When Jay Bilas spoke on former Indiana HC Bob Knight's "personality quirks": "He never wore a seatbelt"

College basketball analyst Jay Bilas had a great relationship with late Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight, working together at ESPN.

After Knight died in November 2023, Bilas sat down with Mike Greenberg on ESPN's "Get Up" to discuss the legacy of the legendary Hoosiers coach. Greenberg acknowledged Knight's complicated personality, including criticism of how he did things, and asked Bilas how people should remember him.

Bilas said that he felt the good outweighed the bad, and that although he had some issues with Knight, it did not affect the relationship they had.

"I think the totality of it — he was just a brilliant man, brilliant coach that had flaws," Bilas said (03:46). "And his flaws were as big as his life too. He had these personality quirks that were so interesting. Like, driving with him was a crazy experience. One, I didn’t think he was a very good driver. But the other part was, he never wore a seatbelt."

Bilas added that he would have had to listen to the seatbelt chime go off and joke with him that the government should make people drive with Knight if it wants to know something about anybody, instead of interrogation techniques.

"And he would drink these things — like, he didn’t drink — but he would drink these concoctions," Bilas said.

Bilas, a former assistant coach at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski, shared two pictures with Knight on X after the news of his death was reported.

"He was an American original. I had the honor of knowing him well, and while he wasn’t for everyone," Bilas tweeted.

Jay Bilas believed Bob Knight could have coached any sport effectively

Bob Knight led the Indiana Hoosiers to three national championships, including an undefeated season in 1976. He coached for over four decades, leading teams like Army, Indiana and Texas Tech, and amassing over 900 career wins.

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, who was close to Knight, believed that his coaching prowess was not limited to basketball.

"In my view, he could have coached any sport and coached it just as effectively as he coached basketball," Bilas wrote in November 2023, via ESPN. "He had an analytic mind and had an extraordinary ability to break things down.

"Watching a football or baseball game with Knight was a special treat, as he could pick apart the game just as you would expect him to dissect a basketball game."

Knight died on Nov. 1, 2023, at the age of 83.