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 weekโs 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.
โWeโve lost seven games in the last minute,โ he said. โThis program is competitive. But thatโs not for me. I mean, honestly, Iโm going to be coaching here, Iโm going to be coaching somewhere else. Iโve proven I can coach. I run a clean program, I donโt cheat, my players graduate and we have discipline. So if you donโt want me here thereโs going to be someone else that wants me.โ
Texas Tech President Guy Baily indicated that it was time for a changeโฆ
โI appreciate everything Pat has done for our university, not only as a head coach, but also throughout his career as an assistant,โ Bailey said in a prepared statement. โI wish him success and the best moving forward.โ
Source: ESPN.com, Associated Press