Knight class: Student becomes teacher

For the second time this offseason, Jamie Dixon has promoted a member of his coaching staff,… For the second time this offseason, Jamie Dixon has promoted a member of his coaching staff, this time to replace a departed coach.

Former assistant coach Orlando Antigua has left to fill the same position at the University of Memphis, and replacing him is former Panther All-American point guard Brandin Knight.

“Brandin has always been a tremendous asset to our program,” said Dixon in a release to pittsburghpanthers.com. “As a player, Brandin proved to be a coach on the floor, and he has developed through the years into an outstanding basketball coach.”

After his collegiate career ended in 2003, it didn’t take long for Knight to rejoin the Pitt basketball program. He has steadily made his way up the ranks since then.

During the 2006-07 season, he was hired as the Panthers’ program assistant/video coordinator. The next season he was promoted to director of basketball operations, and last Friday, to assistant coach.

“As an assistant coach, I will be able to work more closely with the program and interact much more with the players,” Knight told pittsburghpanthers.com. “I’m really excited about the task ahead of me. I feel that I’m ready to dive in and do a great job.”

Knight holds the records for most career assists (785), career assist average (6.2 assists per game), career steals (298), assists in a season (251 in 2001-02) and most minutes played in a season (1,284 in 2001-02).

While playing, Knight had a reputation for running winning teams.

As a player in 2003 and the director of basketball operations last season, Knight has been a part of both Panther teams to win the Big East tournament.

In 2001-02 and 2002-03, Knight helped the Panthers win Big East regular season titles. He also appeared in two Sweet 16s and three consecutive Big East Championship games from 2001-03. The last of those seasons contained Pitt’s first ever Big East tournament title.

After graduating, Knight played in the National Basketball Development League with the Asheville Altitude, helping them to back-to-back titles in 2003-04 and 2004-05.

The next season, he signed with the Houston Rockets but suffered an injury after playing in only one NBA game.

Soon after, Knight made his way back to Pitt.

Under former coach Ben Howland, Knight was a leader on the court and a cornerstone during the turning point of Pitt’s basketball program.

Knight’s development to the coaching staff nearly mirrored that of the man he is replacing, Antigua.

Like Knight, Antigua played at Pitt. He starred for the Panthers from 1991-1995, scoring 930 career points. Following his time at college, Antigua became a member of the Harlem Globetrotters franchise.

Antigua was hired by Pitt as the director of basketball operations in 2003 and promoted to assistant coach in 2006.

Antigua is joining former Pitt assistant coach John Calipari at Memphis. The Tigers were the national runner-up this past season.

At the end of April, Dixon promoted assistant coach Tom Herrion to associate head coach.