Patrick Clair Knight (born September 21, 1970) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

. He is a scout for the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). Knight assumed his position on July 1, 2014, and is the Pacers' college scout for the West Coast Region. Formerly, he was an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. He became the coach of the Lamar Cardinals basketball team on April 5, 2011, but was fired on February 16, 2014. He was previously the head coach of the

Texas Tech Red Raiders men's basketball The Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball team represents Texas Tech University in basketball. Texas Tech competes in NCAA Division I, and has been a charter member of the Big 12 Conference since its first season in 1996. The team previously compet ...

team until March 7, 2011. Prior to that, he served in other coaching, administrative and scouting capacities with the NBA,

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

International Basketball Association The International Basketball Association (IBA) was founded in 1995 by a group of businessmen led by Tom Anderson. The original owners of franchises in the league were George Daniel (Black Hills Posse-Rapid City, SD), John Korsmo, Al Gardner, and A ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

, and CBA teams. Knight is the son of

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

member

Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

, and replaced his father as Texas Tech's 13th head coach on February 4, 2008.

Biography

Playing career

Knight played basketball at

Bloomington High School North Bloomington High School North (often referred to as BHSN or simply North) opened in the fall of 1972, is a comprehensive four-year public high school located in the northern part of Bloomington, Indiana, United States. The school is accredited by ...

and then went on to play

for the Indiana University Hoosiers from 1990 to 1995 under his father, lettering during four seasons. From 1991–93, 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. During the 1992-93 season, the 31-4 Hoosiers won the Big Ten and finished the season at the top of the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

, but were defeated by

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

in the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...

. Knight scored 138 points in 112 games played, a 1.2 points-per-game average. Knight graduated in 1995 with a degree in sports management.

Coaching career

Knight 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 Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

and Texas Tech. He was also an administrative assistant and scout with the NBA's

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

and an assistant coach with the

Connecticut Pride The Connecticut Pride (From 1993-94 the Hartford Hellcats) were an American professional basketball team based in Hartford, Connecticut that was a member of the Continental Basketball Association. They played in Hartford from 1993 to 2000, primar ...

of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

.Player Bio: Pat Knight :: Men's Basketball

Texas Tech

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. Pat Knight has used the

motion offense A motion offense is a category of offensive scheme used in basketball. Motion offenses use player movement, often as a strategy to exploit the quickness of the offensive team or to neutralize a size advantage of the defense. Motion offenses are dif ...

and

man-to-man defense Man-to-man defense, or man defense, is a type of defensive technique used in team sports such as American football, association football, basketball, and netball, in which each player is assigned to defend and follow the movements of a single pla ...

, both of which he learned from his father as a player at Indiana and as an assistant coach. 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 Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. Knight's first head coaching win came at home when the Red Raiders upset #18

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

, 84–75, at

United Spirit Arena United Supermarkets Arena (previously the United Spirit Arena) is a multipurpose arena on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The 15,300-seat arena opened in 1999 and is home to the Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball, Texas Te ...

. Going into the game, KSU was in sole possession of first place in the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

. The win came on what had earlier been declared Pat Knight Day by

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northwe ...

mayor David Miller. On March 1, 2008, the Red Raiders again defeated the top team in the conference by beating #5

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, 83–80, ending a month-long, eight-game winning streak for the Longhorns. The Red Raiders finished the regular season with back-to-back losses, first at

and then to Baylor. At the

2008 Big 12 men's basketball tournament The 2008 Phillips 66 Big 12 men's basketball tournament was the 2008 edition of the Big 12 Conference's championship tournament held at the Sprint Center in Kansas City from March 13 until March 16, 2008. It was the 12th Big 12 tournament in t ...

, they added another loss, to

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, in the first round. The team did not receive an invitation to play at either the

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

or at the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

. Texas Tech did get an invitation to the inaugural

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI s ...

, but declined the offer. In the third game of the 2008–09 season, Tech defeated Division II opponent

East Central University East Central University (ECU or East Central) is a public university in Ada, Oklahoma. It is part of Oklahoma's Regional University System. Beyond its flagship campus in Ada, the university has courses available in McAlester, Shawnee, and Duran ...

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. 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. Knight was not suspended, but received a public reprimand instead from the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. Less than a month later, Knight was then suspended one game for his criticism of officiating in a loss against

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

on February 23, 2009. On March 7, 2011, Texas Tech fired Pat Knight after 3 disappointing seasons of conference play.

Lamar

On April 5, 2011,

Lamar University Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the fall of 2021, th ...

hired Pat Knight as head coach. 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. The Lamar squad went on to win the final three games of the season and the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

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. 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 Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. 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. 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.

Coaching record

* Knight became coach midway through the season Source:

Personal life

Knight and the former Amanda Shaw were married on May 10, 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Pat 1970 births Living people American basketball scouts American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indiana College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Continental Basketball Association coaches Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball coaches Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players Indiana Pacers scouts Lamar Cardinals basketball coaches Place of birth missing (living people) Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball coaches United States Basketball League coaches