CHICAGO — My first experience with an emperor coach took place more than 25 years ago in Bloomington, Ind., in the court of Bob Knight.
My line of questioning had taken a turn that did not please Coach Knight, something about the integration of the Big Ten. When I made a facial expression in reaction to a response, he said he was finished. “I’m not one of those Big East coaches who needs The New York Times,” he said, then left the gymnasium.
Emperor coaches dot the landscape of intercollegiate athletics, and the longer they have been in place, the more imperially they behave.