Texas Tech basketball: My favorite in-person memories as a Red Raider

Bob Knight’s introductory press conference

I remember the moment when I was in my room at our college rent house and I pulled up ESPN to see the lead story that Bob Knight was set to be the next head coach at Texas Tech.  Mostly, I remember the euphoria that took over the house as I ran into the living room and shared the news with my roommates who ran into my room to get confirmation of the news from my computer.

Just a few days later, we and about eight thousand people were at the U.S.A for a hybrid introductory press conference/pep rally to welcome Knight to town.  It was unlike anything we had ever seen as national media members that we had seen for years on ESPN and other networks showed up in Lubbock to cover the event.  And of course, when they asked questions to Knight about his past transgressions, they were often met with a chorus of boos, which had to be amazingly annoying to these professional journalists who are literally paid to ask the tough questions.

But the moment that sticks in my mind was the first time Knight appeared on the big screen in the arena.  He was being taught by AD Gerald Myers, his long-time friend, how to properly give the “Guns Up” and what was a comical scene it was.  In fact, it looked like an outtake from the movie Grumpy Old Men.

In the end, it was more a celebration of the turning of the page for the program than it was a true press conference.  That was a strategic decision on the part of the athletic department in order to keep the media from being able to make the event a public grilling of Knight who had no interest in rehashing his recent controversies.

I’ve always been struck by the fact that one of the people that wanted to go to that event with my roommates and me was my mom, who had never watched a Texas Tech basketball game in her life to that point.  But being in the Hub City that day for some reason that I can’t recall, she was just as excited as anyone else to be a part of the Bob Knight coronation proving just how unforgettable that day was.