Pat Knight at ease following in dad’s footsteps
Texas Tech coach carving his own legacy one year after taking over
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LUBBOCK, Texas - The spotlight shines on Texas Tech’s players, not the coach, when they are introduced after blaring hip-hop and rap music thunders through a darkened arena.
One of those starters wears his hair closer to his collar than he used to; another began the season with a mohawk. The Red Raiders are a lot different under Pat Knight than they were when his famous father stalked the sidelines with an old-school approach.
Bob Knight got his groove on with Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” — the song they played at United Spirit Arena when he tallied win No. 880 to pass Dean Smith as the winningest coach in major college basketball.
Pat Knight can relate to his dad’s favorite song, though. He’s following a Hall of Fame coach who won 902 games and three national championships. As he approaches the one-year anniversary of taking over when his dad suddenly retired, Knight knows the only way to survive is by trying to carve his own legacy.
“That song just doesn’t apply to him. It applies to me now,” Knight said. “Now it’s my job. I have to do it my way, what fits my personality, what fits the talent I have and what I think can help this team win.”
So far that has meant a quicker offensive tempo and use of the zone defense sometimes for Texas Tech — more departures from the elder Knight, who surprised many last February by walking away from coaching after 6½ seasons in West Texas. He started his 42-year career at Army, but spent most of it at Indiana, where he won all three NCAA titles.
Pat Knight, who was named head coach designate in 2005, inherited a 12-8 team from his father. The Red Raiders finished 16-15 and didn’t get a postseason invite.
His first full season has been a wild ride.
Among the 10 wins Texas Tech took into its Big 12 opener Saturday at No. 23 Baylor was a 167-115 victory against East Central, the most points ever scored by the Red Raiders. The worst of five losses, though, was a 111-66 rout at Stanford that gave Pat Knight the three biggest defeats in school history after Texas Tech lost at Kansas by 58 and at Texas A&M by 44 last season.
None of those defeats robs him of sleep.
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His father’s coaching knowledge also matters to him, and he taps into it regularly. Early this season he did the calling. Lately, his father has reached out to him.
After an 85-79 loss at Lamar in mid-December in which Texas Tech had repeatedly given up layups, father and son sat down for a powwow on defense.
With the Red Raiders at the bottom of the Big 12 in scoring defense (78 points per game), defense is the focus. The loss at Stanford spurred Knight to return to basics, running a two-hour defensive clinic for his players.
“This was the first time they asked questions,” he said. “If you don’t understand something, you’ve got to ask a question. ... I think it opened a line of communication better for them, so I think it worked out pretty good.”
Knight has a flair for the unconventional like good friend Mike Leach, Texas Tech’s pirate-loving football coach. He brought in Leach’s defensive coordinator, Ruffin McNeill, to talk to his players about, well, defense.
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