'A man's man': Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl reacts to Bob Knight's death
AUBURN — Most known for his tenure with the Hoosiers, former Indiana, Texas Tech and Army basketball coach Bob Knight passed away Wednesday at the age of 83, his family announced.
Knight coached the Hoosiers from 1971-2000, where his career crossed paths with current Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl. Pearl was an assistant coach at Stanford from 1982-1986, and Knight's son, Tim Knight, was a manager for the school.
Pearl then took a job as an assistant with Iowa in 1986, sharing the Big 10 with Knight for the better half of the next decade.
"At the time, '86, they were rolling," Pearl said Wednesday after his team's 102-66 exhibition win over Auburn-Montgomery. "... The interesting thing about leagues is leagues take on the personalities of the best coaches in the league, so the Big 10 took on the personality of (former Purdue coach) Gene Keady and Bobby Knight.
"They were two of the more dominant programs. Whether it be the motion offense or the physical defense or just how they play, Bob Knight set the tone. That tone is still the way the Big 10 plays: Physical, fundamental. Truly one of the all-time great, legendary coaches. A man's man."
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Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: How Auburn basketball's Bruce Pearl was connected to late Bob Knight
