Bobby Knight steps down
With March approaching, son Pat will take over

RETIRING? - Texas Tech coach Bob Knight (left) is congratulated by his son Pat following the team's game against New Mexico in Lubbock earlier this year. The elder Knight stepped down on Monday; Pat Knight is now the Red Raiders' head coach.

LUBBOCK (AP) - Bob Knight said today the decision to step down midseason as Texas Tech's basketball coach was not difficult, but he couldn't resist one last swipe at officials.

"Well, I won't have to see any more bad calls, that'll be one thing," he told Minneapolis Star Tribune sports columnist Sid Hartman on radio station WCCO AM, adding that that it was just time to go.

The winningest coach in men's college basketball resigned Monday, turning the team over to son and designated successor Pat Knight to finish the season.

"It really wasn't a very tough one, Sid," he said. "And so with that in mind, I just thought it was time for me to step down here and let him take over this coaching job here."

Bob Knight said he's ready to quit battling with the officials.

"I mean, we had some horrendous officiating in games this year," he said. "And I think that really, to me, has never been a part of the game, but this year it just seemed to bother me more than at any other time."

Knight had promised that when he finally decided to call it quits at Texas Tech it would be hard to find him. The Hall of Fame coach stayed true to his word Monday.

After telling his sons, his bosses and his team of his resignation, Knight spoke only to one local newspaper about his shocking departure in the middle of his seventh season in West Texas.

Knight left during his 42nd year as a head coach with more wins than any Division I men's coach. Pat Knight inherited a team that is struggling at 12-8 and has 10 games remaining.

"This is my team, that's what he told me. He's done," Pat Knight said on his radio show. "He's got a lot of life left to enjoy."

Almost a decade after he was fired by Indiana, the school he led to three national championships - one an undefeated season not since matched - Knight walked away from college basketball.

It was a stunning move by Knight, who gave no hint a change was coming. "There's a transition that's going to take place here from me to Pat and I've dwelt on this all year long ... how it would be best for him and for the team and for what we can do in the long run to make this the best thing for Texas Tech," Knight told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, which first reported the resignation.

Pat Knight, whose personality is more subdued than his father's fiery temperament, has been a head coach twice, a partial season with the USBL Columbus Cagerz and a full season leading the Wisconsin Blast, which went 19-15 under him.

He played for Knight at Indiana and has been with his father since his arrival at Tech in 2001. He was chosen as his father's successor in 2005.

Tech athletic director Gerald Myers said Knight told the team before practice Monday. Though Knight won't be part of the program, his input will be available. "If Pat wants to talk to him and to run something by him, I'm sure he will accommodate him," Myers told The AP. "Pat's ready to be head coach."

The 67-year-old Knight told Myers of his decision in a noon meeting Monday, Tech chancellor Kent Hance told The Associated Press. The Red Raiders beat Oklahoma State 67-60 on Saturday, giving Knight his 902nd victory. He earned No. 900 last month against Texas A&M.

Texas Tech next plays Wednesday night at Baylor.

"I guess you can never be surprised at some of the things Bob does," former UCLA coach John Wooden said. "I don't think there's ever been a better teacher of the game of basketball than Bob. I don't always approve of his methods, but his players for the most part are very loyal to him. I would say that no player that ever played for him would not say he did not come out a stronger person."

Knight became the youngest coach at a Division I school in 1965 when he broke in at Army, but made his mark in 29 years at Indiana, including the perfect season in 1976.

He's a complex package. He hit a policeman in Puerto Rico, threw a chair across the court, was accused of wrapping his hands around a player's neck and allegedly kicked his own son (Knight claimed he actually kicked the chair his son sat on).

But he never got in trouble for breaking NCAA rules. He always had a high graduation rate and gave his salary back a few years after he arrived in Lubbock because he didn't think he'd earned it.

In Knight's six full years at Tech, he led the Red Raiders to five 20- win seasons, a first at the school.

Knight passed former North Carolina coach Dean Smith as the winningest Division I coach Jan. 1, 2007, getting career win No. 880. To celebrate the milestone Knight chose the song "My Way" by Frank Sinatra.