His team is 14-2 and ranked 11th in both polls, well above expectations. It is hot on the heels of Michigan State in the Big Ten Conference, putting the Hoosiers in their best position in league play in years. And super recruit Jared Jeffries is on the way next year, giving the future a rosy hue as well.

So why does this miserable man insist on living his life in conflict?

	After this postgame handshake with Steve Alford, it was all downhill for Bobby Knight.

After helping defuse a potentially awkward evening when Steve Alford came to town Tuesday, why did he ruin it all at the very end? Why go on a classless tirade, ripping Alford and the media, when he was minutes away from ending the evening in fine fashion?

Because when you've spent all your life stewing in malice, it's impossible to change your ways.

Knight did a deft thing before Indiana University's toweringly hyped game against Steve Alford and Iowa, defusing a potentially awkward situation by running a backdoor play to greet his former star with a quick handshake. Cynics might argue that this was something out of Sun Tzu's "Art Of War" book, about always taking the enemy by surprise. But Alford appreciated it being handled that way, so that should be good enough for the rest of us.

Then they played the game, and outmanned Iowa played Indiana off its feet before losing 74-71. Then Alford was the picture of grace in the postgame interview session.

Then came Bobby.

He couldn't avoid publicly trashing Alford for, of all things, publicly acknowledging a rift with Knight. Couldn't rise to the occasion. Couldn't match the class Alford showed.

"If Alford wants to sit down and talk with me, instead of holding press conferences and talking about a bunch of (expletive), I'll explain things to him," Knight said.

Most of all, Bob Knight couldn't resist getting in the last word -- and a few hundred more, many profane, as he re-entered the media work room twice to scream at reporters. Myself prominently included.

Upon his first re-entry, the screaming subject was the media attention given to the mutual silent treatment the two gave each other at the Big Ten Media Days in October. This was the event that added to the drama of this game.

"Let me tell you one more thing I'm tired of," Knight ranted. "I had a chance to speak to a total of three coaches (at the meeting). There's seven I didn't speak to. If I've got a chance to speak to someone, I'll speak to them. What about the other six coaches I didn't talk to?"

As Knight spun on his heel one more time, I had to call a timeout. I pointed out that Knight was sitting at an adjoining table.

Not only that, it was one of his former players.

This was not Dick Bennett or Dan Monson sitting across the room. This was Steve Friggin' Alford, the player most responsible for hanging the last of Knight's three national championship banners in Assembly Hall, sitting no more than 20 feet away.

Knight snarled a response, then left the room again.

He came back again. Madder than ever.

Rather predictably, the coach did not like having his explanation questioned. My notes are a little sporadic at this point, since I was the object of the tirade, but these are a few things Knight bellowed:

"He's 20 feet away from me and I'm surrounded by people (media members). I'm sitting next to somebody else, too. There's six guys beside him I didn't get a chance to speak to. ... Why didn't he come speak to me, if it's such a goddamned offense?"

Then I think he told me to find another way of making a living.

Alford told the Indianapolis Star last week that he erred in not breaking the ice himself at the Media Days gathering. He's right. He should have.

But do you think Knight would ever say such a thing?

Never. With Bobby it's always 51 percent for him. At minimum. Life is played on his terms.

Violate that rule -- as Alford clearly has, not bowing and scraping before The General often enough during his rise through the coaching ranks -- and you're in trouble.

The refrain this week from Knight loyalists: "Coach has really been hurt by Alford."

Probably like the former IU player in the mid-1980s who was hurt by having Tampax put in his locker, a loving hint that he was playing soft.

Probably like Mike Krzyzewski felt when Knight brusquely dismissed him after a 1992 Final Four loss to Coach K's Duke team, and then a few years later when Krzyzewski's former coach ignored him before a Preseason NIT game.

Probably like Luke Recker must have felt after that horrific car accident last summer, when the cards, flowers and phone calls came in torrents from all over -- except from his former coach.

The list is endless. Bob Knight has spent a career trampling on the emotions of others, and now we're supposed to cry a river because Alford allegedly hurt his feelings?

Before this event, Knight was "hurt" because Recker left IU without any direct communication with Knight. The fact that Recker has resolutely taken the high road since his transfer, refusing to criticize Knight in any way, doesn't matter. Knight quite likely will hold it against Recker until the Earth stops spinning.

But a public war with Alford would seem to be unwise policy for The General. Most Indiana fans still love Alford, and more than a few of them would love to see him as the next coach of the Hoosiers. Knight picking a fight with Alford is like asking your wife to choose sides in a skirmish with your son.

As always with the hypocritical horde of Hoosierdom, Knight's despotic behavior will be tolerated as long as he's winning. But he'd better not slip up, not with an attractive potential successor sitting so close.

Maybe that's why Knight is angry with Alford. He's threatened by his presence.

But that hardly excuses the mess Tuesday night. Knight takes a splendid game -- and a healing opportunity -- and turns it into a bitchfest.

Much as he's taken a spectacular career and turned it into a series of embittered skirmishes.

Bob Knight is a brilliant man and a great coach doing a great job with this team. But a lifetime supply of malice is never far from overshadowing it.

Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com Insider. To become an ESPN.com Insider, click here.