This is one the best days of my life: Pat Knight discusses returning to Indiana University wit

Publish date: 2024-07-19

About 30 minutes before tip-off Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, a special guest arrived.

Wearing a gray crew sweater with a red polo underneath, Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight successfully made it from Assembly Hall in Bloomington to Indianapolis, where he had just completed the unthinkable. For the first time since he was fired in 2000, Knight returned to Indiana University for a men’s basketball game.

It was a cathartic moment for all, a chance to celebrate and thank Knight for 29 years and three NCAA championships. It was a reunion for players and staff, and in a larger sense, it was closure.

At the center of it was Knight’s son Pat. He grew up in Bloomington while his dad coached, then played for him and became his assistant, first at IU and then at Texas Tech. He replaced his dad as the Red Raiders head coach in 2008 and then served as the head coach at Lamar from 2011-14.

And after Pat got fired, he became a scout for the Pacers.

At around 7:18 p.m. Saturday, Pat entered Suite 24 of Bankers Life Fieldhouse — where Bob Knight and Gene Keady watched the Pelicans beat the Pacers, 124-117. This was the final stop for both after a long, joyful and emotional day. They were the honorees on this Hickory Night for their contributions to basketball in the state.

Just two legendary college basketball coaches watching the game that they love together. pic.twitter.com/u11vth64cl

— Todd Klaassen (@ToddKlaassen) February 9, 2020

During the game, Pat Knight talked with The Athletic Indiana for more than 20 minutes about their special day, explaining how it came to be and the impact it had on everyone.

First of all, how did all this come about?

It was a fluke, to be honest. Four weeks ago, they’re going to have a basketball reunion. So (before this), somebody we don’t even know says, ‘Coach is coming back,’ and it cracks us up. Nothing ever from the family. But one problem is I’ve never been on Facebook, Twitter, any of that stuff. So we’ll see people and I’ll have buddies of mine call me or text me, and people I know in the media field ask, ‘Hey, is your dad coming?’ and I was like, ‘No.’ But it makes him look bad because people think he’s going to come. People on the radio, TV, and there’s nobody that knows. So, it happened again and he wasn’t even supposed to come.

And that was the time he ended up at Marian University, right?

Yeah, it’s hilarious because (Marian’s director of athletics) Steve Downing is his guy, so he goes up and sees Steve. And I had people calling me and I’m like, ‘Look, I’d be the one (to know). I talk to him almost every other day. He’s not coming back. And if he’s coming back, I’m coming back. And then another time, at the Nebraska game this year, (Nebraska assistant) Doc Sandler, who’s a buddy of mine, (asked) ‘Hey, man, is Coach coming to our game?’ I’m like, ‘Doc, I don’t think so. I think I would know.’ Doc’s great. He loves my dad. He’s like, ‘Ah shit. I was hoping to go back.’ So it’s been going on for years.

I thought when I finally talked to him, to get him to move back to Bloomington because there’s just not enough people in Lubbock (Texas) around him. He’s getting older and dealing with issues getting older, and he’s got to be around people that love you, people that can stop by every day. Like I went to Lubbock to help him move and for like five days, no one ever stopped by. I got him to finally move back, and when I called back, he’s got Bob Hammel, his best friend, Larry Rink, Dr. (Bradford) Bomba is in town, all the players. It’s just nonstop. And then you got the fans, and so he’s enjoyed being back. So now it’s like, ‘OK, maybe we can eventually get him to go to a game.’

And so I was going to wait a year. But then you worry about timing. Not to be negative, but I mean he’s 79, he’s no spring chicken. So you’re like, ‘Maybe we should do it sooner.’ But I was like, ‘I’ll wait, maybe next season.’ All of a sudden, Randy Wittman is the one that got this going.

So I get a call from (Bob’s) wife, my stepmom Karen and she says, ‘Hey, Randy Wittman talked to your dad about coming back for the ’80 championship.’ I didn’t know that. She was like, ‘He agreed to it. What do you think?’ I’m like, ‘Ah, man. To quiet all the negative people up, and plus, it’s time. You guys are there, he loves being there.’ And I was like, ‘You know, all the people that were involved in the firing (in 2000), they’re not around. It will just be the players, the fans and he deserves to have that last time being there. Anytime we talk about IU, he loves the fans. It was just a few people. But the fans, the players, the college — he loves it.’

“Nowhere was basketball more appreciated than in the state of Indiana.” pic.twitter.com/mjnbUCCeJV

— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) February 8, 2020

So now I’m like what the heck’s going on? I mean, I’m caught off guard.

So I called Randy and he’s like, ‘Man, all right. I tried to call him a few years ago about the ’81 championship team (celebration) and he got in my ass. So I got done playing golf, I’ve been out there feeling good, I had a few beers and I told my wife, You know, I’m going to call coach again and see if he’s coming back to ’80 (celebration).’

Randy continued, ‘He’ll jump my ass again, but I’m not coming back anymore because I see these guys all the time. I only want to come back if Coach comes back.’

So Randy says, ‘Hey, Coach, it’s Randy Wittman. Hey, just checking to see if you’re coming back for our ’80 championship team?’ Randy said he was waiting to just get it and Coach was like, ‘Well, who would come back?’ And Randy was caught off guard, like what do you mean? He’s like, ‘No, what players?’

He’s like, ‘Coach, everybody would come back. But if you think about coming back, we’re going to have all your past players come back.’ And so Coach was like, ‘You know what? I’ll do it. You know, it’s time. I’ll do it.’ So Randy was smart and got his wife on the phone, talked to her.

So it’s kind of a fluke. Randy thought he was going to get chewed out like before and he wouldn’t come back. And then, all of a sudden, Coach was open to it so we all got to work. We got Quinn (Buckner) involved, Dr. Rink, Bob Hammel, his wife Karen. But this all only happened like four weeks ago and we put it all together. So it’s kind of a fluke, but it worked out pretty good.

You were right there by his side as he walked onto the court. What did that feel like?

Well, I haven’t been back since he’s been back. I mean, I got over it a long time ago, but my problem was I know how people are, especially the assholes out there that if I came back, they’d be like, ‘Oh, well, Pat came back but his dad can’t come back.’ And I never wanted to put him in that spot. And thank God I wasn’t a good player because (being one) makes it even harder not coming back. I could kind of stay out of the fray because I was just a role player. But I’m still a son, so I’ve always wanted to come back and see these guys because I’m the only player that knows all the players. Shit, half of them babysat me and I grew up with him, so it had always bothered me that I couldn’t come back to see all those guys. So I saw guys today that I hadn’t seen in like 20 years.

When I was at Lamar, Indiana called us for those guaranteed games and gave us a pretty good amount of money for it. I finally called my dad and I was like, ‘Dad, look, I know you’re not planning on going back and I don’t want to disrespect you, but Indiana offered us this to come back.’ And he was like, ‘They did what? How much? Oh, you gotta do that. You’re Lamar, a small school.’ He’s like, ‘I’ve got no problem with you going back.’ But then I get my ass fired. I was excited to bring my team back to Bloomington. So another guy brought them back (in 2014) and it wasn’t me. I’ve just been waiting, trying to plant the seed and everything. And finally, Randy Wittman is the one that broke it open.

I could tell when he got back here how much he enjoyed it, and shoot, guys have been stopping by all the time. He meets guys up in Indy for lunch all the time. Just being around all the ex-players and just as friends, I could see, OK, he’s softening a little bit. Maybe we could finally get it done.

So then for you specifically, what did this mean for you to go back to where you spent so much of your time and started your career more than anything?

This is one of the best days of my life from a basketball standpoint, just to come back. As a son, one, as a player, another, and as a little kid who just grew up around off his heroes, to see all those guys today — they kept thanking me. Because I got in Monday. I had two games this week (to scout) and the Pacers took them off my schedule so I could make sure nothing screwed it up. And so I’ve been in Bloomington all week — since Monday — just helping them get this together.

(Deputy Director of Athletics) Scott Dolson was a huge part from the university because he was a manager back at IU. And so we’ve just been working on this for four weeks. But for me, it was a great day. It kind of reminded me of my senior night, the last time you’re gonna put on that uniform and just the crowd, the people. I love Archie (Miller), and to see him, and I know his coaching staff, but I haven’t been able to come back. And now it just opens everything up to see everybody and now I can wear IU gear and not worry about it. For all us, this is like a weight off our back.

It sounds like it’s some closure, but it also might even open more doors and now it’s kind of a monkey off everyone’s back.

Yeah, exactly. And we all get fired. I mean, you’re hired to get fired and so I was over it long after going through my coaching career. I mean, it’s just part of it. But the people, I mean the fans, this state — it’s just great to be back. I grew up here. I played high school basketball, college basketball (here). It’s just great to be around the people ’cause there’s no better basketball state in the country.

How did he handle the adrenaline and everything that’s gone on because it’s a lot for anyone?

Well, we had chairs set up in case he needed a rest, but he got all fired up. He’s chanting defense. I was talking to (ESPN analyst) Dick Vitale yesterday, he came by the house. He’s like, ‘Hey, you got to make sure (he comes over), I just want to shake his hand.’ So it was great. So I was like, ‘Dad, we’ve got to go see Dick.’ He’s like, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I was like, ‘Oh, you got to mess with it.’

So it was great. He went over there, shook his hand, gave a hug, and then he roughed him up. Then he started getting the crowd chanting defense. He gets done and he looks at me and was like, ‘Was that good?’ I was like, ‘You did good, dad. You did good.’ He was great. You know you get worried because he’s older and everything, but he just kept asking, do I need to do anything else? We’re like, ‘Coach, you did great. You got the crowd fired up, you did everything.’

And then he spoke to the team before the game and, shit, Randy Wittman and I were with him and we looked at each other like, Oh, you gotta be kidding. It was just like we were in the locker room. We told the players he gave them the PG version. We would’ve gotten the X version. He was fired up for them, just telling them that you got to play smart, you got to play together. I mean, the whole day you could see things clicking, remembering things and just kind of getting back to how we remembered how it was when we played.

Coach Bob Knight returned to a standing ovation. pic.twitter.com/0kMo9JTGXf

— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) February 9, 2020

Ultimately, did you and your dad get exactly what you had hoped from this experience?

From a family standpoint, from his standpoint, the players, you couldn’t ask for a better day. It’s done, he’s come back and he can enjoy his life down there. And if he ever wants to go back, it won’t be made a big deal, he just goes back. If he wants to go to the volleyball game, the women’s basketball coach (Teri Moren) came up to us as we’re walking back. She’s got the program going and if he wanted to go to a baseball game again because a couple of these players like Jeff Oliphant, their daughters play on the IU volleyball team. Now he can just go to anything and it won’t be such a big deal. He just wants to fit in, be one of the fans and be around. So I think it just opened up a lot of things and I think it was great for the fans, closure for the fans and it also stuck it to the assholes, too, from my standpoint. … Now they’ll find something else to complain about, but they can’t complain about that anymore.

Living in Las Vegas, how is it trying to balance being here with them as much as you can, but also having your job to do?

Southwest has direct flights. It’s not bad. I try to see them each month and then when I get busy, every other month. But I call him like every other day. And then my mom’s still in Bloomington, my wife’s dad lives in Indy, so it’s great when we come back. My dad, his wife, my stepmom, my mom and my father-in-law, four birds with one stone. It’s not a problem.

The Pacers have been great. Like I said before, I had two games this week and they’d done it in the past. You worry about your parents and last year a couple of times, I was like, ‘Hey, my dad’s not feeling good.’ They take the games off the schedule and (say) go see your dad for a couple of days. So from the job standpoint, I got the greatest employer. They understand about family stuff. So it’s not a problem at all. And I travel so much anyway, a flight to Indiana is not going to kill me.

Coaching legends Bob Knight and Gene Keady celebrated at halftime, honorees of tonight’s Pacers game.@IndianaMBB @BoilerBall pic.twitter.com/PeeklKLOzQ

— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) February 9, 2020

And then you get to finish the day at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. What has it been like?

We had this planned at first, in July, so this adds to it. So he’s excited to come because he hated the NBA in college. When he was a coach, he got offered jobs. Red Auerbach tried to hire him. Jerry Colangelo. Heck, no one knows this. When we were at Texas Tech, the owner of the (Seattle) SuperSonics came to Lubbock and offered him the job before he sold it to Oklahoma City. But he’s never been big (on the NBA). But he watches because I’m a pro scout, so now every time I’m with him we watch pro. We always watch the Pacers, but we’ve watched games every night this week. And he always jokes with people that this is the most NBA I’ve ever watched. But I think it keeps his attention more because the game is so fast and they can score and it’s kind of fun. He was like, ‘Hey, why’s there’s no action on the weak side the other night? … Why isn’t the defense on the middle line?’

So I was explaining to him our defensive rules, how you can only have one foot in the lane. He’s like, ‘No wonder they drive (all the time).’ The motion offense is his baby, so all the dribbling. ‘Why do they dribble so much?’ So it’s been kind of fun to explain to him about the NBA game because he wanted nothing to do with it. He didn’t set a ball screen in a motion offense. He wouldn’t do it the two years I was an assistant at Indiana. I think it was our second or third year because we had a really good guard, Jarrius Jackson, and we’re playing Missouri. It was the first time he set a ball screen. So his love for the NBA, there was none. But now that I work in it, he loves hearing about the pace and how’s your team doing.

And then I had him watch the trade deadline because I was at his house. I had my phone on in case we did anything and he was just amazed. He said, ‘You can just trade a guy? But what about their families?’ I was like, ‘Yeah man.’ He’s like, ‘Gosh. Dang, that would be rough.’ It’s been kind of neat because he never did anything in the NBA, so now instead of him explaining everything when I was coach, now I can explain stuff to him. And especially for the Pacers, growing up in Indiana and having a chance to work for them.

And then I got hired by Larry Bird, so I worked and played for a legend, and he’s my dad, and then another legend hired me. Shit, for an Indiana boy, I’m lucky.

Has it brought you closer together these last several years?

I’ll tell you what brought us closer together was playing for him. It wasn’t easy and I was wild, got in some trouble here and there. That actually brought us closer together, just kind of driving him nuts I think as a player and then working for him as an assistant, that capped it off. But then when you work for him as an assistant, you find out that all that so-called temperament and stuff, there’s a method to his madness. I mean, there’s some planned out stuff, and I kind of saw it behind the screen, like in Wizard of Oz. …

So I found out all the secrets and now I look back, all the stuff that he was using. But at the time, you don’t know that as a player. So you get mad and stuff and want to play harder. Then I found out even more. Playing for him and then coaching with him just brought us closer. And I enjoyed it all, but to me, the best is now just being father and son.

And I pissed a lot of guys off, especially from the media, because I was always a go-between, ‘Pat, can you help me?’ When I was his assistant, I would go to my dad and say so-and-so wants to interview you. And he’d always ask, should I do it? Yes or no, but I’d help out all the good guys. Well, then right when he retired, I won’t name him, but it’s a big magazine. ‘Pat, hey man. Can you set up an interview?’ I was like, ‘Nope. That’s not my job anymore.’ The guy kind of got pissed with me. I was like, ‘Nah, you got to call his secretary. I’m out of that business. We’re father and son now. The guy tried to be like, ‘I respect that,’ but I’ve never heard from the guy again. All that combined has just brought us closer together.

(Photo of Bob Knight and Pat Knight: Brian Spurlock / USA Today Sports)

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This is one the best days of my life: Pat Knight discusses returning to Indiana University wit