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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
A Multi-Dimensional Portrait of a Controversial Subject, March 10, 2002
Feinstein received Coach Knight's permission to have almost total access to the Indiana University basketball program during the 1985-86 season. By then, Feinstein had earned and deserved his reputation as a first-rate journalist. Presumably that was one of the major reasons why Knight was agreeable. Later, Knight was very displeased with the book based on that season. (I am reminded of what Harry S Truman once said when someone urged him to "give 'em hell" during the 1948 Presidential campaign. "I just tell them the truth and they think it's hell.") Two points seem especially important to me as a controversy about A Season on the Brink continues: This is Feinstein's account of what he observed and experienced; also. Knight and everyone else involved (including Feinstein) are entitled to their own opinion as to how accurate (if not "fair") that account is. My own opinion is that prior to and then following the 1985-86 season, Knight's behavior (including public statements) suggests that Feinstein's account is mostly credible. Since his playing days at Ohio State and then coaching at the United States Military Academy, Knight left no doubt that he was an intense competitor who loved the game with passion and studied it with intensity. He arrived at Indiana University a known quantity and was remarkably consistent (for better or worse) throughout the years he coached there. For every person who views Knight's values with contempt, there is probably someone else who admires those same values. He is obviously a complicated person. Also, as he himself has frequently conceded, he can be contradictory. (Years before the 1985-86 season, Knight observed "I don't agree with everything I do.") Many of the players whom he verbally abused the most were later treated with exceptional kindness and generosity. Feinstein's book suggests various forces which inform and direct Knight's behavior (commendable or otherwise) and I rate this book so highly because Feinstein enables his reader to accompany him during an extended association with Knight and the Indiana basketball program. Whatever your own opinion of Knight, Feinstein's book examines in depth a great basketball coach and demonstrably imperfect human being during a pivotal season more than 15 years ago. My own opinion is that Knight, then and now, is not so contemptible as many insist nor as admirable as many others insist. Final point: Knight has always overseen a "clean" program and has coached, year after year, young men most of whom have earned earned a college degree. Presumably Feinstein respects that and so should we. Those who wish to know what Knight thinks about all this are urged to read his own book, Knight: My Story, which has just been published.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
The subject makes this book what it is..., October 8, 2000
...an outstanding description of a year in the life of the maddeningly complex Robert Montgomery Knight. Using every motivational tool available to him (from psychological ploys, to unconditional compliments to incredibly painful and stressful drills), Knight drives the '86 Indiana Hoosiers relentlessly through a brutal Big Ten season.With little in the way of athletic talent or height, Knight uses every approach he can devise to extract a moderately successful season from an underwhelming group of players. Knight coaxes, belittles, praises and drives the team forward with a style that is as unique as it is politically incorrect. As an aside, I just read Jerry Kramer's _Instant Replay_ (his diary of the '67 Packers) and the parallels between Vince Lombardi and Knight are uncanny. In today's environment, it is unlikely that Lombardi would be allowed to coach in the same style he employed then. Feinstein does a workmanlike job here, letting the subject and the cast of characters do the lion's share of the writing. Feinstein should thank Knight profusely for putting him on the map. For, as he has demonstrated in subsequent books, Knight made this book what it is: a precious historical perspective of a brilliant Coach in a bygone era.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Major College Basketball and Bob Knight--Raw and Uncensored, September 5, 2002
As a huge sports fan, I couldn't wait to read this book and get an inside look into a college basketball season with Bob Knight and his Indiana Hoosiers. John Feinstein pulled off a minor miracle by convincing Knight to allow him to follow the whole team, players and coaches alike with his notepad and tape recorder throughout the 1985-86 season.What you'll see is an inside look at the trials and tribulations of a big-time college basketball team and the sometime circus atmosphere created by their tempermental coach. The book starts off with a quick recap of the 1984-85 season which included the now famous chair throwing incident. Then you are lead through the offseason, training camp and regular season of 1985-86. Feinstein does a good job of keeping up the pace despite giving detailed recaps of every season's game. He ends the book with a brief summary of the national championship season of 1986-87. There's no doubt who the center point of the whole book is: That of course is Bob Knight. I'm not an Indiana hoosier fan but I certainly was well aware of all the incidents Knight's been involved in over the years including the chair throwing, head butting, and choking. I can't say that my opinion of him changed at all after reading this book. The best word I can use to describe him is: complex. In this book, you'll read how he verbally abuses players, especially Daryl Thomas. He'll play mind games like he did with Steve Alford, the team captain and best player. He'll be upbeat about the performance of the team one minute, and then the next he'll say how the team is horrible and will never win with these players. Warning: there is some profanity, but the f-words are "blanked" out. But at the same time, this coach is extremely loyal to his players after they graduate. He'll do favors such as help get them jobs, etc. One of the most touching moments in the book is when he meets a family where the father and son are deaf-mute. Is his good side good enough to put up with his other nonsense? You be the judge! Supposedly, BK was NOT very happy with the book. I don't know what he expected, but Feinstein clearly didn't take sides or had some kind of adgenda to [thrash] Knight. This is must read for all sports fans, Indiana Hoosiers or not.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Raw, harsh, honest, and fair portrayal of the 'The General', November 4, 2002
There are few people in the athletic arena who evoke a greater difference of emotions than Robert Montgomery Knight, aka Bobby Knight. Knight, as coach of the University of Indiana Hoosiers, was a profane, loud-mouthed, temperamental individual who is frequently at odds with the administration and the media. He was also a hard-driven, fierce competitor who demanded the best out of his players and got it. This man, a walking contradiction, able to be intelligent and charming, but unable to control his temper, was unswervingly loyal to those around him and demanded the same in turn. He got it. Almost all who played for, or coached with, Knight still feel the strong bond with him that developed during their time there. The controversy of the last couple of years that led to his dismissal at the University of Indiana and subsequent hiring by Texas Tech University invites an examination of what drives the man. John Feinstein's seminal work "A Season on the Brink" does just that.
In 1985, Bobby Knight and Indiana were coming off the worst season in his tenure. It involved a number of blow-ups by Knight (including the famous chair-throwing incident) and the first time that a Knight-led team finished out of the NCAA tournament. After such a season where Knight was even questioning whether or not to continue coaching, it seemed highly unlikely that he would be receptive to Feinstein's project idea. Yet, surprisingly, Knight not only agreed to it, but he gave Feinstein unlimited to access to himself, the players, and all facets of the Indiana basketball program for the entire 1985-86 basketball season.
Given the degree of access granted, "A Season on the Brink" delivers in grand fashion on the promise of showing the true inside story of Indiana basketball and Bob Knight. What immediately jumps out at the reader, and remains a theme throughout the rest of the book, is that Knight is not the man of extremes as both supporters and detractors portray him. He is obviously a very-flawed man. Yet, he's extremely passionate about the sport he coaches and the players he affects. He hates losing more than anything in the world. Well, almost more than anything. Dishonesty and cheating upset him even more. Thus, more than just winning basketball games, Knight views his job as a way to prepare young men for life beyond college and beyond the court. Knight's almost perfect graduation rate for players is a testament to that. The strong bond those in his world feel towards him is another. Behind all the rants and yellings during games and in practices is the burning desire by Knight to see these young men become the best they can possibly be.
As this book shows, Knight frequently likes to use mind games (know as 'BK Theatre') to get through to his players. Much of his ranting is, indeed, an act. If his players were slacking off in practices, he would call them the worst bunch of players in the country and kick them off the court only to bring them back a short while later to resume the practice. Message sent! It was not uncommon for individual players, especially the starters, to draw Knight's ire and be called the worst player ever to play that position in Indiana history. Steve Alford, the All-American guard on that team (and the one that won the National Title a year later) would frequently be told this and that some player who previous played that position would never make the mistakes Alford did. Interestingly, enough, asking any of these former players about that and it would turn out that Knight said the exact same things to them.
The season was filled with ups and downs. There were dramatic highs like beating Notre Dame, and dramatic lows, like getting hammered by Michigan with the Big 10 Title on the line. Through this journey, the true Bobby Knight is revealed, warts and all. Yet, even as profane and belligerent man as he would seem on the surface, Feinstein's portrayal shows to be much more than that. He's human and he has his faults, but every one of his players would go to hell and back for him. That is the REAL Bobby Knight, and "A Season on the Brink" is a tribute to him in that regard.
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Extraordinary look at Knight -- it resonates a decade later, March 9, 2002
I read this book more than 10 years ago and it sticks with me even today. This is a masterpiece that shows the mind, ethics, mania, honor, despite, loathesomeness, and honesty of Bob Knight. The same man who screamed at his kids until his face matched his ubiquitous red sweater is the same man who paid for Stew Robinson's final tuition credits (after the scholarship ran out) from his own pocket. The same coach who is mournful or enraged or both after a loss was preternaturally calm after his '86-87 team won the NCAA title stressing how great it was for the kids.The dichotomies of Knight are fascinating, and occasionally frightening. I was a Knight-hater before I read the book. I don't hate him, nor would I pretend to understand him. His self-view is highly nuanced and the depiction Feinstein gives reflects the complexities and contradictions of Knight, his program and the pressures of college basketball. This book is outstanding because of how much Feinstein reveals, perceives and transmits to the reader.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Great Account of An Ogre, February 28, 2002
Bob Knight is exposed by this account of the 1985-1986 season to embody all of the lousy qualities his detractors accuse him of possessing. He is at times, and not necessarily in the alternative, a bully, a crybaby, a whiny baby, a moody child, incapable of human interaction, and driven beyond sanity. He routinely reduced his players to tears, kicked them off the team, threw the basketball in their faces, humiliated them in front of one another, and played alongside them in scrimmages in a style much rougher than he would allow reciprocated. He played mind games like telling his players not to dress for a game or not to show up for a road trip, expecting them to figure out whether or not he was serious. I read this book to see if it softened my preconceived notion of Knight. It didn't. There were certainly times when I felt like Knight had gotten a bad rap, but there were more times that he got away with something he shouldn't have. He absolutely made his own bed, and yet would cry oppression when asked to lay in it. This book was aptly named, because Knight was always on the brink of getting thrown out of the program, and/or of realizing his fear of suffering the same fate as Woody Hayes (the Ohio State football coach who struck an opposing player at the end of the 1978 Gator Bowl). [Of course, Knight would eventually leave the Indiana basketball program in exactly this ignominious fashion after this book's timeframe.] In slight fairness to Knight, I admit it was courageous of him to allow Feinstein to trail him in a manner that leaves nothing to the imagination. This story is absolutely a no-holds-barred account that Knight must have recognized as having enormous potential to make him look like a jerk. To Feinstein's enormous credit, while reading this book, you never knew he was there; the is chronicle was as unbiased as it was free from the author's ego or influence. Feinstein's writing has a great pace, too, keeping each game's (and the season's) outcome a mystery until the end. You really went through the ups and downs with the team, as if watching the season unfold in real-time.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Quite a Knight, December 30, 2001
This book is one of the best-selling sports books of all time for a simple reason-it is one of the best sports books ever written. For one year, Bob Knight allowed John Feinstein unbelievable access to his practices, games, locker room talks, private meals, and all other facets of his life, and the author did a wonderful job putting all of his evidence together to describe the maniacal coach and the world of top-level college basketball. Coach Knight is a character who could not be imagined by a novelist because he is too complex. Throughout the book he proves to be one of the most loving, hating, bullying, charming, objectionable, and compassionate men you have ever encountered. His personality alone is a fascinating story and Feinstein does an excellent job of presenting all sides of the story to readers, but the story also includes the players, coaches, university officials, friends, and enemies who live within Knight's sphere, and each of them adds their unique and interesting perspective to the book. By focusing on the ups and downs of the 1985-86 Indiana University basketball season, Feinstein is able to put all of these people into context and makes an excellent drama out of what is on the surface little more than a sports biography. This is a great book about a brilliant coach and no true college basketball fan should miss the chance to read it.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Great Writing; Too Bad I Don't Like Knight Anymore, January 6, 1999
Feinstein is an excellent writer, and I'm a rabid fan of his, so I have to give this book 4 stars; he covers the characters and environment of IU basketball with such care and attention to detail, that you can't help but enjoy the text. I was a Knight fan before I read this book (how can you NOT like a guy that's impassioned enough to chuck a chair across a court?), but now I'm not so sure. That's the only drawback : maybe the characters are not so likable afterall....
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Beautifully written, June 22, 2001
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