Wednesday’s death of former Indiana University coach Bobby Knight brings to mind that he almost was hired at Wisconsin.

This is not about Knight’s three NCAA titles, his Olympic Gold Medal and his controversial ways. Whether his style would work today is great debate fodder, but not here right now.

This is just about how in 1968 a young Army coach named Bobby Knight interviewed at Wisconsin. The Badgers were looking for a replacement for John Erickson, who left to become the General Manager of the expansion Milwaukee Bucks.

The story I’m told is that Wisconsin either offered, or planned to offer the job to Knight.

The news leaked to the Wisconsin State Journal. Knight was so incensed at the leak, and the awkward position it put him in at Army, that he decided not to come to Madison.

He spent three more years at Army before his legendary run at Indiana. The Badgers hired John Powless. We’ll never know for sure if Knight would have had the same success at Wisconsin. Yet it’s impossible not to ponder, especially with Knight’s passing.