In the summer of 1984, Knight had coached perhaps the best amateur team in the history of basketball. He had gone from Olympic hero to national buffoon, from being canonized in editorials to being lampooned in cartoons. Nine months after what might have been his most glorious night in coaching, he had suffered through his most ignominious. The 1984-85 season had been the most painful he had lived through in twenty years as a coach. The only thing everyone knew for certain was that no one could live through another season like the last one.īob Knight knew this better than any of them. In six days, Indiana would begin its basketball season, and no one connected with the team had any idea what the season would hold. A cold rain had been falling steadily all morning and all afternoon, and the wind cut holes in their faces as they raced from their cars to the warmth of the lobby, and then into the locker room a moment later.

November 24, 1985.The day was no different from any other that fall. The result is an unforgettable chronicle that not only captures the drama and pressure of big-time college basketball but also paints a vivid portrait of a complex, brilliant coach as he walks the fine line between genius and madness. Granted unprecedented access to legendary coach Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers during the 1985–86 season, John Feinstein saw and heard it all-practices, team meetings, strategy sessions, and midgame huddles-as the team worked to return to championship form. Twenty-five years after it spent sixteen weeks atop the New York Times bestseller list, A Season on the Brink remains the most celebrated basketball book ever written.

This anniversary edition features an updated package and a new Introduction by Feinstein.

Twenty-five years after it spent sixteen weeks at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, John Feinstein’s A Season on the Brink remains the classic of the genre and an unforgettable chronicle of his year spent following the Indiana Hoosiers and their fiery coach Bob Knight.

A season on the brink by john feinstein