Facing a Legend
March 22, 2005 12:30 PM | General
March 22, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The man sitting on the bench next to John Beilein who probably knows Texas Tech coach Bob Knight best is WVU assistant coach Jerry Dunn.
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| West Virginia assistant coach Jerry Dunn faced Bobby Knight's Indiana teams eight times while he was head coach at Penn State.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The former Penn State coach locked up regularly with Knight’s Indiana teams while the two were coaching in the Big Ten and Dunn says it was always a great challenge preparing his teams to face Knight’s motion offense.
“He is certainly a coach in the ranks that all of us have admired and respected for a long period of time,” Dunn said recently. “As a young coach anytime you have to try and prepare for a coaching legend it’s certainly a challenge. You have to reach down and find answers.”
Dunn coached the Lions from 1996-2003, leading Penn State to two NCAA tournament and two NIT appearances. Dunn faced Knight’s Indiana teams a total of eight times before Knight left IU in 2000.
“I don’t think you can treat it like another game,” Dunn said of his individual preparation in facing Knight. “Certainly you prepare your players for the most part like it’s another game but Coach Knight certainly commands a respect from most coaches in the business and you know that he’s a guy who is so innovative. When you think of motion offense you think of Coach Knight. When you think of man-to-man defense you think of Coach Knight. He brings out the best in the people that compete against him.”
Because both aspects of his team’s play are always so strong, Dunn says you have to spend equal time preparing both offensively and defensively to play Bob Knight-coached teams.
“I haven’t seen his teams play as much as I had when I was in the Big Ten, but he has such a great mind for the game he changes according to his personnel. He’s very creative I think in terms of changing things when he has to,” Dunn said.
Right off the bat Dunn admits there are many similarities with this year’s Texas Tech team and the outstanding Indiana teams he faced while coaching at Penn State.
“I think there are some similarities. Certainly the motion offense … when you look at tape you see similarities there. Also, with their guard play he’s got tremendous perimeter play with the three guards on the floor. I look at some of his Indiana teams that had great guard play and certainly some of those guys may have had bigger names but I think he has very talented play in the three guards he puts in the floor.”
Dunn also detects a lot of similarities between Texas Tech and West Virginia.
“I think both coaches demand perfection and get it because they’re such great teachers,” he said. “Both have a real broad way of thinking about the game and I don’t want to act as if I know them to an extreme, but certainly watching from afar and being a part of this program I’m not so sure you could have two better coaches in one game.”
And like West Virginia, Texas Tech players have embraced their roles and play an unselfish brand of basketball that is enjoyable to watch.
“He has them believing in what they do and they also understand their roles to me and they have fun playing their roles,” Dunn said of Texas Tech. “Obviously that is a big key and when you look at his team his guys have certainly bought into the type of role they have to play each and every night for them to be successful and that’s what I see on tape of his teams.”
Dunn is making his second appearance in the NCAA tournament “Sweet 16” having taken Penn State to the third round under very similar circumstances. West Virginia, a seven seed, defeated a 10 seed and then No. 2-seeded Wake Forest from the ACC to reach the “Sweet 16.” Penn State under Dunn was also a seven seed that knocked off a 10 seed and then upset a No. 2-seeded school from the ACC (North Carolina) to get to the third round.
“Coach Beilein and I were talking I think right before the game on Saturday night and we were comparing the scenario that each team experienced,” Dunn said. “It’s pretty much identical with certain differences but you look at and it’s pretty eerie when you think about it but in a nice way.”
Dunn said the Penn State basketball program hadn’t experienced that kind of excitement in decades.
“It was uncharted waters for us at the time and it had been a long time, maybe 53 years. Certainly that’s not the case here. But it’s a special feeling and it’s something that’s hard to explain. It’s something that I’m very happy that this program and Coach Beilein and our players they are getting to experience that feeling,” Dunn said. “Certainly it is one that you will never forget and I think knowing Coach Beilein and having been around him for the past two years even more than I have been in the past he’s got a lot of ‘Sweet 16s’ left in him.”
