Odd Man Rush and Off the Back: Comparing History’s Most Controversial Coaches

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An NCAA, NIT and Olympic Champion coach on the court. The winningest coach in Big Ten Conference history in basketball. The “General” was respected by his players as he transformed them from ordinary basketball players to tenacious, disciplined and tough beasts on the court. From 1971 to 2008, his opponents feared him and his prodigies on the Indiana University and Texas Tech men’s basketball teams.

Wait… isn’t this supposed to be a hockey article?

The 2003-04 Stanley Cup winning coach. Though he has only won the Cup once, he has a spectacular record of 770-648-165, with 37 ties. He is the ninth-winningest coach in NHL history and the second-winningest out of American-born coaches. Through his 23 seasons in the NHL and his time with the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers, he has become a well-respected pillar in the league.

Bob Knight. John Tortorella. One was a basketball coach, and the other was a hockey coach. Though the court and the rink are different, both coaches are known for their defiant personalities, which equally matched their records.

Tortorella

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John Tortorella has long been known in the league for his outspoken attitude and strong opinion. Though Tortorella achieved his claim to fame on the Lightning’s bench after leading them to their first Stanley Cup Championship, it was during his next tenure with the Rangers that his personality truly began to shine.

Sometimes he would do it to defend his players. For instance during a regular-season game from the 2011-12 season, Rangers center Derek Stepan took a cheap hit in the knee from Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik. Though it was an ugly hit, Stepan was able to play the rest of the game. Orpik received a five-minute penalty, but was not fined nor suspended. Irate, Tortorella yelled to the press that the Rangers would’ve been punished had they done the same to “those two whining stars over there,” referring to Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

“They [the Penguins] whine about this stuff all the time and look what happens,” Tortorella said.

Another instance occurred during the 2012-13 Stanley Cup Playoffs when Tortorella chose to remove Brad Richards from the lineup. During Tortorella’s 2003-04 campaign with the Lightning, Richards had scored 12 goals and 23 points in 26 playoff games and had seven game-winning tallies, which led to him winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Playoff MVP. However, in 2013, Richards was struggling, so Tortorella decided to scratch him. When the press accused Tortorella of blaming Richards, he responded:

“This [Richards] is a Conn Smythe winner, a guy I’ve grown up with, and a guy that I love as a person and a player, but I have to make that decision regarding this… so kiss my ass if you want to write something different. This is not about blaming that guy and I don’t want to pile it on him. It’s my decision and I make it for the hockey club.”

During his time in Vancouver, Tortorella made the headlines in his reaction to a brawl between the Canucks and the Calgary Flames that resulted in 142 penalty minutes and eight ejections in the first three seconds of the game. Tortorella stewed the entire remainder of the first period, but by intermission time, he had reached his boiling point. He headed to the Flames’ locker room to confront their-then head coach Bob Hartley. As a result, Tortorella was suspended for 15 days and missed six games for initiating the incident.

Though he stood up for his players, Tortorella was also known for getting into altercations with his players. In fact, during a game against the Montreal Canadiens, he was relieved of his coaching duties with the Philadelphia Flyers after an altercation with defenseman Cam York, who was benched for the remainder of the game because of the verbal confrontation. Tortorella was entering his third season with the Flyers, who had started to see slow, gradual improvement in their regular-season record during his time with them. However, they had failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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After the altercation with York, Tortorella claimed he wasn’t “really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season,” referring to the Flyers’ losing record. Upon that, the Flyers decided to say goodbye to Tortorella.

Knight

Moving back a few years and from the ice to the court, Bob Knight was the “General” leading his basketball teams to multiple championships and wins. Like Tortorella, Knight had outbursts that often got him into trouble. Yes, he’d scream at players and officials–such as when he publicly chewed out an NCAA official after a first-round March Madness loss in 1995, when the official told the press that Knight wouldn’t be coming to the press conference. But unlike Tortorella, Knight’s most controversial outbursts tended to be more physical in nature, with his most shocking moments being during his time at Indiana University.

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One of Knight’s most notorious moments was from a regular-season game against Purdue. Usually, coaches will disagree with the calls officials make, especially if not in their favor and if the call is against the coach themselves.However, after receiving a technical foul after a heated interaction with an official, the furious Knight picked up his chair and hurled it in the direction of the official and a Purdue player.

Another incident–described by Indiana University sports information directors as an accident–was a headbutt. Knight collided with freshman Sherron Wilkerson during a game against Michigan State in 1994. It is claimed that the headbutt happened after Wilkerson looked up while Knight was close by. However, the incident in fact happened right after Knight pulled Wilkerson because of the mistakes he made that contributed to Indiana University’s eventual loss. Coincidence? Maybe not…

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One of his other notorious incidents took place during a practice in 1997. In 2000, during an interview with Sports Illustrated, Knights former player Neil Reid claimed that Knight had choked him at practice. Knight denied the claim until a video of the incident surfaced. Knight was fined and put on a zero-tolerance policy by Indiana University. However, this marked the beginning of his downfall for the Hoosiers, as he was fired six months later.

Knight passed away in 2023 at 83 years old. Upon his passing, another one of his famous outbursts came to light. During a press conference on Senior Day in 1994, Knight is credited with saying:

“When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want [them] to bury me upside down and my critics can kiss my ass.”

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Over the years, both of these coaches have done much to shape their sports. However, in the opinions of some, and as these instances have shown, their outbursts have lived rent-free more in peoples’ heads than their accomplishments.

Edited by Jenna Mandarano