Legendary college basketball coach Bob Knight (in)famously threw a chair during a game between Indiana and Purdue on February 23. Sunday marked the 40th anniversary so Mike Woodson decided to pay homage to a legend!
However, he needed a booster seat to do so…
The Hoosiers hosted the Boilermakers at Assembly Hall exactly 40 years after the Hoosiers hosted the Boilermakers at Assembly Hall in 1985. On that day, Knight lost his cool in response to a questionable foul call during the second half. It is one of the most iconic moments in college basketball history.
Head referee Fred Jaspers asked the hot-headed coach to calm down. He did not listen so the official hit him with a technical foul, which led him to launch a chair across the court in rage during the free throws.
That was on Feb. 23, 1985. Knight is no longer with us and one of his former players is in the same role he once held.
Woodson — who is currently a serving as Indiana’s lame duck head coach — worked with the university to memorialize the moment during a game against the same opponent on Feb. 23. They brought out one of the original bench chairs purchased when Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall opened in 1971.
And as it would turn out, it was the exact chair that Knight threw onto the floor exactly 40 years ago! There was just one difference. Woodson, who played for The General at Indiana from 1976-1980, needed a booster seat to bring him up to the same level as his assistants.
UPDATE: This is the EXACT chair that Knight threw 40 years ago. Current head coach Mike Woodson, who played for Knight, will sit in it today. https://t.co/VYSAN76bEF
— Angela Moryan (@AngelaMoryanTV) February 23, 2025
The tribute was very cool but the optics of the booster seat definitely dulled some of the shine.
Especially when Indiana basketball’s student manager had to carry the chair around during timeouts.
I don’t know whose idea it was to schedule a road game for Purdue at Indiana on the 40th anniversary of the day Bob Knight threw his chair but I am very glad that it happened. For Mike Woodson to sit in the exact chair, which is worth more than $100,000, is a pretty cool college basketball moment — even if the booster seat ruined some of the optics.