John Feinstein, author of ‘A Season on the Brink,’ dies at 69

John Feinstein, a columnist for The Washington Post and an author of 48 books, died at age 69 on Thursday. The cause of death may have been a heart attack, according to his brother Robert Feinstein. 

Feinstein wrote “A Season on the Brink” in 1986, a book chronicling the 1985-86 Indiana men’s basketball season coached by Bob Knight. The Hoosiers, led by Steve Alford, finished 21-8 and second in the Big Ten standings. 

Throughout the book, Feinstein documented Knight’s approaches to coaching and the human aspects of the program. He spent the whole season with the team, making use of the unfiltered access Knight granted him. 

Feinstein wrote an article after about Knight in the Post after the head coach’s death. 

“I can’t possibly overstate how important Knight was in my life,” Feinstein wrote. “The access he gave me for “A Season on the Brink” allowed my first book, about Indiana’s 1985-1986 season, to become a No. 1 bestseller, which has allowed me to pick and choose book topics for the past 38 years. Not once did Knight back away from the access, even during some difficult moments for his team.” 

Feinstein also discussed his tempestuous relationship with Knight. 

“Although he didn’t speak to me for eight years after the book’s publication — upset, of all things, with seeing profanity in the book — he eventually decided to “forgive” me, and we had a distant though cordial relationship for the rest of his life,” Feinstein wrote. 

Feinstein was a full-time reporter for the Post from 1977-91, and he remained as a columnist for the publication. On Thursday morning, Feinstein published a column about Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo. 

Feinstein is a member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. In 2013, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame gave him the Curt Gowdy Media Award, an annual honor bestowed to the best basketball writers and sportscasters.