Bob Knight greets fans, signs book

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Bob Knight, the former Hoosier coach, now broadcaster and author who forged his legend in Bloomington, met his fans at the NCAA Hall of Champions to debut his second book, titled, “The Power of Negative Thinking.”

Longtime Bloomington Herald-Times sportswriter Bob Hammel, the man who co-wrote it, said the unique title is all Coach Knight

“The title itself is a starting point, which is totally different from most books. I always wrote the book then thought about a title afterwards, but Bob came up with that one. And the more we got into it, the more we stopped laughing about it and realized there was something serious there. That’s how he coached, to remove the things that would beat him,” said Hammel. “That was the first objective every time they went into a game, what could beat us, then take the negatives out of it and then the positives come.”

Knight, who turned down local interviews, turned up the charm with his fans, including a friend of former Hoosier Greg Graham, now coach at Warren Central.

“Greg stood out in a team meeting during the NCAA tournament one year. We had just beaten Florida State, and it was the day before we played UCLA,” said Knight. “I told the team I thought we needed to rest and not practice. Greg raised his hand and said I agree. I told him you did two things right. One, you agreed with the coach. Two, we don’t need to practice, and that was big. Most players would never say that to their coach but I give him credit being one of the first guys to do it, and other soon followed.”

The impact Knight had on winning three championships in Bloomington will never change, but he’s yet to return to the Assembly Hall, and that ice may never melt.

“The bitterness of being fired it still there. It’s a complex situation, and I hope someday it’s resolved,” said Hammel.