Pat Knight, son of Bob, fired as Lamar University's men's basketball coach

Pat Knight is 79-123 in parts of seven seasons as an NCAA head coach. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) Pat Knight, who led Lamar University to an NCAA tournament
Pat Knight, son of Bob, fired as Lamar University's men's basketball coach
Pat Knight, son of Bob, fired as Lamar University's men's basketball coach /

Pat Knight is 79-123 in parts of seven seasons as an NCAA head coach. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Pat Knight (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Pat Knight, who led Lamar University to an NCAA tournament appearance in 2012, was fired by the university on Sunday, the former coach confirmed to Andy Katz of ESPN.com. Knight is the son of Bob Knight, who won three national championships as head coach at Indiana.

Lamar, which is in Beaumont, Texas, and is a member of the Southland Conference, is 3-22 overall this season and 2-11 in the league.

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Knight was in his third season at the school and had two more seasons left on his contract, according to Katz.

"I was told last night to meet with the president and the AD this morning at 10 a.m.,'' Knight said. "I knew it. There's no talk. They said they want to go in a different direction. We struggled for two years. It's all based on the record. It's part of the business.''

Lamar went 3-28 and 1-17 last season after going 23-12, 11-5 in his first season, which culminated with a loss to Vermont in an NCAA tournament play-in game.

Knight, 43, was the head coach at Texas Tech for four seasons after taking over for his father but was fired in March 2011.

"I did what I wanted to do,'' he said. "I coached a team in the NIT [at Texas Tech] and I coached a team in the NCAA. I wanted to prove I could do this for my last name. I should have gotten out after the NCAA. But you're sitting there and have a chance to build a team from scratch. You decide to do it and didn't get it done quick enough. So you get fired. That's it. I have no regrets. I'm proud of what I did. I should have done it. You feel loyal to a place after you're fired from a place. We lost eight out of our top 10. We tried it and didn't work.

"I've been around this business. We just didn't win. The bottom line is we didn't win.''

No interim coach has been named, according to Katz. Lamar has lost four in a row, including a 20-point loss to Northwestern State on Saturday, and has five games remaining this season.

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