by Cathleene Filmore

Created on: August 12, 2010

Long ago, during the decade of Bon Jovi, Patrick Swayze and ‘big hair,’ there lived two notorious basketball coaches.  Each coach benefited from a military education, both became legends of their time, both started as coaches in the military; each coach led his team to astounding victories.  Despite their similarities, these two coaches became very different leaders (Carter, 2007).  This is the tale of how two coaches became legendary men and notorious leaders; one coach submitted to the “process of becoming a leader” and it led him to leadership beyond the court (Northouse, 2010).  One coach was successful in life but not leadership.  This is the story of Coach Bobby Knight of Indiana University and Coach Krzyzewskiville of Duke.

The Tale of Coach Knight

It is difficult to identify the leadership style of coach Bobby Knight among all the tirades and temper tantrums, nevertheless one will try; indeed this author remembers where she was the very day that Coach Knight hurled the notorious chair in response to his anger (Puma, 2007).  As the bell rang for 2nd hour P.E. class, the conversation of the day surrounded the actions of Coach Knight and the inactions of Indiana University to discipline him.  Coach Knight appears to lead by position power with his aggressive, controlling behavior; of the big five personality traits identified in Trait theory, he appears to be high on neuroticism due to his open hostilities (Northouse, 2010).  He manages more than he leads as he micro-manages every area of his player’s lives both on and off the field (Puma, 2007).  He also appears to be high on extraversion, although he does not appear to be either sociable or have a positive energy, he is very high on assertiveness (Northouse, 2010). 

He seems to be high on openness as he is highly informed about his players and his game, and high on conscientiousness due to his decisiveness and his infatuation with being in control (Northouse, 2010).  The article painted a picture of an agreeable Knight from the University perspective because the University believed that he was loyal and cared deeply about his players but all other evidence points to low on the agreeable scale (Northouse, 2010; Puma, 2007).  It was the position of how much Knight cared for his players that Indiana University took for many years in defending their decision to keep Coach Knight amidst his childish behavior and low

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