The story of Bob Knight’s relationship with Tates Locke is one of friendship and second chances.
And it highlights a side of Knight that is rarely discussed.
The softer side.
Locke, who passed this week at the age of 87, was head coach at Army for two years and gave Knight his first college job there as an assistant coach in 1963.
With Knight as his assistant, Locke had a 40-15 record in his two seasons at Army (1963-64, 1964-65). The pair became close friends during their time together at West Point.
And that friendship stood the test of time — and in Locke’s case — tribulations.
Knight took over as head coach at Army in 1965 when Locke left for the top job at Miami of Ohio. And while Knight’s career was on a path towards greatness, Locke was in for a very bumpy ride.
Locke served for 14 years as a head coach at four schools, Army, Miami of Ohio, Clemson and Jacksonville. He also coached in the NBA, and was even considered for the IU job in 1971 before Knight was hired.
But Locke left Clemson in 1975 after the school was charged with numerous recruiting violations and was put on three years probation. He was fired by Jacksonville after three years and by the NBA’s Buffalo Braves after just one.
The once promising career of Locke had seemingly crashed and burned. And with Locke’s cheating taint from his time at Clemson, Knight, who ran impeccably clean programs, seemed like the last person who would try to resuscitate it.
While Knight had won three championships by 1987, Locke had rendered himself unemployable in the world of college basketball.
But the pair had plenty in common.
Knight and Locke were both only children from Ohio with an intense passion for basketball. They were both fiery competitors who favored the same style of play on the hardwood.
And throughout their more than 20 year divergent paths after Locke left Army, they remained close.
Locke was out of coaching for five years when Knight hired him to be an assistant at Indiana prior to the 1987-88 season.
How could Knight look past Locke’s litany of NCAA violations at Clemson?
A 1988 article by Richard Hoffer documenting the Knight and Locke reunion in Bloomington provides a glimpse of the side of Knight most people never knew.
There is this about Knight, though. Says a friend of both coaches: “Bobby would never turn his back on somebody. He’s loyal to the point of a fault. He might not forgive somebody for a long time, but I don’t think he’d ever turn his back on somebody. Bobby probably feels Tates has paid his debt. He’s been out of coaching, had marital and job problems–enough is enough. He’s paid his penalty, time to get on with his life. Let me tell you, if you have Robert Montgomery Knight for a friend, you don’t need a hell of a lot more.”
If Knight hired Locke to help a friend get back on track and revive his career, it worked.
After working as an assistant coach on Knight’s 1989 Big Ten title team, Locke was hired as the head coach at Indiana State. Then ISU President Richard Landini told the New York Times in 1989, it was Locke’s two years with Knight at IU that assured him.
Had Knight not ”brought him close to the heart for two years in a clean program, we wouldn’t have looked in his direction,” Landini said.
Locke doubled the win total in his first season at Indiana State, and he won a pair of conference games after the team won zero in the previous season. Locke also led the Sycamores to a winning home record of 7-6, the first time they were over .500 at home in four seasons. In his second year Locke was named the MVC Coach of the Year.
He was the head coach at ISU until 1994, and would go on to work as a scout and assistant general manager for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Their lives intertwined since they were very young coaches at Army, Knight and Locke passed just over six months apart.
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