Season on the Brink [Paperback]

John Feinstein (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 15, 1989

A Season on the Brink chronicles the basketball season that John Feinstein spent following the Indiana Hoosiers and their fiery coach, Bob Knight.

Knight granted Feinstein an unprecedented inside look at college basketball -- with complete access to every moment of the season. Feinstein saw and heard it all -- practices, team meetings, strategy sessions, and mid-game huddles -- during Knight's struggle to avoid a losing season.

A Season on the Brink not only captures the drama and pressure of big-time college basketball but paints a vivid portrait of a complex, brilliant coach walking a fine line between genius and madness.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Why is A Season on the Brink the bestselling sports book of all time? The answer is easy: Bobby Knight. Audaciously brilliant, exasperatingly volatile, and never boring, the Indiana University basketball coach is Greek drama and comedy neatly wrapped in a red sweater. Like all high-strung people, Knight is particularly interesting when things don't go according to his playbook. John Feinstein had the good fortune to follow Knight and his Hoosiers through a difficult 1985-86 campaign; that Feinstein could watch that season attached to Knight's hip gives A Season on the Brink its sights and its sounds. That such closeness allowed entry into Knight's heart gives the book its fury. The combination is irresistible.

From Publishers Weekly

Washington Post sportswriter Feinstein spent the 19851986 season with the Indiana Unversity basketball team. The season began under ominous circumstances because the 19841985 record had been a losing one, and its highlight (or, more accurately, nadir) had been coach Bob Knight's hurling a chair across the court in the Purdue game. His outbursts are central in this story, and it is not always clear when they are staged or if he is out of control. Feinstein writes that Knight believes in coaching through fear and, although those around him assert that he has learned to be more patient, he will not strike readers as noteworthy for his emotional control. So, despite his legendary loyalty to his friends and his acts of charity, Knight emerges here as an unlovely human being. Photos not seen by PW. First serial to Sports Illustrated. (November
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Fireside edition (November 15, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671688774
• ISBN-13: 978-0671688776
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #738,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( K ) > Knight, Bobby

More About the Author

John Feinstein spent years on the staff at the Washington Post, as well as writing for Sports Illustrated and the National Sports Daily. He is a commentator on NPRs "Morning Edition," a regular on ESPNs "The Sports Reporters" and a visiting professor of journalism at Duke University.His first book, A Season on the Brink, is the bestselling sports book of all time. His first book for younger readers, Last Shot, was a bestseller.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite Possibly The Best Trip To The Brink June 23, 2005

By Irishgirl

Format:Paperback

Growing up, all I knew about legendary college basketball coach Bobby Knight was that he would rant and rave, throw chairs, get arrested, scream in his players' faces and snap at the media. During college, upon taking a class called "Moral Reasoning In Sport," I conducted research on Bobby Knight and got to know Bobby Knight as a person better. The ironic thing was that he stood for good morals but what he practiced as a coach boardered on the immoral at times. I saw how wonderful a man he could be and how badly he could cut a person down. I was fascinated by his style.

My curiosity about Bobby Knight led me to "A Season On The Brink;" a book which describes the full 1985-86 season with Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers. Author John Feinstein, who trooped along with the team complete with notepad and tape recorder, crafts this book in amazing detail with all the trimmings. We are given a real life look at the pressures that college basketball can bring to both coach and players, the trials and tribulations. We are given a taste of how addictive competition is and the emotional effects it can have.

"A Season On The Brink" describes Bobby Knight in a way that begs you to love him and begs you to hate him. Passionate about not failing, Knight pressures himself to succeed and is quick to think himself a failure each time he does not reach certain goals. His characteristic short fuse is always there to represent this. After the disastrous 1984-85 season where he performed the legendary chair throw that got him in trouble, he vowed not to go through a repeat season in 1985-86. He constantly reminded his players of that terrible season as fuel for them to create a better season in '85-'86.

We are literally taken to the "brink" of Knight's sanity at times as Feinstein describes Knight's techniques for getting his team prepared for games. The saga continues before each game for the Indiana players, from studying hours of opponent game tape in "the cave," to "walk-throughs" on the court of what will be conducted in the upcoming game, to appetizing pre-game meals of spaghetti and pancakes in the early morning. Practices are grueling as the players are screamed at by Knight; virtually every four-letter word flying in their faces each time one fails to get a certain rebound, set a certain screen or make a decent pass.

Then of course there are always the Bobby Knight mind games present, a term that Feinstein calls "B.K. Theater." Players like his all-stars, Steve Alford and Daryl Thomas will be targets of his ranting and raving of how horrible they are, how they don't care about playing and how he should never have gotten players like them on his team. You did not want to land in Knight's "doghouse" as Feinstein describes it. In fact, on some of Knight's worst days, the whole team is in the doghouse as he throws all of them out of practices while yelling his questioning of their commitment to the game.

Feinstein does an excellent job of describing the games themselves from the tension in the locker room before the game, during halftime and after the game, to the crowd noise and chants, to the arguments Knight has with officials. As for the players themselves, Feinstein chronicles virutally every key shot, mistake made, rebound and beautiful pass. As you read the book, you'll find your heart pounding as Indiana fights for the lead or fights to keep their lead as the clock quickly winds down to crunch time. You'll find yourself cheering for star players like Steve Alford when he drains another key shot and for Cinderella players like Steve Eyl when he makes two clutch free-throws.

But you'll also feel the despair the players feel if a win has not been grasped or a goal has not been reached, from the chilling silence of the locker room, to Knight screaming and storming out of it only to come back in and talk calmly. Sometimes Knight will resort to taking off to fish or hunt with friends, attending other basketball games or letting the other coaches run the team for a while, while he watches from the stands. And of course there are the situations that the players bring on themselves that creates tension and stress such as Alford's posing for a calander, Daryl Thomas's injuries and Andre Harris's skipping of classes.

You'll find out what Bobby Knight goes through with the media; how his past record continues to follow him and how the media jumps to conclusions and exaggerating. You'll also see Knight's recruiting process (players from high school and junior college) and the ups and downs that come with it. You'll hear Knight's own insecurity through talks with his other coaches over meals at late-night diners, on the plane trips and before games with words like "Do you think we're okay?" "Will we win again?" You will see Knight marking up important words on the chalkboard and trying different defensive and offensive set-ups that he wouldn't have done in the past. In short, you'll hear it, you'll feel it and you'll see it all.

But one thing that Feinstein enables us to see is the loveable Bobby Knight; he Bobby Knight who doesn't forget past players that he has befriended such as Quinn Buckner. The Bobby Knight who sympathized with a deaf kid and gave he and his family tickets to the basketball game. The Bobby Knight whom past players and friends call upon for advice or to have some strings pulled. As Feinstein pointed out in the book, nobody could have a more loyal friend than Bobby Knight. You ask him to do something and he would do just about anything for you. And granted we see plenty of Knight's softer side around his players from Steve Alford's final game as a Hoosier, to the heartfelt goodbye to Delray Brooks who would transfer to another school. And of course you'll really get a taste of Bobby Knight's sense of humor and quick wit. When times are going a little smoother for the team, you'll read of Knight making cracks with his coaches and players.

Feinstein even takes us right down the path to the crucial tournament games with heated rivals Ohio State and Michigan. The read is quite a nail-biting experience. Feinstein follows the chronicled 1985-86 season up with a fairly quick but detailed overview of the 1986-87 team on the way to a championship against Syracuse, where you will again start getting onto the court with the players as the key plays of this amazing championship game are described by Feinstein. Headed by new recruits such as a kid named Smart, the Hoosiers took home a championship and rendered Knight literally hoarse with emotion in the end.

Indeed, if you are a fan of sports and you love the game of basketball; especially the thrill of college basketball, you will love this book. Even for those who may despise Bobby Knight, I would still recommend you give this book a read. It's a wonderful basketball story and a read that gets you right into the heated games and the hardened practices with the team. It could quite possibly be the best trip to the brink a sports fan could want.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The subject makes this book what it is... October 8, 2000

By D. Ross

Format:Paperback

...an outstanding description of a year in the life of the maddeningly complex Robert Montgomery Knight. Using every motivational tool available to him (from psychological ploys, to unconditional compliments to incredibly painful and stressful drills), Knight drives the '86 Indiana Hoosiers relentlessly through a brutal Big Ten season.

With little in the way of athletic talent or height, Knight uses every approach he can devise to extract a moderately successful season from an underwhelming group of players. Knight coaxes, belittles, praises and drives the team forward with a style that is as unique as it is politically incorrect.

As an aside, I just read Jerry Kramer's _Instant Replay_ (his diary of the '67 Packers) and the parallels between Vince Lombardi and Knight are uncanny. In today's environment, it is unlikely that Lombardi would be allowed to coach in the same style he employed then.

Feinstein does a workmanlike job here, letting the subject and the cast of characters do the lion's share of the writing. Feinstein should thank Knight profusely for putting him on the map. For, as he has demonstrated in subsequent books, Knight made this book what it is: a precious historical perspective of a brilliant Coach in a bygone era.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Multi-Dimensional Portrait of a Controversial Subject March 10, 2002

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Feinstein received Coach Knight's permission to have almost total access to the Indiana University basketball program during the 1985-86 season. By then, Feinstein had earned and deserved his reputation as a first-rate journalist. Presumably that was one of the major reasons why Knight was agreeable. Later, Knight was very displeased with the book based on that season. (I am reminded of what Harry S Truman once said when someone urged him to "give 'em hell" during the 1948 Presidential campaign. "I just tell them the truth and they think it's hell.") Two points seem especially important to me as a controversy about A Season on the Brink continues: This is Feinstein's account of what he observed and experienced; also. Knight and everyone else involved (including Feinstein) are entitled to their own opinion as to how accurate (if not "fair") that account is. My own opinion is that prior to and then following the 1985-86 season, Knight's behavior (including public statements) suggests that Feinstein's account is mostly credible. Since his playing days at Ohio State and then coaching at the United States Military Academy, Knight left no doubt that he was an intense competitor who loved the game with passion and studied it with intensity. He arrived at Indiana University a known quantity and was remarkably consistent (for better or worse) throughout the years he coached there.

For every person who views Knight's values with contempt, there is probably someone else who admires those same values. He is obviously a complicated person. Also, as he himself has frequently conceded, he can be contradictory. (Years before the 1985-86 season, Knight observed "I don't agree with everything I do.") Many of the players whom he verbally abused the most were later treated with exceptional kindness and generosity. Feinstein's book suggests various forces which inform and direct Knight's behavior (commendable or otherwise) and I rate this book so highly because Feinstein enables his reader to accompany him during an extended association with Knight and the Indiana basketball program. Whatever your own opinion of Knight, Feinstein's book examines in depth a great basketball coach and demonstrably imperfect human being during a pivotal season more than 15 years ago.

My own opinion is that Knight, then and now, is not so contemptible as many insist nor as admirable as many others insist. Final point: Knight has always overseen a "clean" program and has coached, year after year, young men most of whom have earned earned a college degree. Presumably Feinstein respects that and so should we. Those who wish to know what Knight thinks about all this are urged to read his own book, Knight: My Story, which has just been published.