The author of “A season on the brink” about Bob Knight

John Feinstein is more than a sports writer, more than a friend. He is a great, a master storyteller that uses sports to tell stories. And in 1986, I think it was 1986, his very first book, A Season on the Brink. He had to take a leave of absence from the Washington Post to write it, and the rest is history. He joins us to talk about Bobby Knight. That's who the book was about. A Season on the Brink was a year in the life, essentially, of Indiana basketball, and he joins us on The Adam Gold Show.

Mr. Feinstein, sorry we are meeting under these circumstances, but thank you for the time. Quick, I'll let you start where you want to start when it comes to Bobby Knight. Well gosh, the problem is once you get started it's hard to stop. Because he's such a unique and unique, it's an overused word since it means one of a kind, and a fascinating person. That's why Season on the Brink was as successful as it was, that and the access that he gave me that season. I had complete access to everything, and he never backed away from it. And I will always be thankful to him for the fact that I basically have gotten to pick and choose my book subjects ever since then. He is also, or excuse me, was also, I'm still a bad thing, he was a bully, he was a misogynist, he could be very cruel to people, often as players. He was also extraordinarily loyal at times, not all the time.

I'll ask Mike Chesky if he's extremely loyal, and among others, Steve Alford, some others. So he was a psychologist. I've often said that the good Bob Knight was as good as anybody I've ever met. Smart, great coach obviously, entertaining, and loyal at times. The bad Bob Knight was as bad as anybody I've met in sports. A bully, he could turn on people, he had his own unique definition of loyalty.

It often went one way, you be loyal to me and I'll decide who's going to be loyal. So you could go on and on about all the things that Bob Knight was. And he's been sick for a number of years, as I think you know. He had dementia, which is a horrific disease. And in a tragic irony, the two men I've known through the years who had the best memories of anybody in sports were Bob Knight and Dean Smith, and they both died of dementia.

I think dementia is a disease that impacts the people around them more than the people who are suffering from it. Let me ask you this, because you say, we talked to Mike Tecorsy earlier, who did some coverage of Bob Knight and related a story about being generally disdainful of the media. So my question of you is, why did Bob Knight allow you the access? What was your relationship before this?

Because this is unique. You spent six months with them. So what was the relationship that you had before, if any, and why did he allow you in? Well, I did have a relationship with him.

I first covered him in 1981 when they were on their way to their second national championship, his second national championship. My friend Dave Kenyon, who was a colleague of mine at the Washington Post at the time, introduced me to him. And Dave had known him well since the early 70s when he was working in Louisville. And Knight, again, part of his personality, if he liked you, you were his best friend. If he didn't like you, he hated your guts.

There was really no, and I experienced both. And after Dave introduced me, as I said, I was covering Indiana in a tournament. I covered all six of their games because their first game was against Maryland.

You may remember that game. And so because I was from the Washington Post, Knight knew which papers were more important than others. And because of my friendship with Kindred, he treated me during that tournament as if he knew me, which he didn't. And a couple years later, I wrote a piece for Sporting News on his assistant coaches who had been successful. At that point, there were quite a few. Cieszewski was coming into his own at Duke. Dave Bliss was a star at the time at SMU. Bob Weltlich, who almost got the Duke job when Cieszewski got it, was at Mississippi.

So I wrote this piece about why Knight's ex-assistance became good head coaches. And I literally couldn't find him to talk to him during the summer because he was fishing or playing a golf tournament or whatever. And literally ran into him in O'Hare Air Force. He was going to a golf tournament. And I reintroduced myself, told him what I was doing, and he said, Well, I've got some time.

Let's talk right now. And so he was very good. And I wrote the piece and I got a phone call from him saying, Hey, I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed the piece. And, you know, you really did a good job.

And any time you're out here, let me know. And so I did. I went out to write a piece on him as the Olympic coach. I spent two days with him. And then right after he threw the chair there. Yeah, I said it right before he threw the chair when he was struggling with his 85 team. I went out there and spent two more days with him and got complete access, practice, the locker room, coaches meetings. And when he did throw the chair, I wrote this very detailed piece about why he was so frustrated with the season. And he called me again and invited me to a dinner he had years ago at the Final Four back when the Final Four was played in the afternoon on Saturdays or late afternoon. And invited me to the dinner with his coaching buddies and things. And I thought, well, he's really inviting me into his circle here. And I thought, if I could have the kind of access I had for two days for a season. Yeah, there's a book there.

And as you mentioned, I've never read the book. And the funny thing is, after the dinner, I said, Bob, have you got a few minutes? And he said, yeah, sure, come on back to the room.

Well, he was rooming with Pete Newell, the great teacher. She just came back to the room because he and I were doing a clinic together the next day. And they wanted to discuss what they were going to do in the clinic.

So I sat and waited while they did that. And then Bob turned to me and said, what can I do for you, John? So I told him I had this idea. And he said, have you ever written a book?

And I said, no. He said, do you have a publisher? And I said, it can make much sense to get a publisher until and unless you said yes. And he said, well, that was good thinking. So listen, if you can get a publisher, come on out. And Bob, fine, thanks.

I knew nothing about getting a publisher at that point. I walk out the door and the minute the door closes, he looked at me and goes, are you out of your blanking mind? And I said, why is your volunteering to spend a winter with him? I know what it's like. And he pointed a finger at me and said, no, you don't.

Two days and a season. And I said, well, I try to do it anyway. Figure I'd probably never get a publisher.

And five publishers turned the book down. And finally, Macmillan offered me a small advance. And I just wanted to do it. So I did not take the device, fortunately.

Let me say this. He was absolutely right. I had no idea what I was getting. And often after I'd been out in Bloomington for about a week and I said, OK, now I get it. And fortunately, I was able to survive the winter. And as you said, the rest is history. Did Bob Knight still like you after the book? He liked me until he read the book. And the weird thing was, by the time I left Bloomington, I knew that when I sent him a copy of the book, he was going to look at it and find something wrong. He was going to call me, John, you did a great job.

It's not who he ever was. And I didn't know what he would like. And when Royce Walton, then one of the assistants called me after I sent the book out and said, this is your official phone call, coaches. And I said, OK, fine. He said, well, you left his profanity.

I started laughing. I said, no, seriously, Royce, what's he upset about? He said, no, that's it. You were supposed to leave his profanity out.

No, I wasn't. I specifically told him that the word, his favorite word that rhymes with luck and duck had to be in the book or the book would have no credibility. Because everybody in the world knew how much he cursed. And he said, well, he's upset. And eight years later, we started speaking again.

That's not bad. It only took it only took eight years. I think I was very lucky because he saw me in a TV interview at an Indianapolis TV station when I was writing something about Larry Brown. And the guy said, how would you compare Larry Brown to Bob Knight?

Well, they're entirely different. Larry's proven he can go anywhere and coach at any level and be successful. And Bob has proven that he can be the target every year and stand up to it and still win.

And they're both great coaches. Bob says later he was surprised that I didn't slide in a shot or something like that. He said that's what he would have done. And I was in Hawaii with Marilyn covering them.

How classic. And I was playing. And Gary Williams and I ran in tonight in the hotel lobby and he stopped. And Gary, I would never forget.

Oh, here we go. And he said, John, Gary, how are you guys? You know, John, I heard you just became a father. Congratulations.

How's it going? And acted like we were still good friends. I don't know about best friends. And walked away after a few minutes. And Gary looked at me and he said, after all the names he called you. And he called me a lot of them. You know, why would you speak to him? Because he built my house, Gary.

Before I let you go, John, I appreciate your time. I am curious, your thoughts, because you knew both men. And you know Mike Krzyzewski obviously very well. What do you think, because coaches being obviously very quiet about this.

They released a statement last night. We talked to Jay Billis earlier and he again gave us some insight. But from your perspective, what do you think Mike Krzyzewski is feeling today about the passing of somebody he referred to as a mentor? Well, he was a mentor.

There's no doubt. And when Mike got elected to the Hall of Fame, he and I had spoken for nine years after the Minneapolis incident, as we call it. And he called Knight. And he said, Coach, I don't even know why we're mad at each other anymore. But I wouldn't be going to the Hall of Fame if I hadn't played for you in coaching. So I would like you to give my induction speech. And Knight was touched by that. He said, I would be honored, Mike.

And he gave a great induction speech. And for a while, they were okay again. And then there was another incident at Pinehurst during a reunion of former Army players and coaches.

And that was essentially the last time they spoke to a minister. And I think Mike today is like me. He's sad. He's particularly sad, I'm sure, because we talked about it, that Knight died the way he did because it's such a horrible disease.

But I doubt if he's feeling any particular loss in terms of what his life is today at this moment. It's just Bob Knight, as I said, you either loved him or hated him. And I think one thing Mike and I share is the different moments we've done both. John Feinstein at Feinstein Books on Twitter, the first of, I don't know, a thousand a season on the brink was was a 50th.

You're working on, would you say, your 50th? Yes. Yeah, right. The children's books are all great. They're all great.

All the books are great. I guess so we can schedule our next conversation. Hopefully we'll talk before before that one. John, I appreciate your time always, sir. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks, Adam.

Good to talk to you as always. You got it. At Feinstein Books on Twitter, working on 50. My gosh, I'm not sure I've read 50 books. I've read most of John's. Yeah, well, I grew up at a time where it was forced down our face to read books. We had to read several books a year. I can't. I've read I've read more than 50.