Soon after Bob Knight was hired as Texas Tech basketball coach in March 2001, he searched for a supporting cast. He needed players, and he had one opening for an assistant coach.
Pat Knight, the son who played for him at Indiana, was already on his staff. Father and son split up to hunt for junior college players, driving through Texas and Oklahoma before planning to meet in Kansas.
Along the way, Bob Knight crossed paths with Chris Beard, the head coach at Seminole State College in Oklahoma. It’s not easy to make a big impression on Bob Knight, but Beard did.