When Lamar University basketball coach Pat Knight ranted against his players after a Wednesday night loss — for everything from their on-court effort to their employment prospects — he breached a taboo in the fraternity.
He also may have scored an upset public-relations hit.
After his team's 62-52 loss to Stephen F. Austin, Knight said Lamar has "an infestation of guys that are hard to coach" and the "worst group of seniors that I've ever been associated with."
He added that if his players "act this way in the real world, you're gonna be homeless without a job."
In a Friday afternoon telephone interview with The Wall Street Journal, Knight said he had received about 30 texts and phone calls from supportive coaches.
"One told me he loved me for doing it," said Knight, son of outspoken former Indiana coach Bob Knight. "They're proud of me, because we're all dealing with the same thing."
The transgressions Knight referred to ranged from tardiness to academic failures.
"I've never seen more F's on report cards than I ever have since I got here," Knight said Friday. "Missing classes, being late for workouts, missing workouts. ... What I don't think they understand is all that correlates together. If you're not going to be a winner off the court, you're not going to be a winner on the court."
The Cardinals had one of their best practices of the season the day after his rant, Knight said, and three parents called him to say they would love to have their kids play for him. A few of his players even apologized to him Thursday, he said.
Public tough love is rare in college basketball, perhaps because coaches fear that it will hurt recruiting or stall their climb up the career ladder. Knight said he does not want the kind of players that would be deterred by discipline anyway, and does not care to move up to a higher echelon.
His first head-coaching job was at Texas Tech, a position he inherited when his father retired from it in February 2008. Pat Knight was fired in March 2011.
"I didn't deserve it," he said. "But it ended up being a great lesson for me."
Knight said that after Wednesday's loss, he prepared his staff and athletic director for the harsh message he had planned.
"If you look at my press conference, I didn't raise my voice," he said. He was surprised his rant drew so much attention, but said the reaction was more positive than he anticipated.
"I'm just trying to motivate the team," he said, "especially these six seniors."
Knight declined to say which coaches had contacted him out of support. The elder Knight approved, he said, even though, "My dad tells me I need to go to 'Shut-Up School' sometimes."
