Case Study Coach Robby Knight

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Defining the Problem
Coach Bobby Knight has always been an extremely polarizing figure. As coach of the Indiana University basketball team from 1971-2000, he achieved great professional success. He won over 800 games, including three NCAA championships. Underlying his tremendous achievement on the court was Coach Knight’s authoritarian style of leadership. He ruled with an iron fist and behaved in many ways like an aggressive, unrelenting tyrant. He demanded nothing less than absolute perfection from his team. His primary method of motivating players was negative reinforcement. While he had many critics, Coach Knight’s stellar record also garnered him many supporters who viewed him simply as a benign throwback to the old-school disciplinarians of generations past. His controversial leadership style finally caught up with him in September of 2000 when, while on probation, Coach Knight’s reported physical confrontation with a student led to his termination from Indiana. He was subsequently hired by Texas Tech in the spring of 2001.

Possible Alternatives …show more content…

Indiana clearly attempted to admonish the coach (even disciplining him by placing him on probation) but the school was unsuccessful in curtailing his behavior. That left only two real courses of action. Given Coach Knight’s winning record, the school’s leadership could simply choose to keep him on staff (or hire him in the case of Texas Tech). This would of course involve ignoring the coach’s abrasive and often hostile style of interacting with others. Alternatively, the opposite approach could be taken. Rather than merely focusing on the success of their basketball program, the school could concentrate on promoting a higher standard of conduct by firing (or refusing to hire) Coach Knight. They could begin a search for another basketball coach, one with a less controversial leadership

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