Former college basketball coach Bob Knight talks to a group of coaches at the IBCA Coaching Clinic in Des Moines on October 21. Photo courtesy of Rick Dillinger/ADM Girls Basketball Twitter.
Former college basketball coach Bob Knight talks to a group of coaches at the IBCA Coaching Clinic in Des Moines on October 21. Photo courtesy of Rick Dillinger/ADM Girls Basketball Twitter.

The basketball coaches at Adel-Desoto-Minburn High School got an opportunity to learn from a former giant in the collegiate game. The 2017 Iowa Basketball Coaches Association clinic was held October 21 and 22 at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines and both ADM girls basketball coach Rick Dillinger and boys basketball coach Aaron Mager were in attendance. The two-day event featured speakers from multiple collegiate programs, including the founder of the motion offense, Bob Knight. Knight, nicknamed The General, has won over 900 men’s college basketball games with Army, Indiana, and Texas Tech before his retirement in 2008.

Tiger girls basketball coach Rick Dillinger says this wasn’t the first time he’s listened to Coach Knight talk basketball. “I’ve listened to Coach Knight before up in Minneapolis.” Dillinger said, “It was outstanding, and it was all about man to man defense. It’s always fun to listen to him, he’s very opinionated, and an outstanding coach of course.”

ADM boys basketball coach Aaron Mager said the 77-year-old Knight was starting to show his age a bit. “It was pretty basic (information), and a lot of repetitive statements,” Mager said, “It was pretty difficult for a lot of the coaches (to understand). I think, out of respect, for the body of work he’s put together, and the persona that is Bob Knight, everybody was there, and no one walked out.”

The other college coaches who spoke at the IBCA Coaches Clinic include Drake men’s basketball coach Niko Medved, the University of Alabama at Birmingham women’s coach Randy Norton, and Southwest Community College men’s basketball coach Todd Lorensen.