Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Turning Lemons Into Lemonade

Pat Knight went from the outhouse to the penthouse in one year.

The Lamar coach, with a famous father named Bobby, took over for his dad at Texas Tech and things didn’t go well. Pat was fired last spring. But it didn’t take long for junior Knight to land another position. Mid-major Lamar hired him last spring.

Pat was officially away from his father’s spotlight at Lamar. No more following a legendary coach at Texas Tech. Pat was his own man.

But it seems these Knight guys can never stay out of controversy’s way too long. Pat ripped into his team during a late-season press conference and the remarks were all over college basketball.

Knight questioned his player’s effort and ability on everything except the color of socks they wore. Reaction as you might expect was mixed with most people chastising Knight for the negative comments.

But the bottom line was they worked. Lamar hasn’t lost a game since and captured the Southland Conference Tournament to earn the automatic NCAA bid.

Tonight, Lamar battles Vermont in one of the four play-in games. Father and son couldn’t be happier how this has worked out. Son hopes his speech will result in some more Lamar victories.

Whatever happens, it’s better to sit in the penthouse than the outhouse. Pat Knight is thankful for his place.

2 comments:

Julies said...

The difference between father and son is that Bobby has that personality because he's tough. Pat is a spoiled brat.

Paul Delger said...

Thanks for your comment and reading my blog. I will agree Pat has had some advantages being Bobby's son.