Dixon brings former point guard Knight back to Pitt

With an open spot on the men’s basketball coaching staff, head coach Jamie Dixon welcomed a… With an open spot on the men’s basketball coaching staff, head coach Jamie Dixon welcomed a face familiar to Pitt fans — former point guard Brandin Knight.

Knight, a Pitt Panther from 1999 to 2003, was named by Dixon to be the team’s program assistant and video coordinator.

Knight completes Dixon’s staff, which was overhauled in the off-season. Assistant coaches Mike Rice, Pat Sandle and Orlando Antigua and director of operations David Cox all recently accepted new roles.

Because of his resume with the team, Dixon believes Knight knows exactly what he wants out of his team and understands the direction that Pitt basketball is heading.

“Brandin will be a tremendous asset to our program, and we are extremely fortunate to have his assistance,” Dixon said in a statement. “Brandin was an outstanding role model for our players at the University of Pittsburgh, and he was instrumental in turning our program around.

“He knows what we are trying to accomplish.”

Knight graduated with a history degree from Pitt in June of 2005, but prior to that he played two seasons with the Asheville Altitude of the National Basketball Development League when his Pitt career ended.

During his stay in the NBDL, the minor leagues of the National Basketball Association, he helped lead the Altitude to back-to-back NBDL titles in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons.

In 2005, Knight signed a contract with the Houston Rockets in the NBA, but an injury two weeks later kept him off the court. For the past 16 months, he has been back home in Pittsburgh rehabbing the injury.

Knight does, however, hold coaching experience. He has coached a number of AAU basketball teams, including a team that won the Under-16 Pittsburgh Jamfest title.

Everyone is aware of Knight’s leadership, which he always showed on the court. As a Pitt Panther, Knight was a key factor in the revival of Pitt basketball.

He led the team to consecutive Big East regular season titles in 2001-02 and 2002-03, two NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearances in the same years, the school’s first-ever Big East Tournament title in 2003 and three consecutive showings in the tournament’s championship game.

In his four seasons at Pitt, Knight registered an 89-40 overall record and posted career records in assists (785), assist average (6.2 apg) and season records in assists (251 in 2001-02) and minutes played (1,284 in 2001-02).

His career ended with 1,440 career points, 785 assists, 492 rebounds and 298 steals. And his play earned him numerous honors, including a Wooden All-America selection, an Associated Press All-America selection and two All-Big East selections.

It’s no surprise either that Knight landed a job in basketball. The game runs through his family.

Knight’s brother, Brevin, is a former All-American point guard at Stanford who now plays in the NBA for the Charlotte Bobcats.

Their father, Melvin Knight, played and assistant coached at Seton Hall. He now holds the positions of basketball coach and athletics director at Essex County College in New Jersey.