Lehigh head men’s basketball coach Brett Reed announced the hiring of former Mountain Hawk Joe Knight to the coaching staff. Knight will serve as the Director of Basketball Operations. He currently stands 13th in school history with 1,350 career points in competitive results.
“I’m really pleased to have Joe Knight join our coaching staff,” said Reed. “I have known him for 13 years having recruited him out of high school. In every situation, I’ve been impressed with Joe’s character. I’ve been impressed with the person that he is and ultimately the coach I believe that he will become.”
Knight has served as an AAU Basketball Coach for the South Florida Chiefs from 2010-12, coaching and mentoring rising juniors and seniors with former Lehigh teammate Bryan White. He worked with players who attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, largely considered one of the top academic and athletic schools in the country. Knight was also part of State of Our Community Basketball Camp, organizing and conducting a first-time basketball camp in his hometown of Columbia, Tennessee.
Knight received many accolades in his career as a player. As a freshman at High Point University in North Carolina, he was named Big South Rookie of the Year and led all freshmen in points, assists, steals, and minutes played.
After transferring to Lehigh after his sophomore year, Knight made his mark on the Mountain Hawks. In competitive results, Knight finished his career ranked ninth all-time in scoring at Lehigh with 1,350 points (since falling to 13th), and fifth in three-pointers made with 178. He also holds the school and Patriot League Tournament record for threes made in a single game, tallying 10 in a win over Colgate. His 45 points in that game was the highest-scoring game in all of Division I in 2004-05, and still stands second in Lehigh history. As a senior, Knight was named a Second Team All-Patriot League performer.
Also a standout off the court, Knight received prestigious awards such as Lehigh Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the year, Patriot League Sportsmanship Award Winner and Lehigh University Sportsmanship Award Winner, all during his senior season of 2005-06.
After graduating from Lehigh in May 2006 with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Sociology and Social Psychology, Knight continued his playing career professionally overseas. The four-year experience saw stops made in three different countries including Austria, Turkey and Finland. In 2009 while playing in Istanbul, Turkey, Knight averaged 21.4 points per game, 6.0 assists and 2.6 steals on his way to being named Eurobasket.com TBL2 Guard of the Year, Import Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.
After he hung up the sneakers in 2010, Knight began working full-time with the Boy Scouts of America, managing membership, sales, volunteers, and fundraising. He spent the last two years as a District Executive and Senior District Executive.
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