Former NCAA basketball coach Bobby Knight will be the first speaker coming to Penn State as a part of the Student Programming Association's 2008-2009 Distinguished Speaker Series lineup.
"We thought he would be a good choice to bring a lot of students out," Student Programming Association (SPA) Chairman of the Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS) Paul Russ said. "He's like the JoePa of basketball."
Knight was a head coach for college basketball at The United States Military Academy, Indiana University and then Texas Tech before announcing his retirement on Feb. 4.
In past years the DSS list has been released all at once, but as of now Knight is the only speaker lined up. Contracts are being drafted with other potential DSS speakers and will be announced as they are finalized, Russ (junior-finance, economics) said.
Knight, who Russ said lectures only at four to five events per year, will speak at 8 p.m. Oct. 27 at Eisenhower Auditorium. Russ said Knight will lecture for about 45 minutes and will follow with a 15-minute question and answer period.
Knight is the winningest coach in Division I men's basketball history and has received the National Coach of the Year honor four times. He also coached the gold-medal winning U.S. basketball team at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
While at Indiana, Knight led the Hoosiers to three NCAA titles.
Aside from his accomplishments, Knight is well known for his quick temper and controversial behavior, including throwing a chair across the court during a game and grabbing players by their jerseys and pulling them off the floor.
The controversial acts led Indiana to fire Knight in 2000.
"Despite all the controversy surrounding him, I would say he is one the greatest inspirational leaders in all of sports," Travis Weidman (senior-accounting) said. "I'm sure hearing how he has accomplished what he has would be invaluable to everyone who takes the time to hear him speak."
Knight is also commonly praised for having one of the highest graduation rates of players in all of college basketball, Russ said.
Russ said Knight will cite experiences from his coaching years to illustrate how he taught his players to succeed both on and off the court and will focus his lecture on how to succeed in every aspect of life.
Tickets will be available free of charge Oct. 13 for students and Oct. 20 to the general public at Eisenhower Auditorium's box office, HUB-Robeson Center outlet and the Downtown Theatre Center.
