Patrick Clair Knight[1] (born September 21, 1970) is an American basketball coach. It was announced he had been hired as the men's coach at Marian University in Indianapolis on May 8, 2024. Prior to that he was a scout for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Knight assumed that position on July 1, 2014, and was the Pacers' college scout for the West Coast Region.[2]
 Pat Knight (right) with his father Bob Knight (center) | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 21, 1970 West Point, New York, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1991–1995 | Indiana |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1998 | Wisconsin Blast |
| 1998 | Columbus Cagerz |
| 1999–2000 | Indiana (asst.) |
| 2000–2001 | Akron (asst.) |
| 2001–2003 | Texas Tech (asst.) |
| 2004–2008 | Texas Tech (assoc. HC) |
| 2008–2011 | Texas Tech |
| 2011–2014 | Lamar |
| 2024–present | Marian |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 79–123 (.391) (college) |
| Tournaments | 0–1 (NCAA Division I) 2–1 (NIT) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Southland tournament (2012) Southland East division (2012) | |
Formerly, he was an American college basketball coach. He became the coach of the Lamar Cardinals basketball team on April 5, 2011,[3] but was fired on February 16, 2014. He was previously the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders men's basketball team until March 7, 2011.[4][5] Prior to that, he served in other coaching, administrative and scouting capacities with the NBA, United States Basketball League, International Basketball Association, NCAA, and CBA teams. Knight is the son of Basketball Hall of Fame member Bob Knight, and replaced his father as Texas Tech's 13th head coach on February 4, 2008.[6]
Biography
editPlaying career
editKnight played basketball at Bloomington High School North and New Hampton School, and then he went on to play college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers from 1990 to 1995 under his father, lettering during four seasons. From 1991 to 1993, the Hoosiers posted 87 victories, the most by any Big Ten team in a three-year span, breaking the mark of 86 set by Bob Knight's Indiana teams of 1974–76. During the 1991–92 season, as Knight redshirted, they reached the Final Four. After the season Knight received national press coverage when he was reportedly kicked off the team by his father after being arrested for disorderly conduct at a Bloomington bar, but he returned to the team the following season.
During the 1992–93 season, the 31–4 Hoosiers won the Big Ten and finished the season at the top of the AP Poll, but were defeated by Kansas in the Elite Eight. Knight scored 138 points in 112 games played, a 1.2 points-per-game average.[7] Knight graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 1995 with a degree in sports management.[8]
Coaching career
editKnight was head coach of the Wisconsin Blast of the International Basketball Association and the Columbus Cagerz of the United States Basketball League before taking assistant coaching positions at Indiana, Akron and Texas Tech. He was also an administrative assistant and scout with the NBA's Phoenix Suns and an assistant coach with the Connecticut Pride of the Continental Basketball Association.[8][9][10]
Texas Tech
edit
In 2005, Knight was designated to succeed his father as head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, assuming that role on February 4, 2008, when his father abruptly retired.[11] Pat Knight used the motion offense and man-to-man defense, both of which he learned from his father as a player at Indiana and as an assistant coach.[12]
After taking the head coaching job midseason, his initial two games were defeats on the road. The first was an 80–74 loss to Baylor on February 6, 2008. The second came three days later at Nebraska. Knight's first head coaching win came at home when the Red Raiders upset #18 Kansas State, 84–75, at United Spirit Arena. Going into the game, KSU was in sole possession of first place in the Big 12.[13] The win came on what had earlier been declared Pat Knight Day by Lubbock mayor David Miller.[14] On March 1, 2008, the Red Raiders again defeated the top team in the conference by beating #5 Texas, 83–80, ending a month-long, eight-game winning streak for the Longhorns.[15][16]
The Red Raiders finished the regular season with back-to-back losses, first at Kansas and then to Baylor. At the 2008 Big 12 men's basketball tournament, they added another loss, to Oklahoma State, in the first round. The team did not receive an invitation to play at either the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or at the National Invitation Tournament. Texas Tech did get an invitation to the inaugural College Basketball Invitational, but declined the offer.[17]
In the third game of the 2008–09 season, Tech defeated Division II opponent East Central University 167–115, setting a new school record for most points scored in a game. The previous record of 128 was set in the double overtime victory over Texas on February 20, 1994. The combined total of 282 points also became a new record.[18][19]
During the 2008–09 season, Knight was reprimanded twice for altercations with officials. In a home game against Nebraska, Knight ran onto the court to argue with officials after Texas Tech player Alan Voskuil was called for a foul. After receiving two technical fouls, Knight was ejected from the game. Once in the tunnel, Knight ran back onto the court to continue arguing.[20] Knight was not suspended, but received a public reprimand instead from the Big 12 Conference.[21] Less than a month later, Knight was then suspended one game for his criticism of officiating in a loss against Texas A&M on February 23, 2009.[22][23]
On March 7, 2011, Texas Tech fired Pat Knight after 3 disappointing seasons of conference play.[4][5]
Lamar
editOn April 5, 2011, Lamar University hired Pat Knight as head coach.[24]
On February 23, 2012, during a post-game press conference following a 62–52 loss to Stephen F. Austin State University, Knight berated his team's seniors, saying that, in his opinion, they were the worst group of seniors he'd ever coached.[25] The Lamar squad went on to win the final three games of the season and the Southland Conference East Division Championship. Though Knight never apologized for his comments, he said he was proud of the way his seniors responded after the criticism. "They're the ones that deserve the credit," he said.[26] Knight led Lamar to its first 20-win season since 1988 and a third-place finish in the conference. Lamar would go on to win the Southland Conference Tournament and earn their first NCAA appearance since 2000. Lamar qualified to play one of the "First Four" opening round games, but lost to Vermont. In a post-game interview, Knight tearfully complimented his seniors, calling them the "under-the-bus-gang," referring to his earlier criticism of them.
The following season, after those seniors graduated, Knight led Lamar to a 3–28 season (a .107 winning percentage) in 2012–13.[27] He experienced similar difficulty in 2013–14, coaching the Cardinals to a 3–22 record. With five games still remaining on the season schedule, he was fired on February 16, 2014.[28]
Coaching record
edit| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Tech Red Raiders (Big 12 Conference) (2008–2011) | |||||||||
| 2007–08 | Texas Tech | 4–7* | 4–6 | T–7th | |||||
| 2008–09 | Texas Tech | 14–19 | 3–13 | 11th | |||||
| 2009–10 | Texas Tech | 19–16 | 4–12 | T–9th | NIT Quarterfinals | ||||
| 2010–11 | Texas Tech | 13–19 | 5–11 | T–10th | |||||
| Texas Tech: | 50–61 (.450) | 16–42 (.276) |
* Knight became coach midway through the season | ||||||
| Lamar Cardinals (Southland Conference) (2011–2014) | |||||||||
| 2011–12 | Lamar | 23–12 | 11–5 | 1st (East) | NCAA Division I First Four | ||||
| 2012–13 | Lamar | 3–28 | 1–17 | 10th | |||||
| 2013–14 | Lamar | 3–22 | 2–11 | 12th | |||||
| Lamar: | 29–62 (.319) | 14–33 (.298) | |||||||
| Total: | 79–123 (.391) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
Source:[29]
Personal life
editKnight and Amanda Shaw were married on May 10, 2002.[8]
References
edit- ^ Townsend, Brad (February 10, 2008). "'New' Knight puts friendly face on intensity". Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
- ^ "Pacers hire former Lamar coach Pat Knight as a scout". Archived from the original on 2014-08-13. Retrieved 2014-07-06.
- ^ "Texas Tech Red Raiders fire Pat Knight as basketball coach – ESPN". Archived from the original on 2014-10-26. Retrieved 2011-04-06.
- ^ a b Green, James. "TTU fires basketball coach Pat Knight". KCBD, NewsChannel 11 Lubbock. Archived from the original on 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
- ^ a b "Pat Knight ousted in third season at Texas Tech". ESPN.com. 2011-03-07. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
- ^ Walker, Jeff (2008-02-04). "Knight resigns effective immediately". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Archived from the original on 2008-02-07. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ "Pat Knight College & Pro Basketball Statistics - Totalbasketballstats.com". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
- ^ a b c Player Bio: Pat Knight :: Men's Basketball Archived 2009-03-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Groomed as Successor, Pat Knight Takes Reins – New York Times". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-04-04. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ Sherrington, Kevin (February 1, 1998). "Different as Knight and day". Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on November 22, 2008. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
- ^ "Bob Knight Resigns as Coach of Texas Tech – New York Times". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
- ^ "Pat Knight in 1st full season at Texas Tech".[permanent dead link]
- ^ Coleman, Adam (2008-02-14). "Pat Knight earns first win as head coach". The Daily Toreador. Archived from the original on 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
- ^ Martin, Jeffrey (2008-02-15). "Pat Knight changing culture at Texas Tech". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on 2008-02-17. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
- ^ Fallas, Bernardo (2008-03-01). "Tech halts UT's win streak with 83–80 victory". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2011-05-21. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
- ^ Griffin, Tim (2008-06-03). "Pat Knight proving he's not quite like his father". ESPN. Archived from the original on 2014-03-31. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
- ^ "Knocked Out! Texas Tech's season over after failing to get NIT bid". Archived from the original on 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
- ^ "Men's basketball: Texas Tech 167, East Central 115". Archived from the original on 2009-06-07. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
- ^ "Red Raider men's basketball knocks out East Central in record-setting victory".[permanent dead link]
- ^ Walker, Jeff (2009-02-02). "Big 12 reprimands Knight". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Archived from the original on 2011-03-14. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- ^ "Big 12 Conference Reprimands Texas Tech Men's Basketball Coach Pat Knight". Big12Sports.com. 2009-02-02. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- ^ "Texas Tech coach suspended after ripping refs". Archived from the original on 2011-03-18.
- ^ "Tech's Knight suspended 1 game". ESPN.com. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2009-03-10. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- ^ "Pat Knight hired as Lamar's coach". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
- ^ "Pat Knight's rant may be the news conference of the year". The Dagger: College Basketball Blog. Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
- ^ Chris Dabe (March 2, 2012). "Knight credits seniors for post-rant success". Beaumont Enterprise. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
- ^ "Lamar Cardinals Schedule 2024-25". Archived from the original on 2013-06-27. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
- ^ "Lamar fires coach Knight amid third season". ESPN.com. 2014-02-16. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
- ^ "Big 12 Record Book" (PDF) (Press release). Big 12 Sports. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-11-26. Retrieved 2008-02-04.