Bobby Knight and American Manhood

What makes a man?

The retirement of Bobby Knight this week occasioned some thoughts on this question from S.T. Karnick at his blog. I generally agree with S.T.’s opinions, but on this topic he leaves unspoken some important points that must be made explicit when we talk about the shape of masculinity in a feminized, therapeutic culture.

S.T. thinks much of the hostility directed toward Knight by sportswriters and others comes from the impulse to deride masculine character traits that permeates American culture.

He writes:

Coach Knight's imposing physical presence (6'5" and very burly, with strong brow and piercing eyes), directness, impatience, refusal to compromise or apologize if he thinks he's right, self-assurance, intolerance of sloth and excuse-making, and the like are all strongly masculine qualities, and just happen to be prominent among the types of characteristics most consistently derided in our society today.

Of course I don't excuse chair-throwing, physical violence toward innocents, public vulgarity, and other actions that could seriously harm other people. But let's be realistic for at least a moment: slapping a player on the back of the head during practice—or even grabbing him by the neck, the act that got him fired from Indiana University—isn't going to hurt the young man, and might just help knock some sense into him.

If that sounds archaic and even a bit mad, that just shows how far our culture and society have gone in denying reality in the attempt to rid our society of independence, courage, frankness, leadership, firmness, and other personal characteristics that threaten the power of the state.

The reality is that young men tend to be stubborn and stupid and respond most readily to the prospect of physical force and promises of instant rewards. A coach who can't cuff his players around is severely handicapped in motivating his players.

Well, maybe.

What S.T. doesn’t mention is that as much as Knight’s style has been a throwback to a less feminized age, his behavior is equally a product of our time.

To be sure, Knight’s behavior on the court has not been feminized, but neither has Knight been a model of manhood. Knight has certainly displayed “directness, impatience, refusal to compromise or apologize if he thinks he's right, self-assurance, intolerance of sloth and excuse-making” over the years. But, while these qualities may be masculine, they are not indicative of mature manhood. His behavior has more often been that of a powerful man confused by a culture that has denied him the moral guidance necessary for growing up, and thus his on- and off-court displays connote boyishness, more than full-blown manhood.

Mature manhood requires the presence of the masculine qualities Knight possesses, and that those qualities be refined and disciplined by the demands of moral and religious traditions. It’s hard to make the case, for example, that a biblical understanding of virtuous manhood involves the cultivation of “impatience”.

Knight’s behavior, including the repeated low level of violence that S.T. seems to find acceptable, indicate a lack of self-control on Knight’s part that radiates immaturity. It is self-control, especially in tense and demanding situations, that seems to model the biblical understanding of manhood as much as anything other quality. To overlook this lack in Knight is to fail to be as clear as necessary about his faults.

Knight’s behavior has cut against the grain of the feminizing forces of our culture, but is right in line with its increasingly secular tone. In a culture that has lost its moral center, all we have to judge our behavior by is whether it brings success. Knight’s boorish behavior was tolerated because he won. Any coach with a less successful record who employed these antics would be ousted immediately. Using success as a defense for weak character is not the mark of a man.

More than he represents a lingering model of old-fashioned manhood, Bobby Knight represents the perversion masculine qualities undergo when the culture where they emerge has been emptied of its moral guts. These qualities do not disappear, but fail to bloom into the form of disciplined manhood as we see in Knight’s case. Men are permitted to remain boys, especially if their behavior “works” in some pragmatic sense. And this is the tragedy we see everywhere there are young males today: we have modeled for them only how to “win” in their worldly pursuits and not what it takes to be a champion.

Comments

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http://texasswimming.blogspot.com/2008/02/knight-out-knight-in.html

[S. T. Karnick]

Good points, Dean. I agree with your argument about the importance of self-control--as I have regularly made the same point in various articles and on The American Culture. The '60s generation turned it into a curse word--branding it "uptight," etc., and we really have to get over that.

Obviously Mike Krzyzewski, for instance, is a better model for young people than Coach Knight is, and there are a great many other possible examples. However, until we have a general social and cultural appreciation of masculinity, the only masculine men who will tolerated are those who are able to keep their flaws utterly private.

Few of us are capable of such perfection, alas, which means that masculinity in general will continue to be denigrated. Hence, as I note in my article in the current issue of Salvo (http://www.salvomag.com/new/articles/salvo4/4karnick.php) magazine, most of the really masculine men many young people will see are those who don't care what other people think, and who consequently exhibit the very lack of self-control that you correctly identify in Coach Knight, and are thus inclined toward thuggish behavior.

Thus while it is indeed important for the culture and society to renew respect for self-control, such an effort will not have a chance at success unless masculinity is also honored.

[JimmyV]

I know nothing of this man, since I don't follow sports, but it seems highly ironic for someone named Knight to act so unchivalrous (if that is a word).

[Catherine R.]

Yes, boys with man bodies are more common than ever. I think a step in the right direction would be abolishing all video games. It says something very pathetic about our culture of men that the average age of man who supports the billion dollar video game industry is what, 35?