'This is home': Pat Knight, son of Bob, returns to Indiana, takes over as Marian coach
INDIANAPOLIS – As Pat Knight stood at the podium for his introductory news conference as Marian men’s basketball coach, he began by simply stating, “It’s good to be back.”
That five-word sentence was followed by 12 seconds of silence. Knight fought back tears before resuming his speech. Knight fought with tears for the remainder of the 20-minute presser, ultimately winning that battle.
The emotional presser made it clear to everyone who watched Knight speak at Marian’s Hall of Champions: This means something to Pat Knight.
Knight considers Marian athletic director Steve Downing family. Downing played for Knight’s father Bob Knight in the elder’s first two seasons as IU’s coach. Downing and Pat spoke frequently when Downing visited Bob in Bloomington as Bob battled Alzheimer’s disease. During these visits to see Bob — who died in November — Pat told Downing he’d be interested if the Marian job opened up.
When Scott Heady departed Marian for UIndy in April, Pat didn’t hear from Downing, and vice versa. Downing expected Pat to fill out the posted application for the job. Pat — who is used to negotiations at the Division I ranks — anticipated the school to reach out to him or an agent. It took Downing calling Pat for him to understand he had to fill out the application and submit a resume.
“Maybe we could have had this done a couple of weeks earlier,” Pat joked on Friday. “But I had no idea about the process.”
After a decade working as a west coast scout for the Pacers, Pat feels ready to return to the sidelines. While he’s nervous about being away from coaching for so long, Pat has considered returning to the coaching ranks for a few years now.
Pat’s last coaching stint at Lamar ended in a midseason firing in 2014. He doesn’t want that to be the end of his coaching story, and he wants to prove he’s improved.
“I'm a person that kind of has a chip on their shoulder,” Pat said. “So I've been waiting 10 years for this opportunity to build my own program.”
Pat also sees this as an opportunity to honor Bob and “pass on what he taught me and the lessons to these young men that I’m about to coach.”
Pat believes coaching mindsets have changed from when he was Texas Tech’s head coach from 2007-11 and Lamar’s from 2011-14. Back then, he claimed coaches were either player’s coaches or old-school, “discipline” coaches. Now, Pat claims it’s not as much about a coach’s style as it is their ability to accommodate their team.
“There’s no style anymore,” Pat said. “To me, it’s adaptability. Each one of these kids is an individual.”
Pat compared leading a team in today’s age to “The Wizard of Oz.” Comparing players to characters in the story, Pat detailed how the Tin Man had a heart, the Scarecrow had a brain and the Lion had courage, yet none of them realized that at the beginning of the story. He believes it’s his job to get his players to realize what they are, both on and off the court.
“The Tin Man, all he needed was a hug. The Scarecrow, he needed to be challenged. The Lion needed to be yelled at,” Pat said. “After that, they had a hell of a team.”
Pat is tasked with continuing Marian’s excellence at the NAIA level. The Knights made the NAIA tournament in each of Heady’s seven seasons, going as far as the national semifinals in 2019.
Pat, 53, plans to be at Marian for a while. He has no desire to resume his career as a Division I coach, citing NIL and lack of a familial atmosphere as reasons he prefers coaching at lower levels.
“If you talk to coaches, there are two types of jobs,” Pat said. “There’s stepping stones and there’s destinations. This is my destination. I’m not looking to move on. This is where I want to be, and I want to build this place. And this is how I want to honor my dad. I want to leave a legacy here at this university. Not just basketball, but everything I can do to help make this university elite and to grow.”
Most of all, Pat feels at home. The Bloomington native spent the first 25 years of his life in Indiana around his dad and basketball. Pat plans to continue playing IU in preseason exhibitions, as the programs have done in all three of Mike Woodson’s seasons as IU coach.
“To coach there, it’ll be a lot and just be special,” Pat said. “But I’ll try to hold it together.”
The Knight family has a pre-established relationship with Marian. Bob was inducted into the Clayton Family Circle of Honor in 2012. That same year, Marian began awarding the Coach Bob Knight Endowed Scholarship.
To be back working in the state of Indiana is special for Pat, who’s a true Hoosier at heart.
“I always wanted to get back to the state, so this is home,” Pat said. “Basketball is my favorite sport. John Mellencamp, favorite musician. (My) two favorite movies are ‘Breaking Away’ and ‘Hoosiers.’”
Pat Knight is back in the state he belongs, with the opportunity to maintain Marian’s status as a force in the NAIA and Crossroads League. While he’ll have to readjust to the coaching lifestyle, Pat Knight is ready to be back on the sidelines.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pat Knight takes over as Marian University head basketball coach
