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Knight leaves Tech, legacy stays

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Also by Jonah Braun:

Senior powers Badgers (February 5, 2008)
This week in college, losers win (January 31, 2008)
Badgers face Hoosiers, trying to extend win streak (January 31, 2008)
Senior guard Banks provides vocal leadership (January 28, 2008)
Badgers get back on track against Lions (January 25, 2008)

by Jonah Braun

Thursday, February 7, 2008

When Bob Knight resigned as head coach of Texas Tech Monday, he left behind an illustrious career, including such remarkable feats as 902 wins, three national championships and an Olympic gold medal. More importantly, though, his son Pat will carry on the legacy of his name.

Pat Knight will bring to the floor a similar style of coaching to that of his father, but will go about it in significantly different ways. Don’t expect Pat to throw chairs or choke his players, but as recent history has shown, you can expect him to win games.

For example, Georgetown coach John Thompson III succeeded his father by the same name, and his success is outlined by the Hoyas’ No. 6 ranking this season. Last year, Thompson led the Hoyas to a Final Four appearance in only his third year coaching the team.

Another example is Keno Davis, son of former coach Tom Davis, who is running this season’s unlikely success story at Drake University. In his first year as the Bulldogs’ coach, Keno has led Drake to a 21-1 record, and a No. 15 national ranking.

Continuing with the favorable trend, Washington State’s Tony Bennett, son of Dick, has turned the Cougars into a national powerhouse. In his first year coaching, he led Washington State to a 26-8 record, far surpassing the work his father did in the Pac 10.

Now the question remains: “Why are all these coaches so successful?” Well, in short, if your father is good at what he does, then you should emulate his actions.

For example, Bennett adopted his father’s coaching style that led the Wisconsin Badgers to a Final Four in 2000. Now, the Cougars, through Dick Bennett’s style, are a much stronger team than they were originally.

But why was Dick’s Cougars team so much worse than Tony’s? Well, remember that Dick Bennett, in his last year as head coach of Washington State, was pushing 60-years-old. Perhaps Dick just did not have the energy necessary to run a college basketball team.

Similarly, Bob Knight may not have had the same drive as he did when he was coaching Indiana. Despite the fact that his actions — including tossing chairs across the court, choking his players and yelling at referees — were a bit childish, Knight made himself a name by doing so, and he also accumulated more wins than any other college coach during that time. Also, those actions were what made Knight unlike any other coach in college basketball.

To continue along that line, nobody questions Knight’s ability to craft plays and to execute his screen-heavy defense. But many people, maybe even Knight himself, know that he is physically unable to coach.

Now, for Knight, and for all the previously mentioned coaches, it left an easy decision to make in terms of coaching succession. Pat Knight, having been his father’s assistant and having even played under him, can emulate his father’s success with more energy.

This has been the case for nearly every coach who has taken over his father’s job. With the opportunity, though, these coaches are pressured to succeed to a similar or higher extent than their outdated fathers. This may be why Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton, son of the legendary Eddie Sutton, may be struggling with the Cowboys.

But the Sutton example is nothing more than a case study. In three of the four cases, the younger coaches have been outstandingly successful, and one case in Sean Sutton shouldn’t take anything away from that.

However, none of these aforementioned examples have the same implications as Bob Knight and his effect on the college basketball world. Can Pat Knight emulate what his father did? Without a doubt, Pat won’t be the one to throw chairs and accumulate a record amount of technical fouls, but he should be able to instill in the Red Raiders a sense of familiarity to his father, without all the antics.

Sean Sutton is still searching for that same familiarity that Pat Knight will be tested with this season. Though Sutton’s team currently sits in a last-place tie in the Big 12, it is playing in one of the toughest conferences and only lost to No. 19 Texas and No. 18 Texas A&M by a combined five points.

Whether or not Pat Knight succeeds, the fact remains that he will always be in the shadow of his father. Bob Knight’s record alone attests to the fact that he is one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. Like many of the coaches who succeed their fathers, Pat Knight will probably do well in the same role.

Pat’s energy is something that Bob Knight lacks, and though his inexperience in the head coaching position might be looked at as worrisome, remember that it has been done before. Just ask John Thompson, Keno Davis and Tony Bennett

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