, you know, born again BS, like I'm going to save the world and get rid of Bob Knight at Indiana. That guy died shortly afterwards too. Good luck messing with Bob Knight.

That's where you get karma. People can say whatever they want but that guy was out to get him. Then he went down to Lubbock and he won there. He won over 900 games. He's in the hall of fame. He's got his own wing. His offense, you know, I played ball with Shep.

Shep's a great cutter and a great point guard. He knows how to find the open man and Bob Knight created the open man and then Bob Knight created the greatest man-on-man defense in the history of NCAA basketball. I've always said, you know, my son went to San Diego State and he turned down Indiana to go to San Diego State and I said, how in God's name can you go watch Indiana beat North Carolina in front of 18,000 lit and walk out of there and not go to school there?

Something's got to be wrong with you. And he chased bikinis and surfboards instead, which I can dig. And I think if Bob Knight would have coached at San Diego State or at Reno like Alfred does, he would have won anywhere. I heard someone say he would have wanted any sport doing anything. He was a great baseball fan and the guy was really bizarre. He loved to hunt and fish and eat and live life and he loved to read and he was smart and he was cool and people only saw the throwing the chair and him cussing and a bullwhip and, you know, what's a game face? And he did all the funny faces. He bashed the media and he was nasty and he punched a cop in Puerto Rico and you don't mess with him, bro. He was 6'6", 300 pounds.

He played at Ohio State. He meant business. He was intimidating. When he started cussing, the whole room just absolutely froze dead in their tracks.

And I was like 18, 19, 20 years old watching this going, this is the greatest thing I've ever seen. And then I learned at a young age to shut up and to let him do what he's doing and never ask him anything because he yelled at me one day. I was sitting on the stairs down in assembly hall. He said, what are you doing here? I said, I'm going to practice. He goes, get out. And I was like, I'll see you later. He goes, see ya. Well, listen, it sounds like you sure as hell learned a hell of a lot.

I did. I'm sorry for your loss, Scott. And I wish you nothing but the best as you go through this period.

And I appreciate you taking the time to hop on and just share some insight because for what you said, there's a lot that's out there, but you certainly have and have had that personal relationship. Scott, where can people keep up with and follow you now, my man? Just on Sports Grid and it's on satellite radio as well. They simulcast the TV show every day. You can get it on the Sports Grid app or sportsgrid.com slash watch. It's on all of those Amazon, Freebie, Roku, Sling, Fubo, YouTube, TV.

It's on all those. Just search Sports Grid and you'll find it. I'm on usually weekdays at three on Saturdays.

I'm on one to four for college football Sunday. I do one to four NFL, so I'm easy to find. It's cool. It's fun.

People dig it. I'm glad you're doing well. I always love running into you. I'll see you in Vegas. All right, bro.

No doubt about it. With a smile on the face, Scott, my condolences to you. I'll see you soon. Thanks, bro. Much love. Peace.

Much love. Shout outs to Scott Feral holding it down on Sports Grid right now, sharing some some personal anecdotes and experiences and memories of Bobby Knight passing away now at 83 years old. Hey, everyone, you've probably heard us talking about Magnificent Jerk. It's a story about discovering family secrets buried in a low budget 90s thriller starring Rob Lowe and Ice-T. Magnificent Jerk takes you on a journey through Chinatown gangs, drug robberies, Hollywood reinvention and a family confronting its unspoken past. It's the true story about a fake story about a real life. Magnificent Jerk is an Apple original podcast produced by Pineapple Street Studios.

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