According to the Associated Press, Texas Tech basketball head coach Pat Knight, son of the legendary Bob Knight, has been fired by the university after three seasons. Knight will still coach the team during this week’s Big 12 tournament but will step down afterwords.
Pat Knight is 50-60 in his first Division I head coaching job and has only had one winning season (19-16 in 2009-10) at Texas Tech. He took over for his father in February of 2008.
According to the initial report Knight seemed to know his departure was inevitable after a 71-68 home loss to Colorado on February 23rd.
“We’ve lost seven games in the last minute,” he said. “This program is competitive. But that’s not for me. I mean, honestly, I’m going to be coaching here, I’m going to be coaching somewhere else. I’ve proven I can coach. I run a clean program, I don’t cheat, my players graduate and we have discipline. So if you don’t want me here there’s going to be someone else that wants me.”
Texas Tech President Guy Baily indicated that it was time for a change…
“I appreciate everything Pat has done for our university, not only as a head coach, but also throughout his career as an assistant,” Bailey said in a prepared statement. “I wish him success and the best moving forward.”
Source: ESPN.com, Associated Press
