Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Tuesday, February 5, 2008
(LUBBOCK, TX) - Legendary Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight resigned on Monday.
Knight tells the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that he had been contemplating retirement at the end of the season. After talking to his good friend Pete Newell, a former coach at the University of California, "The General" decided that now was the time to begin the transition phase with his son, Pat, taking over the program.
Knight is the alltime winningest coach in division-one men's college basketball with 902 victories. He passed North Carolina's Dean Smith on top of the wins list when he picked up his 880th victory on New Year's Day, 2007. He recorded 662 of those wins as the head coach at Indiana, leading the Hoosiers to national championships in 1976, 1981 and 1987. His 1976 team was the last team in division-one to go through an entire season undefeated.
Knight was a member of a national championship team as a player at Ohio State and entered coaching in 1965 when he became the head coach at Army. At 24, he became the youngest head coach in division-one history. He became head coach at Indiana in 1971 and led the Hoosiers for 29 successful but stormy seasons.
Always outspoken and controversial, Knight's behavior became an issue when a videotape of knight allegedly grabbing IU guard Neil Reed by the neck during a 1997 practice was leaked to CNN. That and other allegations led then-university president Myles Brand to institute a "zero-tolerance" standard of behavior for his basketball coach.
Knight was accused of grabbing a student in Assembly Hall on September 8th, 2000 and was fired two days later. After taking off the 2000-2001 season, Knight resurfaced at Texas Tech, taking over the moribund Red Raiders program. He compiled a 138-and-82 record in six-plus seasons at Texas Tech.
His 902nd career win came last Saturday as the Red Raiders beat Oklahoma State in what would be Knight's final game.
Pat Knight played at IU and was an assistant coach at Indiana until his father was fired by the school.
1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com
© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.