By Brian T. Smith
Assistant Sports Editor / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: February 5, 2008

Love him, hate him.
Adore him, deplore him.
But no matter how you view him, there will never be another Bob Knight.
Knight’s sudden departure from the world of college basketball leaves a void that will never be replaced.
Knight was old-school before “old-school.”
He was a master. A coach’s coach. His coaching style oozed devotion, drive and desperation.
He was also a villain.
His well-documented antics have been replayed to the point of nausea.
Knight was hard to love and easy to hate.
The 902 wins are amazing.
The fact that he lasted so long and fought so hard is amazing.
But here’s what really stands out: Knight called it and coached it and talked it like he saw it.
And in the increasingly plastic/scripted/fake/overly rehearsed and overly thought-out world of collegiate sports, Knight was one of the last true and real characters remaining.
Now, he’s gone.
There will never be another Bob Knight.
And college basketball will never be the same.