You see coaches slapping butts and dishing out high fives. You see athletes huddling around their coaches for a brief talk at crunch time.

Well, that’s not the whole story.

The relationship between players and their coaches often goes much deeper.

For every minute of competition, it’s a safe bet that athletes have spent countless hours conditioning and practicing under the watchful eyes of their coaches. The quantity of time is regulated by the NCAA but the quality depends almost entirely on the coach.

Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight takes a hands-on approach with his players. His denials aside, eyewitness accounts and videotape show him grabbing a player by the neck.

At Northwestern, six players have quit the men’s basketball team in the past year, and some blame the in-your-face coaching style of coach Kevin O’Neill.

But not all relationships are so combative. At NU, player-coach relationships seem to fall under three categories: