Before Lamar head coach Pat Knight, son of famed head coach and hothead Bobby Knight, even got to the podium for his press conference, it was already apparent he was ready to unload. As one of his players tries to make sense of his team's 62-52 loss to Steven F. Austin, Knight can be heard storming to the podium. He says, "All right, let's go. I'm next. You don't have a clue what it takes to win."
And with that, the tone was set for an instant classic press conference.
Knight was upset with his roster of seniors and put the bullseye right on them as he began to go to town. He questioned their leadership, their character and their ability to play the game of basketball. There were mentions of drugs, suspensions and terrible shooting performances.
Here's Knight heaving everyone within arm's reach under the proverbial bus.
A few selections from Knight's monologue:
"That's the problem with society. That's why we have problems out there. Because people don't make kids accountable." -- Philosophical Pat Knight is great.
"These kids are stealing money by being on scholarship with their approach to things." -- Quickly, call the scholarship police!
"We have a bunch of tin men out there right now. They got no heart." -- At least he's working a Wizard of Oz reference in.
"When I played, if you acted like the way some of these guys did, you got shoved in a locker with a forearm against your neck." -- Uphill in the snow, both ways!
"You act this way in the real world, you're gonna be homeless without a job." -- This is just a fun threat.
Basically, the whole press conference is Knight ranting about how great the coaching staff is -- winners with winner mentalities, all of them -- and how terrible the team is. Yet at some point, the team has to be seen as a reflection of the coaching staff. It is, after all, the job of the coaches to instill discipline off the court and a style of play on the court.
So who is Pat Knight really mad at?