He is a class A hothead. I used to hate him for those antics. Then I found out how much his players love him and what the graduation rate of his students was. It changed my mind. His players finish college, and in a sport where that is usually secondary to basketball, I respect that.
I felt the same way regarding Lou Holtz for many years, then years ago at the Stanford-ND game I met Mike Trogovic (he was the brother of a neighbor and a coach at ND). He and I spoke about Lou Hotlz and he told a couple of stories that only an insider would know. Bottom line was Holtz loves his players and always has their best interest at heart.
The persona's we see (or think we see), often do not reflect the real person.
yeah, he is (was) a hard guy to figure out.
I hated him, then kind of liked him. Now, I have gotten older and could care less about most sports other than playing them with my kids.
Well a lot of them do love him, but then a fair number left or decided they didn’t want to play for him in the first place. Glen Robinson and Larry Bird come to mind.