Newell says Knight not bad fella
BERKELEY, Calif. – Pete Newell is 91 and acknowledges his memory is no longer what it used to be. Still, the Hall of Fame coach can be caught diagramming plays with his fingers on the tabletop and weighing in on all the differences in today’s game.
Even his buddy Bob Knight has changed for the better, Newell insists.
When the volatile Knight has a run-in with a player, official or even an inanimate object, Newell often receives calls from the media seeking comment. There aren’t as many such phone conversations these days.
“One guy called and said, ‘What do you think of Coach Knight throwing a chair at the officials?’ ” Newell recalled. “I told him, ‘I’m mad at him. If you’re going to throw a chair, pronate your wrist.’ “
Sunday, Knight will receive the 2006 Pete Newell Challenge Career Achievement Award when his Texas Tech team takes on Stanford in the opening game of the Pete Newell Challenge in San Jose. Stanford (5-1) is unbeaten at 8-0 all time in this event, but if the Red Raiders (6-2) can pull off a win it will be No. 876 for Knight – tying him for second on the career list with Adolph Rupp.
California faces 24th-ranked Nevada in Sunday’s second game at HP Pavilion, a matchup of two NCAA tournament teams from last season.
“He’s got a great sense of humor,” Newell said of Knight in an interview this week. “He gets a little angry at times, but not like he used to.”
Knight coached Indiana in the inaugural Pete Newell Challenge in 1997. Knight has long admired Newell, known for being one of the top experts on post basketball and credited for helping develop stars from Bill Russell to Bill Walton to Shaquille O’Neal and others who have attended his prestigious “big men” camps. Newell won an NCAA championship and Olympic gold medal during his coaching days.
He coached only 14 years at San Francisco, Michigan State and California before doctors advised him to stop because of the emotional toll it took on him. His final coaching job came in the 1960 Olympics, when he took a team led by Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Jerry Lucas to a gold medal in Rome.