Ken Davis

Bob Knight wasn’t in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday to witness the greatest moment thus far in his son’s eight-game career as head coach of the Texas Tech basketball team. Knight was in Florida, cruising the Grapefruit League with his old buddy Tony LaRussa and the rest of the St. Louis Cardinals.

But Pat Knight did get a phone call as soon as his legendary father got the word that Texas Tech had shocked No. 5 Texas 83-80 at United Spirit Arena.

“It was kind of neat,” Pat Knight said in a telephone interview Sunday afternoon. “The Cardinals were playing and he was coming back from the game. He was on the road traveling and John Havlicek called him to let him know we won and what the score was.”

It wasn’t long before Pat Knight’s cell phone was ringing and his proud father was demanding details.

“I had to go through the whole stats with him and everything and let him know what happened,” Pat said. “My dad had called me the day before and was like, ‘Son, I was going to give you a couple of days to cool off because I knew how mad you’d be after that game.’ And that’s the line I used to give him after he had a bad loss.”

It was that kind of week for Pat Knight, 37, who has experienced quite a ride since his father’s resignation Feb. 2. When Bob decided once again to do things his way, he turned the Red Raiders over to his son and told him it would be an opportunity to “get his feet wet.” And he has.

“I’m soaked,” Pat said.

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He might have thought he was drowning after that bad loss from earlier in the week. In fact, bad may not totally describe the experience. The Red Raiders visited Texas A&M on Wednesday and lost by 44 points. Yep, 44 points. Aggies 98, Red Raiders 54. That’s a rout any way you look at it, and Pat Knight turned it every direction and still didn’t enjoy what he saw. He knew exactly what his father would do in the same situation, but he decided he wanted to be an “original.”

If Bob Knight is The General, then Pat Knight just may have earned the stripes of Drill Sergeant.

The day after the loss, Knight booted the players out of their dressing room, made them dress in the hallway. He took away their official practice gear and made them wear their own. He scratched all the regular aspects of practice and made them run defensive slides while carrying weights. When they were really gassed and Knight knew they “wouldn’t have any arms,” he made them shoot free throws. If they missed, they had to run.

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Knight wasn’t finished. Next he borrowed an idea from the Ultimate Fighting Championship arena. The Red Raiders moved outside to the intramural fields and held relay races using huge tractor tires.

“You flip them over on end and keep flipping them,” Knight said. “It works your whole body. They’re heavier than hell. Then we used the small tires, like the old football drills. They had to go get loose balls. They had to go through blocking dummies.

“For once, I think they probably wish my dad hadn’t retired.”

Knight said it wasn’t a matter of winning or losing that inspired the different practice routine. He got in the faces of his players over their lack of effort and not competing. “That’s what really ticked me off,” he said.