#142 - Robert Abbott: The Bobby Knight story—a cautionary tale of unchecked anger, ego, and winning at all costs

The Peter Attia Drive

Peter Attia, MD

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Fitness

4.7 • 7.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2020

⏱️ 134 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Robert Abbott is a six-time Emmy award winner and the director of “The Last Days of Knight,” the behind-the-scenes documentary of legendary coach Bobby Knight, and the events that led to his termination from Indiana University. In this episode, Robert takes us through his investigative journey, which revealed cautionary tales of a winning at all costs environment—how pain often gets left in the wake of unchecked anger, ego, and perfectionism. Robert reflects on Knight’s legacy and extracts lessons in self-awareness and accountability that can be applied to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.

We discuss:

Robert’s career covering sports and interesting athletes (2:30);
Robert’s early impression of Bobby Knight’s controversial persona (10:15);
The journalistic work that uniquely prepared Robert for his Bobby Knight story (13:30);
The cost of excellence in sports—cautionary tales of ‘greatness at any cost’ (19:15);
Knight’s coaching style, waning success in the 90s, and what put him on Robert’s radar (25:30);
Three alarming accounts from a former player (Neil Reed) that launched Robert’s investigation into Bobby Knight (35:15);
The “win-first” environment at Indiana that provided cover for Knight’s toxic behavior (44:45);
Knight’s ego swells—a shift from team-first to “I” and “me” (53:00);
How patience, honesty, and gaining trust with his sources paid off in his reporting on Bobby Knight (1:01:30);
The vicious cycle and anger and shame, and why Bobby Knight is so interesting to Peter (1:08:00);
Releasing the choking tape—Breaking open the Knight story, vindicating his earlier reporting, and the most powerful moment Robert has ever witnessed in his journalistic career (1:20:00);
The bittersweet story of Neil Reed—triumph, PTSD, and breaking the cycle of pain (1:43:15);
Examining Bobby Knight's legacy, and how society can avoid a repeat of similar devastating situations (1:57:30);
Final thoughts on Bobby Knight and the pain left in his wake (2:08:00); and
More.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, welcome to the Drive Podcast.
0:13.0	I'm your host, Peter Atia.
0:14.8	This podcast, my website, and my weekly newsletter, I'll focus on the goal of translating
0:18.7	the science of longevity into something accessible for everyone.
0:22.4	Our goal is to provide the best content in health and wellness, full stop, and we've assembled
0:27.0	a great team of analysts to make this happen.
0:29.4	If you enjoy this podcast, we've created a membership program that brings you far more
0:33.2	in depth content if you want to take your knowledge of this space to the next level.
0:37.3	At the end of this episode, I'll explain what those benefits are, or if you want to learn
0:41.0	more now, head over to peteratiamd.com forward slash and subscribe.
0:46.3	Now without further delay, here's today's episode.
0:49.0	I guess this week is Robert Abbott.
0:53.2	Robert is a documentary filmmaker, he's a director, an amazing storyteller.
0:58.1	He's a six-time Emmy award-winning producer and a director with over 30 years of experience
1:03.7	in sports and entertainment for that matter.
1:05.9	He's the co-creator of E60 on ESPN.
1:09.5	He's also the director of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, The Last Days of Night, looking
1:15.4	at the untold story behind the scenes, story of Bobby Knight, and the events that ultimately
1:21.2	led to his termination from Indiana University.
1:24.9	I wanted to talk to Robert for reasons I will explain in this podcast because you may
1:30.5	be wondering what the heck does this have to do with longevity or anything that has to
1:35.6	do with living better.
	...

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