When Bob Knight speaks, people tend to listen. His outspoken nature has drawn attention for a number of different reasons over the past several decades. In 2016, he has taken on the battle of promoting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
“I don’t care about politics,” he said. “I think the dumbest thing we have is a Democratic party and a Republican party.”
Despite his hatred of politics, he’s passionate about the past, and future of the United States.
“I was a history major in college and I probably studied every American president since George Washington in one way or another. I’ve given some thought to what is necessary for a president. I think that’s more important than what party he represents. I have never failed to vote, but it has been for who I thought was best for the job. I don’t care whether it’s a woman, a white, a black guy, a man whatever,” he explained.
Knight, who coached Texas Tech basketball for most of the 2000s, is also famous for winning national championships while piloting the Indiana Hoosiers.
Last month, he endorsed Trump and has spent the past several days appearing with the GOP front-runner and speaking in front of thousands. Trump has credited Knight with helping him win the Indiana primary, which essentially secures him the presidential nomination.
“I have to thank Bobby Knight. Boy, Bobby Knight was incredible,” Trump said after the win Tuesday night.
Knight said he just spoke his mind.
“I enjoyed my time in Indiana. I told them that during the time that I was there, we won more games than anybody else in the country won, over that time period. How did we do it? We did it with really smart kids, really tough kids, and kids that really wanted to win. Now, when I think about that, I think about Trump. Smart, tough, wants to win. And he’ll know when he hasn’t done something that was real smart, and he’ll figure out a way to go about it,” Knight said.
Knight praised Trump’s attention to the military and his global business empire as two key elements the other candidates will not be able to bring to the table.
“I was actually in the Army once for two years. I have a great feeling for our military,” he said. “We have a bad relationship right now between the White House and the military. That can’t happen. And it won’t happen with Trump.”
“The thing that really impressed me about him was… He’s not just national, he’s international in all that he does. All around the world,” he added.
Politics aside, Knight also commented on Texas Tech’s hiring of his former assistant coach, Chris Beard.
“I think he’s really worked hard at coaching. Chris has worked hard at understanding the game,” he said before adding a backhanded compliment to the school. “My background is such that I’m somewhat surprised when an institution does something with intelligence.”
He also discussed his patronage of barbecue in West Texas.
“There has never been, in my knowledge of people, a smarter and tougher person than that little gal,” he said of Evie Mae’s Barbecue co-owner Mallory Robbins. “She’s a tremendous credit to this whole community and she throws out like- you like barbeque you better get to Evie Mae’s in about 5 minutes.”
