Knight did not change.Several things.
He wasn’t winning as much, so the things he did weren’t as excused as they were at one time.
Parents, many of whom played sports as kids, didn’t like someone treating their sons that way, and they realized there were plenty of alternatives.
The media was far more pervasive, providing a much greater view into the things Knight was actually doing. Knight would’ve never survived the Russ Brown or Kit Klinglehoffer incidents in the modern media world, but they were non events then.
And players had options. No longer did they have to accept Knight’s way of doing things. There were plenty of coaches who got great results but did so while managing their tempers and overall comportment.
Other coaches changed with the times. Teachers did, too. And parents. Almost everyone did, owing to the evolving norms and standards of society. Knight didn’t, and he was a dinosaur who became extinct.
The kids did.