LUBBOCK, Texas -- Pat Knight sat in the Texas Tech locker room and lauded his bosses for the way they let him go after three disappointing seasons.

It was, after all, different from the way his famous father was ousted at Indiana more than a decade ago.

"It's not an ugly situation," Knight said. "I mean, we left on good terms. I'm glad it ended like that, especially after being part of the deal at Indiana. That was tough. But this is different. It's business."

Texas Tech fired Knight on Monday, ending a disappointing tenure for a coach who failed to lead the Red Raiders to the NCAA tournament after taking over for his father in February 2008. He will coach the Red Raiders at this week's Big 12 tournament and then step down.

Knight said he was glad his dismissal came before the tournament because of all the potentially negative media chatter about a pending firing.

"It's not just negative toward us. It's negative to the university," Knight said. "It's not good, even for the guy that's following ... that's why I just told them, when they told me, 'You're not going to get another year,' let's just get it out there now. It worked out for the best."

Knight is 50-60 in his first Division I coaching job and his third full year as head coach. He had only one winning season (19-16 in 2009-10) at Texas Tech.

Sitting in the coaches' portion of the Tech locker room, Knight told The Associated Press the situation felt "surreal."

"I would have loved to have another year to prove myself because of recruits we have coming in but I understand it's all based on this year and stuff," he said. "You just got to move on."

Knight seemed to know he might be dismissed in comments about the Red Raiders program following a 71-68 home loss to Colorado on Feb. 23.