Knight calls it quits
LUBBOCK, Texas — Bob Knight promised that when he finally decided to call it quits at Texas Tech it would be hard to find him.
The Hall of Fame coach stayed true to his word Monday.
After telling his sons, his bosses and his team of his resignation, Knight spoke only to one local newspaper about his shocking departure in the middle of his seventh season in West Texas.
"He's ready," successor and son Pat Knight said during his weekly radio program. "He's tired."
Knight left during his 42nd year as a head coach with more wins than any Division I men's coach. Pat Knight inherited a team that is struggling at 12-8 and has 10 games remaining.
"This is my team, that's what he told me. He's done," Pat Knight said on his radio show. "He's got a lot of life left to enjoy."
Almost a decade after he was fired by Indiana, the school he led to three national championships — one an undefeated season not since matched — Knight walked away from college basketball.
It was a stunning midseason move by Knight, who gave no hint a change was coming.
"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.
Pat Knight played for Knight at Indiana and has been with his father since his arrival at Tech in 2001. He was chosen as his father's successor in 2005.
The 67-year-old Knight told Myers of his decision in a noon meeting Monday, Tech chancellor Kent Hance told The Associated Press. Knight then called Hance and told him.
"I think Bob is through with coaching. I think he got to the point where it wasn't fun for him," Hance said. "He thought about it Sunday all day and talked to his wife and decided 'This is something I want to do."'
The Red Raiders beat Oklahoma State 67-60 on Saturday, giving Knight his 902nd victory.
