Hattiesburg native Steve Knight just completed his 43rd season as the leader of the Crusader Men's Basketball program. His 791 wins makes him the State of Mississippi's all-time winningest collegiate basketball coach and currently places him #2 in the NAIA among all active coaches in total wins. He is also ranked #12 among the winningest all time coaches in NAIA history.
On August 1, 2015, Knight became the first player/coach in any sport to represent William Carey as an inductee into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.
Knight was named Head Coach in July 1982 at the age of 25. Since then, his Crusader teams have compiled twenty-one 20+ win seasons, captured ten regular season titles (Gulf Coast Athletic and Southern States Conferences), eight tournament championships and have fourteen appearances in the NAIA National Tournament. The 2019 team was the first William Carey team to participate in the NAIA Fab Four. He has been selected as District or Conference Coach of the Year fourteen times during his career. In 2014, Knight was selected as the NAIA/NABC National Men's Basketball Coach of the Year after leading the Crusaders to an overall 28-3 record.
Along with his coaching duties, he also served as WCU Athletics Director from 1987-2016, a span of 30 years. During his tenure as AD, the Carey Athletic Program more than tripled the number of sport offerings from 5 in 1987 to 17 in 2016. He was selected as Conference Athletics Director of the Year four times and NACDA/NAIA Southeast AD of the Year in 2005-06. Additionally, Knight served as President of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference from 2001-2005 and again from 2006-2010.
Knight graduated from Hattiesburg (Blair) High School in 1974, the University of Southern Mississippi (B.S.-Secondary Education, 1979), as well as William Carey (M.Ed. - 1982). He played both basketball and baseball at Hattiesburg High School and Southern Miss. He was a basketball All-State performer his senior year at HHS for a talented team that won the Mississippi Overall State Championship and the Class AA State Championship. While at Southern Miss, Knight compiled a 0.62 ERA in 1975, threw a no-hitter for the Eagles in 1976 and completed his career in 1978. He then spent two seasons in the Seattle Mariner Organization playing for the San Jose Missions (California League). The team won the 1980 California League Championship and Knight completed the season with 11 saves and a 2.72 ERA as a relief pitcher.
In addition to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, Knight has also been inducted into the Southern Miss Athletic (M-Club) Hall of Fame (2002), the William Carey University Athletic Hall of Fame (2015), the Hattiesburg Public School District Foundation Hall of Fame (2019) and the Southern Miss Alumni Hall of Fame (2022).
Knight and wife Regina have been married for 45 years and they have two daughters, Shanna Knight Leslie and Lindsay Knight Batista, three grandsons, Christian, Brayden and Jackson Leslie, and one granddaughter, McKinley Leslie. Steve and Regina are members of Temple Baptist Church in Hattiesburg.
