What Do We Love About Abusive Coaches

Nov. 19, 2012; Brooklyn, NY, USA; ESPN analyst and former Indiana Hoosiers head coach Bobby Knight before the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at the Legends Classic at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Frank Kush, Bobby Knight, Rick Majerus.  They have two things in common, they were horribly abusive coaches and they won at an extremely high level.  And they have a third thing in common as well, their abusiveness essentially forced them out of their jobs.  Kush was fired after punching a player and interfering with the investigation.  Rick Majerus was forced out after Chris Hill found Urban Meyer, giving him enough cover to not renew Majerus’ contract after Rick among other things called deaf player Lance Allred, an embarrassment to crippled people.

And Bobby Knight’s story is essentially legendary.

Yet people at each school love that coach.  At Utah, we’re supposedly going to name the new basketball practice facility for Rick Majerus even though we’ve never really honored our greatest coach, Jack Gardner.  And there is a lot of support for this despite the fact that (and I won’t do it here) that Rick Majerus did as much to destroy any legacy he might have had at Utah as he did to build it.

In fact the biggest compliment many of the lovers of Larry is they say that this or that is just like when Majerus was here.  Although to Larry’s credit, I don’t think he’s pulled his dick out and put it in a players face to demonstrate how long six inches is.

So now and again I might visit this topic, to see what it is about these coaches that makes people love them despite so many horrible things going on.

Something to think about