Two Winners; Different Personas

It was the spring of 1976. My Edwardsville basketball 'Tigers' had broken a 20-year State Tournament appearance drought. Our club advanced to the Sweet 16 where we lost to Marion.
Indiana Coach Bob Knight beat John Wooden's UCLA squad in the first game of the Final Four and went on the capture the Title.

I was attending a Midwest (St. Louis) 7-Up Coaches Clinic with some six hundred high school and colleges coaches at the Marriott (Lambert Airport) Hotel. Two of the Clinician Speakers were Bob Knight and John Wooden. As I continue with this recount story, I think the message is perhaps a simple one summed up in the old adage, "There's more than one way to skin a cat." That said, there's more than one way and personality to 'coach.' One would be hard-pressed to find two coaches with more pronounced opposite personalities or coaching styles than Bob Knight and John Wooden, yet both have stellar coaching credentials and successes.
It was during a 'break' between presentations when I Wonder out of the auditorium and noticed a long line of coaches waiting to purchase an autographed copies of Woods's book, 'Pyramid of Success.'
'Saint John' as many of his contemporaries called him was seated at a table signing copies. After several minutes, I saw Coach Wooden stand asking for the remaining coaches waiting in line to give them his attention. As silence settled in, the calm, congenial and classy Wooden spoke, "Coaches, I am humbled by your interest in my book and I will return to this table and continue our visiting but right now one of our colleagues is about to give his presentation. It would be unprofessional if me to keep you from joining me in the auditorium to listen to Coach  Knight. And with that Wooden walked towards the auditorium doors. I walked in,as Knight was being introduced by Clinic Director Bob Murray. As Knight positioned himself at the podium a bevvy news photographers scurried about attempting to get their best photo of the Coach whose Indiana team just won the NCAA Championship. Knight slowly walked out from behind the microphone and 'flipped off' one photographer saying, "If you're with SI, this is for you." I suppose he had some ongoing tift with the magazine.

Different strokes for different Coaches.