LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -Pat Knight was too busy preparing for his opening game as the new coach at Texas Tech to show up for his first news conference since replacing his father.
Instead, several players showed up Tuesday to discuss the surprising move that saw Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight resign and turn the team over to his son with 10 games left in the regular-season.
“Pat’s doing a good job already,” guard John Roberson said. “We’re going to have the same preparations.”
If his first full day on the job is any indication, it might be the same old Knight when it comes to dealing with the media. School officials said Pat Knight was busy attending meetings and preparing for Wednesday’s game against Baylor.
Being the Texas Tech coach is a role for which Knight has been groomed the past three seasons, and perhaps his entire life. He played for his father at Indiana and has been with him since they arrived at Tech in 2001. He was chosen as his father’s successor in 2005.
Pat Knight, whose personality is more subdued than his father’s, has been a head coach twice, a partial season with the USBL’s Columbus Cagerz and a season leading the Wisconsin Blast, which went 19-15.
The elder Knight said Monday that he felt the timing was right to leave.
“There’s a transition that’s going to take place here from me to Pat and I’ve dwelt on this all year long … how it would be best for him and for the team and for what we can do in the long run to make this the best thing for Texas Tech,” Knight told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, which first reported the resignation.
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