Pat Summitt
Encyclopedia
Patricia "Pat" Head Summitt (born on June 14, 1952 in Clarksville, Tennessee
) is an American women's college basketball
coach. She is currently the head coach
of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball
team. She is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history of either a men's or women's team in any division. She has been coaching since 1974, all with the Lady Vols, winning eight NCAA national championships, second only to the record 10 titles won by UCLA men's coach John Wooden
. Summitt is the only coach in NCAA history, and one of three college coaches overall, with 1,000 victories. She was named the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century in April 2000. In 2009, the Sporting News placed her number 11 on its list of the 50 Greatest Coaches of All Time in all sports; she was the only woman on the list. In 36 years as a coach, she has never had a losing season.
Summitt has written two books: Reach for the Summitt, which is part a motivational book and part biography, and Raise the Roof about the Lady Vols' 1997–1998 undefeated and NCAA-championship winning season.
. She has four siblings: older brothers Tommy, Charles and Kenneth, and a younger sister, Linda. She married R. B. Summitt in 1980; the two filed for divorce in 2007. They have one son, Ross Tyler Summitt (b. 1990), a walk-on for the Tennessee men's basketball team
who hopes to coach basketball.
When Summitt was in high school, her family moved to nearby Henrietta, so she could play basketball in Cheatham County because Clarksville did not have a girls team. From there, Summitt went to University of Tennessee at Martin
where she was a member of Chi Omega
and won All-American honors, playing for UT–Martin's first women's basketball coach, Nadine Gearin. In 1970, with the passage of Title IX still two years away, there were no athletic scholarships for women. Each of Summitt's brothers had gotten an athletic scholarship, but her parents had to pay her way to college. She later co-captained the first United States women's national basketball team
as a player at the inaugural women's tournament at the 1976 Summer Olympics
, winning the silver medal. Eight years later in 1984, she coached the U.S. women's team to an Olympic gold medal, becoming the first U.S. Olympian to win basketball medals as a player and a coach.
, and was named head coach of the Lady Vols after the previous coach suddenly quit. Summitt earned $250 monthly and washed the players' uniforms - uniforms purchased the previous year with proceeds from a donut
sale. Summitt recalled that era of women's basketball during a February 2009 interview with Time Magazine. "I had to drive the van when I first started coaching," Summitt said. "One time, for a road game, we actually slept in the other team's gym the night before. We had mats, we had our little sleeping bags. When I was a player at the University of Tennessee-Martin, we played at Tennessee Tech for three straight games, and we didn't wash our uniforms. We only had one set. We played because we loved the game. We didn't think anything about it."
During Summitt's first year as head coach, four of her players were only a year younger than she was and all were from Tennessee high schools, which until the early-1970s employed an antiquated six-person game
where offensive and defensive players never crossed mid-court. She coached her first game for Tennessee on December 7, 1974 against Mercer University
in Macon, Georgia
; the Lady Vols lost 84-83. Her first win came almost a month later when the Lady Vols defeated Middle Tennessee State, 69-32 on January 10, 1975. The Lady Vols won the Tennessee College Women’s Sports Federation (TCWSF) Eastern District Championship for the third straight year. However, the team finished 4th overall in the TCWSF (they had been second the previous two years), and were not invited to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) tournament.
In her second season, Summitt coached the Lady Vols to a 16-11 record while earning her 1976 masters degree in physical education
and training as the co-captain of the 1976 U.S. Women's Olympic basketball team that won a silver medal in Montreal. Starting with the 1976-77 season, Summitt directed two 20-win teams, winning back-to-back AIAW Region II championships. The Lady Vols defeated 3-time AIAW champion Delta State
by 20 points in 1976, and earned Tennessee its first number one ranking. 1978 saw the Lady Vols participate in their first AIAW Final Four, where they finished third. Summitt also recorded her 100th win during this season, a 79–66 victory over NC State. Tennessee finished up the 1970s by winning the first-ever SEC tournament, and returning to the AIAW Final Four, where they finished runner-up to Old Dominion, 68–53.
The 1981-82 season featured the first ever NCAA Women's basketball tournament
. The Lady Vols were one of 32 teams invited and named a 2 seed in their region. In the region championship, the Lady Vols upset top-seeded USC
91-90 in overtime to advance to the Final Four. They lost their Final Four match-up with Louisiana Tech, which went on to win the tournament.
The next season, the Lady Vols won the regular season SEC title but fell in the SEC tournament to Georgia. Tennessee was invited to the now-36 team NCAA tournament
and awarded its first-ever 1 seed. Tennessee made it to the regional championship, but fell to Georgia again, 67-63. Summitt won her 200th game on December 3, a 69-56 victory over St. John's
during the Coca-Cola Classic in Detroit.
The 1983-84 season saw Tennessee start out 6-4. However, Summitt rallied her team and finished 22-10, for her eighth straight 20-win season, a streak that still continues. Tennessee not only made it to the NCAA Final Four for the second time in the first three tournaments, but also made it to the title game. However, Tennessee lost by 11 to USC
which also had won the title the previous year. Pat Summitt earned Coach of the Year honors. This season was followed up by another 20-win year in which Tennessee earned both the regular season SEC title (despite only going 4-4) and the tournament title. However, the Lady Vols fell in the NCAA Tournament to Ole Miss
during the round of 16.
The next season was a similar story - The Lady Vols had a good regular season, played a great tournament (reaching the Final Four for the second time in three years), but fell before winning the title.
In 1986-87, Tennessee broke through and defeated perennial power Louisiana Tech 67-44 to win the Lady Vols first national title. Tennessee's Tonya Edwards
was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four. During the regular season, Summitt also earned her 300th win, an 87-66 victory over North Carolina
. The next year in 1987-88, the Lady Vols were positioned to repeat as Tennessee made it to the Final Four yet again. However, Louisiana Tech avenged the previous year's championship game loss with a 9-point victory and went on to win the title.
In 1988-89, the Lady Vols made it to the Final Four for the fourth straight year. After dispatching Maryland
by 12, Tennessee faced SEC rival Auburn
for the national title. Auburn had lost by two to Louisiana Tech in the NCAA title game the previous year and had suffered its only loss in the SEC Championship game by 15 points to Tennessee. The championship game was similar as Tennessee took home its second title in three years with a 76–60 victory. Record-wise, it was Tennessee's best season yet, as theLady Vols won 35 games while losing only a pair of regular season contests to Auburn and Texas. The Lady Vols won every NCAA tournament game by at least 12 points.
In 1989-90, the Lady Vols started off the season well, winning the SEC title. However, the team fell by 1 point to Auburn in the SEC Championship Game and lost in overtime to Virginia
in the regional finals, one game shy of making a trip to the Final Four, which that year was held in Knoxville. Summitt accomplished another milestone that season with her 400th win, a 70-69 victory over South Carolina
on January 25.
, the Lady Vols eliminated Auburn for the second time in three years. In the national semifinals, the Lady Vols beat Stanford, 68-60, to earn the chance to avenge the previous year's tournament loss against Virginia. Just as the previous year's game had gone into overtime, so did this one. Tennessee escaped with a 70-67 win and its third national title in five years. The next season in 1991-92, the Lady Vols did not make it to the regional championship, falling 75-70 to the same Western Kentucky team they had beaten in that round the previous year. In 1992-93, Tennessee defeated the defending champions Stanford twice and swept the SEC season for the first time. However, the Lady Vols were unable to win the SEC tournament title and fell 72-56 in the NCAA tournament to Iowa
in the regional finals.
Early in the 1993-94 season, Summitt grabbed her 500th win, an 80-45 win over Ohio State on November 21. Tennessee went on to win the regular season and tournament SEC titles before falling 71-68 to Louisiana Tech in the regional semifinals. The next season marked Tennessee's return to the Final Four. Tennessee went undefeated in the SEC regular season for the third straight year, but failed to win the tournament title. The top-seeded Lady Vols breezed their way to their fifth national title game, with no other tournament game being closer than 21 points. However, in the national championship game, the Lady Vols fell 70-64 to the undefeated UConn Huskies, coached by her rival, Geno Auriemma
, in the first of seven championships for UConn. During the off-season, Pat Summitt recruited high school stand-out Chamique Holdsclaw
.
In 1995-96, with freshman Holdsclaw and senior Michelle Marciniak
, the Lady Vols won the SEC tournament and made a second straight Final Four trip. In the semi-finals, the Lady Vols avenged the previous year's tournament loss to UConn by ousting Auriemma and the Huskies with a hard-fought 5-point win in overtime. The championship game was not that close as Tennessee easily won their fourth title with an 83-65 win over Georgia.
The 1996-97 Lady Vols posted one of the worst records ever for a Summitt-coached team. In addition to losses to powerhouses such as Louisiana Tech (twice), Stanford, Old Dominion, and Connecticut, Tennessee fell to teams such as Florida, against whom they had been previously undefeated. After their tenth loss of the season, in the SEC semi-finals to Auburn, the team pulled together in time for the NCAA Tournament. After avenging a regular-season loss to undefeated Connecticut, Tennessee continued on their way to the championship game, where they avenged another loss, defeating Old Dominion by 9 for their second straight national title. Summitt also earned her 600th win during the season, a 15- point victory over Marquette
on November 23, 1996.
In many aspects, the 1997–98 team was Summitt's best. With the top-ranked recruiting class as well as Chamique Holdsclaw, the Lady Vols ran the table to a 39-0 season while playing one of the top-ranked schedules in the country. Only three teams came within 10 points of beating the team, and the Lady Vols won a 93–75 victory over Louisiana Tech for their third straight national championship.
Holdsclaw (who by then had won national championships every season she was with the Vols) had predicted the 1998–99 team would be the greatest ever. However, Tennessee didn't claim another national title or make it to the Final Four. Injuries to several players decimated the team and the Lady Vols ultimately fell to Duke in the regional finals. A landmark was set during this season however, as Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings
, and Semeka Randall became the first trio from one team to be named Kodak All-Americans.
The Lady Vols ended the decade with their third straight 30-win season, third straight SEC title, and third straight SEC Tournament title. Additionally, the Lady Vols defeated UConn in the regular season, 72-71, in what would be the Huskies only loss of the year. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee breezed its way to the title game, winning all five games by at least 10 points. However, in the championship game the Lady Vols were beaten soundly by the Huskies, 71–52. This marked the fourth time in six years that Tennessee or UConn had eliminated the other from the tournament. UConn's two wins in that period came in championship games, adding more intensity to the Summit-Auriemma rivalry. During the season, Summitt earned her 700th win, 85-62 at Wisconsin
.
At the 2000 ESPY
awards, the Lady Vols basketball team was named co-team of the decade, along with the Florida State Seminoles football team. Additionally, Pat Summitt was named the Naismith Coach of the Century and Chamique Holdsclaw earned recognition as player of the century.
, their worst finish since 1993-94. During the regular season, Summitt earned her 750th win in the second game against UConn, a 92–88 victory. The team also finished with its fourth straight 30-win season.
In the 2001-02 season, The Lady Vols won their fifth straight SEC championship, but fell again in the conference tournament, this time to LSU. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee reached the Final Four again, with a 5-point win over Vanderbilt. This trip to the Final Four marked Summitt's 13th appearance, which broke Coach John Wooden
's record of 12, and earned her 788th win, which tied Summitt with Jody Conradt
for the winningest coach in women's basketball history. However, the Lady Vols fell in the national semifinals to Connecticut, which wound up winning the championship and capping an undefeated season. This loss ended the season at 29-5, one win shy of extending Summitt's streak of 30-win seasons. Summitt did achieve more milestones during the season; a 106-66 win over USC
marked Summitt's 200th win at home, a victory against Louisiana Tech was her 300th win against a ranked opponent and her 93-65 win over Arkansas
was her 1,000th game as a coach, including international contests.
During the 2002-03 season, the Lady Vols compiled their 6th perfect SEC season and beat powerhouses Duke and Louisiana Tech, among others, during the regular season, but lost to Texas and UConn. In the NCAA tournament, the Lady Vols made it to the title game only to lose to the Huskies again 73-68. During the season, Summitt earned her 800th win, 76-57 over DePaul
and was the fastest coach to reach this milestone.
The 2003-04 season was similar to the previous year. The Lady Vols defeated most of their regular season opponents, including Duke and Louisiana Tech, but dropped games to UConn and Texas. The Lady Vols again went 14-0 in the regular season against SEC competition, but again fell in the conference tournament. Tennessee won five games in the NCAA tournament only to lose 70-61 to Connecticut in the championship game for the second year in a row and third time in five years.
In 2004-05, Tennessee broke its losing streak against Connecticut with a narrow 68-67 regular season victory. Candace Parker
, a highly regarded and nationally known high school player joined the Lady Vols. However, because of injuries, she was redshirted and didn't play that sesson. Tennessee suffered losses during the regular season to Duke, Rutgers, and LSU, while beating Stanford and Louisiana Tech. LSU's win over Tennessee gave the Tigers the SEC title, breaking Tennessee's streak of seven straight regular season conference championships. However, Tennessee won its first tournament title in four years by avenging its earlier loss to LSU loss with a 67-65 win in the SEC Championship game. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee advanced to its fourth Final Four in a row by defeating a Rutgers team that had beaten them earlier in the year. In the Final Four, the Lady Vols blew a 16-point lead to fall 68-64 to underdog Michigan State. In the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Lady Vols defeated Purdue. This victory gave Pat Summitt her 880th win, breaking North Carolina coach Dean Smith
's record of 879 wins, and making her the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history.
By 2005–06, Candace Parker had recovered from her injuries and became a starter. During the season, the Lady Vols dropped three games to SEC foes, LSU, Florida, and Kentucky, to record their worst SEC season since the 1996-97 season. However, they won their second straight game against Connecticut and rebounded from a sub-par SEC season to win the conference tournament for the second year in a row. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee received a number two seed instead of the one seed Summitt believed her team deserved, and played North Carolina in the regional finals. Tennessee trailed from the beginning, fell behind by as many as 16, rallied to cut the lead to five, but ultimately fell 75-63. This loss marked the first time in five years Summitt would not appear in the Final Four.
In the 2006-07 season, Tennessee defeated four ranked teams in a row: UCLA, Stanford, Arizona State, and Middle Tennessee, lost a regular season rematch with the North Carolina Tar Heels and another game against top-ranked Duke, and defeated UConn for the third time in a row. Later, in Baton Rouge
, the Lady Vols clinched the SEC title against LSU in a game where Candace Parker scored 27. However in the SEC tournament semifinals, Tennessee fell to the Tigers. In the NCAA tournament, Summitt's team easily made it to the Final Four, dispatching teams that included SEC foe Mississippi
and 13-seeded Cinderella, Marist
, winning each game by at least 14. In the Final Four, Tennessee again faced North Carolina. Despite shooting poorly, the Lady Vols came back from a 12-point deficit with 8:18 remaining to win 56-50. In the championship game against Rutgers, Tennessee won its seventh title. During the season, Summitt appeared at a men's basketball game dressed in a cheerleader outfit and led the crowd in a rendition of "Rocky Top
" to show her support for the team. A month earlier, her men's counterpart, Bruce Pearl
, showed up at a Lady Vols game in orange body paint.
The 2007-08 season started off with the top-ranked Lady Vols going 3-0, including wins over 9th-ranked Oklahoma and 22nd-ranked Texas. The win over Texas was Summitt's 950th. After two more wins, top=ranked Tennessee knocked off fourth-ranked North Carolina, 83-79, in a rematch of the previous year's Final Four match-up.
Tennessee won their next four games, then headed to California for a match-up with 5th-ranked Stanford. Down by 4 with less than 30 seconds remaining, the Lady Vols managed to tie the game up and send it to overtime, but lost, 73-69.
The Lady Vols responded by winning their next seven games, giving them a 17-1 record going into a match-up with Duke. Candace Parker's 17 points and 12 rebounds, including a bucket with 22 seconds remaining, helped the Lady Vols defeat the Blue Devils for the first time in four years, 67-64. Tennessee would win the rest of their regular season games and defeat LSU for the SEC Tournament Championship. The Lady Vols won four straight games in the NCAA Tournament heading toward their third matchup of the year against the LSU Tigers in the Final Four. Alexis Hornbuckle tipped in a Nicky Anosike missed layup with 0.7 seconds left to win the game, 47-46. On April 8, 2008, Tennessee won its second consecutive national championship (and eighth overall) by beating Stanford 64-48.
Summitt's first milestone of the 2008-09 season was a 73-43 win over the Georgia Bulldogs on February 5, 2009 at Thompson-Boling Arena
in Knoxville. The win was number 1000 for Coach Summitt. The Thompson Boling Arena's court was named "The Summitt" in her honor. The 2008-09 season ended with a dubious first, as the Lady Vols lost 71-55 in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Ball State
in Bowling Green, Kentucky
, marking the first time Tennessee would not appear in the Sweet 16 since the NCAA first sanctioned championships in women's basketball for the 1981-82 season.
, Alzheimer's type
. Despite the diagnosis, she has stated that she plans to coach the 2011-2012 season. In an interview with GoVolsXtra.com, she stated, "There's not going to be any pity party and I'll make sure of that."
as the NCAA coach with the most trips to the Final Four. Summitt is a seven-time SEC Coach of the year and a 7-time NCAA Coach of the year and has won eight national titles, including three consecutive titles from 1996 to 1998. Summitt is known for scheduling tough opponents for her team to play in the regular season, in order to prepare them for the post-season. In her years of coaching, her teams have played top ten ranked teams over 250 times.
In the 1997–1998 tournament, her team went undefeated the entire season, winning all 30 regular and 9 tournament games, earning Summitt's sixth championship. Some sportswriters considered that year's team the greatest team ever in college women's basketball. This was the third consecutive championship for the Lady Vols, and the third for heralded players Chamique Holdsclaw
and Kellie Jolly. Holdsclaw was named a consensus All-American, as was freshman Tamika Catchings
.
Summitt and the 1996-1997 championship team were the subject of an HBO
documentary titled A Cinderella Season: The Lady Vols Fight Back. That year, the Lady Vols posted just a 23–10 record heading into the NCAA tournament, with two losses to Louisiana Tech, setbacks against national powers Georgia
, Stanford
and UConn, but also shocking losses to SEC lesser lights Arkansas, Auburn
, and LSU
(which was 7–20 just two seasons prior and had not yet established itself as a perennial national power). However, Tennessee righted itself during the tournament, shocking previously undefeated UConn in the regional final, 91–81, before defeating Notre Dame
and Old Dominion
in the Final Four in Cincinnati.
Summitt is the only men's or women's basketball coach in NCAA history to reach 1000 wins. She has never had a losing season.
Summitt has taken Tennessee to 18 Final Four appearances, more than any other men's or women's coach. No other women's basketball program has more than 12 appearances. John Wooden holds the men's coaching record with 12.
Tennessee under Summitt is the only program to be invited to every NCAA post-season women's tournament since its inception in 1982. Summitt's teams have received a Number 1 seed in 20 of the 29 tournaments. Only once (2009) has Tennessee failed to advance beyond the first round.
Summitt has won 109 games in the NCAA post-season tournament. No other women's basketball program has played in 100 NCAA tournament games.
Summitt has more 20-win seasons (35) than any other coach in women's basketball history.
Summitt is third all-time in winning percentage among women's Division 1 coaches with a minimum of 10 seasons. Summitt is at .844, behind Leon Barmore of Louisiana Tech (.869) and Auriemma of Connecticut (.862).
Forty-five of her former players have gone on to become coaches.
Since Summitt became Tennessee's coach in 1974, every Lady Vol basketball player who has completed her eligibility at Tennessee has received a college degree or is in the process of completing degree requirements.
# Also won SEC Regular Season Championship.
‡ Also won both SEC Regular Season and
Tournament Championship.
Sources: SEC records; Conference champions
Clarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States, and the fifth largest city in the state. The population was 132,929 in 2010 United States Census...
) is an American women's college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
coach. She is currently the head coach
Coach (basketball)
Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behaviour of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as well as overall physical conditioning.Coaching is...
of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball
Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball
The Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team represents the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee in NCAA women's basketball competition...
team. She is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history of either a men's or women's team in any division. She has been coaching since 1974, all with the Lady Vols, winning eight NCAA national championships, second only to the record 10 titles won by UCLA men's coach John Wooden
John Wooden
John Robert Wooden was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period — seven in a row — as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games...
. Summitt is the only coach in NCAA history, and one of three college coaches overall, with 1,000 victories. She was named the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century in April 2000. In 2009, the Sporting News placed her number 11 on its list of the 50 Greatest Coaches of All Time in all sports; she was the only woman on the list. In 36 years as a coach, she has never had a losing season.
Summitt has written two books: Reach for the Summitt, which is part a motivational book and part biography, and Raise the Roof about the Lady Vols' 1997–1998 undefeated and NCAA-championship winning season.
Early life and family
Summitt was born Patricia Sue Head in Clarksville, TennesseeClarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States, and the fifth largest city in the state. The population was 132,929 in 2010 United States Census...
. She has four siblings: older brothers Tommy, Charles and Kenneth, and a younger sister, Linda. She married R. B. Summitt in 1980; the two filed for divorce in 2007. They have one son, Ross Tyler Summitt (b. 1990), a walk-on for the Tennessee men's basketball team
Tennessee Volunteers basketball
The Tennessee Volunteers basketball team represents the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee in NCAA men's basketball competition. The Volunteers currently compete in the Southeastern Conference...
who hopes to coach basketball.
When Summitt was in high school, her family moved to nearby Henrietta, so she could play basketball in Cheatham County because Clarksville did not have a girls team. From there, Summitt went to University of Tennessee at Martin
University of Tennessee at Martin
The University of Tennessee at Martin is a campus in the University of Tennessee system. Other campuses include the flagship campus in Knoxville, the Chattanooga campus, the Center for the Health Sciences in Memphis, and the Space Institute in Tullahoma...
where she was a member of Chi Omega
Chi Omega
Chi Omega is a women's fraternity and the largest member of the National Panhellenic Conference. Chi Omega has 174 active collegiate chapters and over 230 alumnae chapters. Chi Omega's national headquarters is located in Memphis, Tennessee....
and won All-American honors, playing for UT–Martin's first women's basketball coach, Nadine Gearin. In 1970, with the passage of Title IX still two years away, there were no athletic scholarships for women. Each of Summitt's brothers had gotten an athletic scholarship, but her parents had to pay her way to college. She later co-captained the first United States women's national basketball team
United States women's national basketball team
The United States women's national basketball team are the defending Olympic champions in women's basketball. The team is composed of some of the top American players in the WNBA and the women's college game....
as a player at the inaugural women's tournament at the 1976 Summer Olympics
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
, winning the silver medal. Eight years later in 1984, she coached the U.S. women's team to an Olympic gold medal, becoming the first U.S. Olympian to win basketball medals as a player and a coach.
1970s
Just before the 1974–75 season, with women's college basketball still in its infancy and not yet an NCAA-sanctioned sport, 22-year-old Summitt became a graduate assistant at the University of TennesseeUniversity of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
, and was named head coach of the Lady Vols after the previous coach suddenly quit. Summitt earned $250 monthly and washed the players' uniforms - uniforms purchased the previous year with proceeds from a donut
DONUT
DONUT was an experiment at Fermilab dedicated to the search for tau neutrino interactions. Even though the detector operated only during a few months in the summer of 1997, it was largely successful. By detecting the tau neutrino, it confirmed the existence of the last lepton predicted by the...
sale. Summitt recalled that era of women's basketball during a February 2009 interview with Time Magazine. "I had to drive the van when I first started coaching," Summitt said. "One time, for a road game, we actually slept in the other team's gym the night before. We had mats, we had our little sleeping bags. When I was a player at the University of Tennessee-Martin, we played at Tennessee Tech for three straight games, and we didn't wash our uniforms. We only had one set. We played because we loved the game. We didn't think anything about it."
During Summitt's first year as head coach, four of her players were only a year younger than she was and all were from Tennessee high schools, which until the early-1970s employed an antiquated six-person game
Six-on-six basketball
Six-on-six basketball or basquette is a largely archaic variant of women's basketball. It is played with the same rules as regular basketball, with the following exceptions:...
where offensive and defensive players never crossed mid-court. She coached her first game for Tennessee on December 7, 1974 against Mercer University
Mercer University
Mercer University is an independent, private, coeducational university with a Baptist heritage located in the U.S. state of Georgia. Mercer is the only university of its size in the United States that offers programs in eleven diversified fields of study: liberal arts, business, education, music,...
in Macon, Georgia
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
; the Lady Vols lost 84-83. Her first win came almost a month later when the Lady Vols defeated Middle Tennessee State, 69-32 on January 10, 1975. The Lady Vols won the Tennessee College Women’s Sports Federation (TCWSF) Eastern District Championship for the third straight year. However, the team finished 4th overall in the TCWSF (they had been second the previous two years), and were not invited to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) tournament.
In her second season, Summitt coached the Lady Vols to a 16-11 record while earning her 1976 masters degree in physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
and training as the co-captain of the 1976 U.S. Women's Olympic basketball team that won a silver medal in Montreal. Starting with the 1976-77 season, Summitt directed two 20-win teams, winning back-to-back AIAW Region II championships. The Lady Vols defeated 3-time AIAW champion Delta State
Delta State University
Delta State University, also known as DSU, is a regional public university located in Cleveland, Mississippi, United States, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta...
by 20 points in 1976, and earned Tennessee its first number one ranking. 1978 saw the Lady Vols participate in their first AIAW Final Four, where they finished third. Summitt also recorded her 100th win during this season, a 79–66 victory over NC State. Tennessee finished up the 1970s by winning the first-ever SEC tournament, and returning to the AIAW Final Four, where they finished runner-up to Old Dominion, 68–53.
1980s
During the 1980-81 season, the Lady Vols went 25-6, and avenged their championship game loss to Old Dominion by defeating them three times. The team made it to the AIAW Final Four for the third straight year; finished runner-up for the second consecutive year, losing to Louisiana Tech, 79-59.The 1981-82 season featured the first ever NCAA Women's basketball tournament
1982 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1982 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament was the first NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament ever held. It featured 32 teams. Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Cheyney, and Maryland met in the Final Four, held at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia and hosted by Old Dominion University,...
. The Lady Vols were one of 32 teams invited and named a 2 seed in their region. In the region championship, the Lady Vols upset top-seeded USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
91-90 in overtime to advance to the Final Four. They lost their Final Four match-up with Louisiana Tech, which went on to win the tournament.
The next season, the Lady Vols won the regular season SEC title but fell in the SEC tournament to Georgia. Tennessee was invited to the now-36 team NCAA tournament
1983 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1983 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament began on March 18 and concluded on April 3 with USC winning the title. The tournament consisted of 36 teams. The Final Four was held in Norfolk, Virginia and consisted of USC, Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion, and Georgia...
and awarded its first-ever 1 seed. Tennessee made it to the regional championship, but fell to Georgia again, 67-63. Summitt won her 200th game on December 3, a 69-56 victory over St. John's
St. John's University (New York City)
St. John's University is a private, Roman Catholic, coeducational university located in New York City, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission in 1870, the school was originally located in the borough of Brooklyn in the neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant...
during the Coca-Cola Classic in Detroit.
The 1983-84 season saw Tennessee start out 6-4. However, Summitt rallied her team and finished 22-10, for her eighth straight 20-win season, a streak that still continues. Tennessee not only made it to the NCAA Final Four for the second time in the first three tournaments, but also made it to the title game. However, Tennessee lost by 11 to USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
which also had won the title the previous year. Pat Summitt earned Coach of the Year honors. This season was followed up by another 20-win year in which Tennessee earned both the regular season SEC title (despite only going 4-4) and the tournament title. However, the Lady Vols fell in the NCAA Tournament to Ole Miss
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
during the round of 16.
The next season was a similar story - The Lady Vols had a good regular season, played a great tournament (reaching the Final Four for the second time in three years), but fell before winning the title.
In 1986-87, Tennessee broke through and defeated perennial power Louisiana Tech 67-44 to win the Lady Vols first national title. Tennessee's Tonya Edwards
Tonya Edwards
Tonya Edwards is a former professional basketball player and is currently a college coach.- Professional career :...
was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four. During the regular season, Summitt also earned her 300th win, an 87-66 victory over North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. The next year in 1987-88, the Lady Vols were positioned to repeat as Tennessee made it to the Final Four yet again. However, Louisiana Tech avenged the previous year's championship game loss with a 9-point victory and went on to win the title.
In 1988-89, the Lady Vols made it to the Final Four for the fourth straight year. After dispatching Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
by 12, Tennessee faced SEC rival Auburn
Auburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
for the national title. Auburn had lost by two to Louisiana Tech in the NCAA title game the previous year and had suffered its only loss in the SEC Championship game by 15 points to Tennessee. The championship game was similar as Tennessee took home its second title in three years with a 76–60 victory. Record-wise, it was Tennessee's best season yet, as theLady Vols won 35 games while losing only a pair of regular season contests to Auburn and Texas. The Lady Vols won every NCAA tournament game by at least 12 points.
In 1989-90, the Lady Vols started off the season well, winning the SEC title. However, the team fell by 1 point to Auburn in the SEC Championship Game and lost in overtime to Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in the regional finals, one game shy of making a trip to the Final Four, which that year was held in Knoxville. Summitt accomplished another milestone that season with her 400th win, a 70-69 victory over South Carolina
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
on January 25.
1990s
Tennessee failed to win the SEC regular season or the tournament championship in 1990-91, but after a close win in the NCAA regional semifinals against Western KentuckyWestern Kentucky University
Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. It was formally founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier....
, the Lady Vols eliminated Auburn for the second time in three years. In the national semifinals, the Lady Vols beat Stanford, 68-60, to earn the chance to avenge the previous year's tournament loss against Virginia. Just as the previous year's game had gone into overtime, so did this one. Tennessee escaped with a 70-67 win and its third national title in five years. The next season in 1991-92, the Lady Vols did not make it to the regional championship, falling 75-70 to the same Western Kentucky team they had beaten in that round the previous year. In 1992-93, Tennessee defeated the defending champions Stanford twice and swept the SEC season for the first time. However, the Lady Vols were unable to win the SEC tournament title and fell 72-56 in the NCAA tournament to Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
in the regional finals.
Early in the 1993-94 season, Summitt grabbed her 500th win, an 80-45 win over Ohio State on November 21. Tennessee went on to win the regular season and tournament SEC titles before falling 71-68 to Louisiana Tech in the regional semifinals. The next season marked Tennessee's return to the Final Four. Tennessee went undefeated in the SEC regular season for the third straight year, but failed to win the tournament title. The top-seeded Lady Vols breezed their way to their fifth national title game, with no other tournament game being closer than 21 points. However, in the national championship game, the Lady Vols fell 70-64 to the undefeated UConn Huskies, coached by her rival, Geno Auriemma
Geno Auriemma
Luigi "Geno" Auriemma is the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team, which he has led to seven National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I national championships...
, in the first of seven championships for UConn. During the off-season, Pat Summitt recruited high school stand-out Chamique Holdsclaw
Chamique Holdsclaw
Chamique Shaunta Holdsclaw is a professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association most recently under a contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars...
.
In 1995-96, with freshman Holdsclaw and senior Michelle Marciniak
Michelle Marciniak
Michelle Marciniak is a former All American collegiate and professional basketball player, who played point guard in the Women's National Basketball Association . As a floor general, Marciniak competed for two National Championships during her three year career at the University of Tennessee...
, the Lady Vols won the SEC tournament and made a second straight Final Four trip. In the semi-finals, the Lady Vols avenged the previous year's tournament loss to UConn by ousting Auriemma and the Huskies with a hard-fought 5-point win in overtime. The championship game was not that close as Tennessee easily won their fourth title with an 83-65 win over Georgia.
The 1996-97 Lady Vols posted one of the worst records ever for a Summitt-coached team. In addition to losses to powerhouses such as Louisiana Tech (twice), Stanford, Old Dominion, and Connecticut, Tennessee fell to teams such as Florida, against whom they had been previously undefeated. After their tenth loss of the season, in the SEC semi-finals to Auburn, the team pulled together in time for the NCAA Tournament. After avenging a regular-season loss to undefeated Connecticut, Tennessee continued on their way to the championship game, where they avenged another loss, defeating Old Dominion by 9 for their second straight national title. Summitt also earned her 600th win during the season, a 15- point victory over Marquette
Marquette University
Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...
on November 23, 1996.
In many aspects, the 1997–98 team was Summitt's best. With the top-ranked recruiting class as well as Chamique Holdsclaw, the Lady Vols ran the table to a 39-0 season while playing one of the top-ranked schedules in the country. Only three teams came within 10 points of beating the team, and the Lady Vols won a 93–75 victory over Louisiana Tech for their third straight national championship.
Holdsclaw (who by then had won national championships every season she was with the Vols) had predicted the 1998–99 team would be the greatest ever. However, Tennessee didn't claim another national title or make it to the Final Four. Injuries to several players decimated the team and the Lady Vols ultimately fell to Duke in the regional finals. A landmark was set during this season however, as Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings
Tamika Catchings
Tamika Devonne Catchings is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the WNBA and Turkish team Galatasaray. She is a prolific scorer close to and far from the basket, as well as a capable rebounder, ball handler, and defender. After playing at Adlai E...
, and Semeka Randall became the first trio from one team to be named Kodak All-Americans.
The Lady Vols ended the decade with their third straight 30-win season, third straight SEC title, and third straight SEC Tournament title. Additionally, the Lady Vols defeated UConn in the regular season, 72-71, in what would be the Huskies only loss of the year. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee breezed its way to the title game, winning all five games by at least 10 points. However, in the championship game the Lady Vols were beaten soundly by the Huskies, 71–52. This marked the fourth time in six years that Tennessee or UConn had eliminated the other from the tournament. UConn's two wins in that period came in championship games, adding more intensity to the Summit-Auriemma rivalry. During the season, Summitt earned her 700th win, 85-62 at Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
.
At the 2000 ESPY
Espy
-People:* Cecil Espy , American baseball player* Duane Espy, American baseball figure* James Pollard Espy , American meteorologist.* Mike Espy , American politician* William Gray Espy , American actor...
awards, the Lady Vols basketball team was named co-team of the decade, along with the Florida State Seminoles football team. Additionally, Pat Summitt was named the Naismith Coach of the Century and Chamique Holdsclaw earned recognition as player of the century.
2000s
In the 2000–01 season, the Lady Vols claimed another SEC title, winning all 14 SEC games. Additionally, they split the season series with the UConn Huskies and headed into the SEC tournament with a 28–1 record. However, the Lady Vols were upset by Vanderbilt in the semifinals and then lost in the Sweet Sixteen to XavierXavier University (Cincinnati)
Xavier University is a co-educational Jesuit university in the United States located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The University is the sixth-oldest Catholic university in the nation and has an undergraduate enrollment of about 4,000 students and graduate enrollment of 2,600 students. Xavier is primarily...
, their worst finish since 1993-94. During the regular season, Summitt earned her 750th win in the second game against UConn, a 92–88 victory. The team also finished with its fourth straight 30-win season.
In the 2001-02 season, The Lady Vols won their fifth straight SEC championship, but fell again in the conference tournament, this time to LSU. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee reached the Final Four again, with a 5-point win over Vanderbilt. This trip to the Final Four marked Summitt's 13th appearance, which broke Coach John Wooden
John Wooden
John Robert Wooden was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period — seven in a row — as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games...
's record of 12, and earned her 788th win, which tied Summitt with Jody Conradt
Jody Conradt
Jody Conradt is a retired women's basketball coach. She was the head coach for the women's team at University of Texas at Austin . Her coaching career spanned 38 years, with the last 31 years at UT from 1976 to 2007. She also served concurrently as the UT women's athletic director from 1992 to 2001...
for the winningest coach in women's basketball history. However, the Lady Vols fell in the national semifinals to Connecticut, which wound up winning the championship and capping an undefeated season. This loss ended the season at 29-5, one win shy of extending Summitt's streak of 30-win seasons. Summitt did achieve more milestones during the season; a 106-66 win over USC
USC Trojans Basketball
The University of Southern California Trojans men's basketball program is the college basketball team that competes in the Pacific-12 Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and represents the University of Southern California on the court.The program began playing...
marked Summitt's 200th win at home, a victory against Louisiana Tech was her 300th win against a ranked opponent and her 93-65 win over Arkansas
Arkansas Ladybacks
The women's teams competing for the University of Arkansas , refers to any of the women's sports teams that competes officially for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. The term Lady'Backs evolved over time as newspaper editors would shorten the mascot name...
was her 1,000th game as a coach, including international contests.
During the 2002-03 season, the Lady Vols compiled their 6th perfect SEC season and beat powerhouses Duke and Louisiana Tech, among others, during the regular season, but lost to Texas and UConn. In the NCAA tournament, the Lady Vols made it to the title game only to lose to the Huskies again 73-68. During the season, Summitt earned her 800th win, 76-57 over DePaul
Depaul
Depaul, de Paul or DePaul may refer to:* DePaul University, is the largest Catholic university in North America located within and around Chicago, IL* Vincent de Paul* DePaul Catholic High School...
and was the fastest coach to reach this milestone.
The 2003-04 season was similar to the previous year. The Lady Vols defeated most of their regular season opponents, including Duke and Louisiana Tech, but dropped games to UConn and Texas. The Lady Vols again went 14-0 in the regular season against SEC competition, but again fell in the conference tournament. Tennessee won five games in the NCAA tournament only to lose 70-61 to Connecticut in the championship game for the second year in a row and third time in five years.
In 2004-05, Tennessee broke its losing streak against Connecticut with a narrow 68-67 regular season victory. Candace Parker
Candace Parker
Candace Nicole Parker is an All-American basketball player for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks and is also the younger sister of NBA player Anthony Parker. She was drafted to the team from Tennessee in 2008...
, a highly regarded and nationally known high school player joined the Lady Vols. However, because of injuries, she was redshirted and didn't play that sesson. Tennessee suffered losses during the regular season to Duke, Rutgers, and LSU, while beating Stanford and Louisiana Tech. LSU's win over Tennessee gave the Tigers the SEC title, breaking Tennessee's streak of seven straight regular season conference championships. However, Tennessee won its first tournament title in four years by avenging its earlier loss to LSU loss with a 67-65 win in the SEC Championship game. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee advanced to its fourth Final Four in a row by defeating a Rutgers team that had beaten them earlier in the year. In the Final Four, the Lady Vols blew a 16-point lead to fall 68-64 to underdog Michigan State. In the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Lady Vols defeated Purdue. This victory gave Pat Summitt her 880th win, breaking North Carolina coach Dean Smith
Dean Smith
Dean Edwards Smith is a retired American head coach of men's college basketball. Originally from Emporia, Kansas, Smith has been called a “coaching legend” by the Basketball Hall of Fame. Smith is best known for his successful 36-year coaching tenure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel...
's record of 879 wins, and making her the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history.
By 2005–06, Candace Parker had recovered from her injuries and became a starter. During the season, the Lady Vols dropped three games to SEC foes, LSU, Florida, and Kentucky, to record their worst SEC season since the 1996-97 season. However, they won their second straight game against Connecticut and rebounded from a sub-par SEC season to win the conference tournament for the second year in a row. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee received a number two seed instead of the one seed Summitt believed her team deserved, and played North Carolina in the regional finals. Tennessee trailed from the beginning, fell behind by as many as 16, rallied to cut the lead to five, but ultimately fell 75-63. This loss marked the first time in five years Summitt would not appear in the Final Four.
In the 2006-07 season, Tennessee defeated four ranked teams in a row: UCLA, Stanford, Arizona State, and Middle Tennessee, lost a regular season rematch with the North Carolina Tar Heels and another game against top-ranked Duke, and defeated UConn for the third time in a row. Later, in Baton Rouge
Pete Maravich Assembly Center
Pete Maravich Assembly Center is a 13,472-seat multi-purpose arena in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The arena opened in 1972. It is home to the Louisiana State University Tigers and Lady Tigers basketball teams. It was originally known as the LSU Assembly Center, but was renamed in memory of Pete...
, the Lady Vols clinched the SEC title against LSU in a game where Candace Parker scored 27. However in the SEC tournament semifinals, Tennessee fell to the Tigers. In the NCAA tournament, Summitt's team easily made it to the Final Four, dispatching teams that included SEC foe Mississippi
Ole Miss Rebels
University of Mississippi sports teams, originally known as the "Mississippi Flood" , were re-named the Rebels in 1936 and compete in the twelve-member Southeastern Conference of the NCAA's Division I. The school's colors are cardinal red and navy blue , purposely chosen to mirror the school...
and 13-seeded Cinderella, Marist
Marist College
Marist College is a private liberal arts college on the east bank of the Hudson River near Poughkeepsie, New York. The site was established in 1905 by Marist Brothers, and the college was chartered in 1929...
, winning each game by at least 14. In the Final Four, Tennessee again faced North Carolina. Despite shooting poorly, the Lady Vols came back from a 12-point deficit with 8:18 remaining to win 56-50. In the championship game against Rutgers, Tennessee won its seventh title. During the season, Summitt appeared at a men's basketball game dressed in a cheerleader outfit and led the crowd in a rendition of "Rocky Top
Rocky Top
"Rocky Top" is an American country and bluegrass song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1967 and first recorded by the Osborne Brothers later that same year...
" to show her support for the team. A month earlier, her men's counterpart, Bruce Pearl
Bruce Pearl
Bruce Dean-Fredrick Pearl is an American college basketball coach who most recently served as head coach of the University of Tennessee Volunteers men's team. He is a graduate of Boston College, where he obtained his first position as an assistant basketball coach. He was the first coach to lead...
, showed up at a Lady Vols game in orange body paint.
Tennessee won their next four games, then headed to California for a match-up with 5th-ranked Stanford. Down by 4 with less than 30 seconds remaining, the Lady Vols managed to tie the game up and send it to overtime, but lost, 73-69.
The Lady Vols responded by winning their next seven games, giving them a 17-1 record going into a match-up with Duke. Candace Parker's 17 points and 12 rebounds, including a bucket with 22 seconds remaining, helped the Lady Vols defeat the Blue Devils for the first time in four years, 67-64. Tennessee would win the rest of their regular season games and defeat LSU for the SEC Tournament Championship. The Lady Vols won four straight games in the NCAA Tournament heading toward their third matchup of the year against the LSU Tigers in the Final Four. Alexis Hornbuckle tipped in a Nicky Anosike missed layup with 0.7 seconds left to win the game, 47-46. On April 8, 2008, Tennessee won its second consecutive national championship (and eighth overall) by beating Stanford 64-48.
Summitt's first milestone of the 2008-09 season was a 73-43 win over the Georgia Bulldogs on February 5, 2009 at Thompson-Boling Arena
Thompson-Boling Arena
Thompson-Boling Arena is multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The arena opened in 1987. It is home to the Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Vols basketball teams. Since 2008, it has been home to the Lady Vol volleyball team. It is named after B....
in Knoxville. The win was number 1000 for Coach Summitt. The Thompson Boling Arena's court was named "The Summitt" in her honor. The 2008-09 season ended with a dubious first, as the Lady Vols lost 71-55 in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Ball State
Ball State Cardinals
Ball State University's athletic teams are called the Cardinals. The Cardinals are part of the NCAA Mid-American Conference and located in Muncie, Indiana...
in Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green is the third-most populous city in the state of Kentucky after Louisville and Lexington, with a population of 58,067 as of the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Warren County and the principal city of the Bowling Green, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area with an estimated 2009...
, marking the first time Tennessee would not appear in the Sweet 16 since the NCAA first sanctioned championships in women's basketball for the 1981-82 season.
Health
In August 2011, Summitt announced that she had been diagnosed three months earlier with early-onset dementiaDementia
Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
, Alzheimer's type
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
. Despite the diagnosis, she has stated that she plans to coach the 2011-2012 season. In an interview with GoVolsXtra.com, she stated, "There's not going to be any pity party and I'll make sure of that."
Coaching style
Summitt says that she has toned down her style over the years. In 2007 she told U.S. News and World Report that she does not yell at her players nearly as much as she did earlier in her career. Tennessee at least twice asked Summitt to consider coaching the men's team, once before 1997 and again in 2001.Tournament record
Summitt has 15 Southeastern Conference regular season titles with the Lady Vols, as well as 14 tournament titles. Summitt's Lady Vols have made an appearance in every NCAA Tournament, as well as every Sweet 16, except for 2009, and have appeared 18 times in the Final Four. When she made her 13th trip to the Final Four as a coach in 2002, she surpassed John WoodenJohn Wooden
John Robert Wooden was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period — seven in a row — as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games...
as the NCAA coach with the most trips to the Final Four. Summitt is a seven-time SEC Coach of the year and a 7-time NCAA Coach of the year and has won eight national titles, including three consecutive titles from 1996 to 1998. Summitt is known for scheduling tough opponents for her team to play in the regular season, in order to prepare them for the post-season. In her years of coaching, her teams have played top ten ranked teams over 250 times.
In the 1997–1998 tournament, her team went undefeated the entire season, winning all 30 regular and 9 tournament games, earning Summitt's sixth championship. Some sportswriters considered that year's team the greatest team ever in college women's basketball. This was the third consecutive championship for the Lady Vols, and the third for heralded players Chamique Holdsclaw
Chamique Holdsclaw
Chamique Shaunta Holdsclaw is a professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association most recently under a contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars...
and Kellie Jolly. Holdsclaw was named a consensus All-American, as was freshman Tamika Catchings
Tamika Catchings
Tamika Devonne Catchings is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the WNBA and Turkish team Galatasaray. She is a prolific scorer close to and far from the basket, as well as a capable rebounder, ball handler, and defender. After playing at Adlai E...
.
Summitt and the 1996-1997 championship team were the subject of an HBO
Home Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
documentary titled A Cinderella Season: The Lady Vols Fight Back. That year, the Lady Vols posted just a 23–10 record heading into the NCAA tournament, with two losses to Louisiana Tech, setbacks against national powers Georgia
Georgia Lady Bulldogs basketball
The Georgia Lady Bulldogs basketball team represents the University of Georgia in basketball. The Lady Bulldogs are a member of the Southeastern Conference . The "Lady Dawgs," as they are sometimes called, play in Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia...
, Stanford
Stanford Cardinal
The Stanford Cardinal is the nickname of the athletic teams at Stanford University.-Nickname and mascot history:Following its win over Cal in the first-ever Big Game in 1892, the color cardinal was picked as the primary color of Stanford's athletic teams...
and UConn, but also shocking losses to SEC lesser lights Arkansas, Auburn
Auburn Tigers
Auburn Tigers is the name given to Auburn University athletic teams. The University is a member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 19 varsity teams in 13 sports:* Men's sports** Baseball** Basketball...
, and LSU
LSU Lady Tigers basketball
The LSU Lady Tigers basketball team represents Louisiana State University in NCAA Division I women's college basketball. The team is currently coached by former UCLA head coach Nikki Caldwell, who accepted the job on April 2, 2011. Past coaches include Barbara Swanner, Jinks Coleman,...
(which was 7–20 just two seasons prior and had not yet established itself as a perennial national power). However, Tennessee righted itself during the tournament, shocking previously undefeated UConn in the regional final, 91–81, before defeating Notre Dame
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame's nickname is inherited from Irish immigrant soldiers who fought in the Civil War with the Union's Irish Brigade, , recollected among other places in the poetry of Joyce Kilmer who served with one of the Irish Brigade regiments during World War I...
and Old Dominion
Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University is a state university located in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools...
in the Final Four in Cincinnati.
Awards and titles
- 16-time SEC Champions (1980, 1985, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2011)
- 15-time SEC Tournament Champions (1980, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011)
- 8-time SEC Coach of the Year (1983, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011)
- 7-time NCAA Coach of the Year (1983, 1987, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2004)
- 8-time NCAA Champions (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008)
Honors
- 1999: Inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of FameWomen's Basketball Hall of FameThe Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors men and women who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA...
as a member of the inaugural class.
- 2000: Inducted into the Basketball Hall of FameBasketball Hall of FameThe Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, honors exceptional basketball players, coaches, referees, executives, and other major contributors to the game of basketball worldwide...
.
- April 2000.: Named the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century.
- 2008: Named Best Coach/Manager ESPY AwardBest Coach/Manager ESPY AwardThe Best Coach/Manager ESPY Award has been presented annually since 1993 to the head coach or manager of a team contesting play in a professional North American or collegiate sports league adjudged to be the best in a given calendar year...
. Award encompasses all sports college and professional
- 2009: Named to Sporting News list of the 50 greatest coaches of all time (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, college basketball, and college football). She is listed in position 11.
- Summitt is the only person to have two courts used by NCAA Division I basketball teams named in her honor: "Pat Head Summitt Court" at the University of Tennessee at Martin, and "The Summitt" at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
- She also has two streets named after her: "Pat Head Summitt Street" on the University of Tennessee campus and "Pat Head Summitt Avenue" on the University of Tennessee at Martin campus.
Records
Summitt has the most national championships in NCAA women's basketball with 8.Summitt is the only men's or women's basketball coach in NCAA history to reach 1000 wins. She has never had a losing season.
Summitt has taken Tennessee to 18 Final Four appearances, more than any other men's or women's coach. No other women's basketball program has more than 12 appearances. John Wooden holds the men's coaching record with 12.
Tennessee under Summitt is the only program to be invited to every NCAA post-season women's tournament since its inception in 1982. Summitt's teams have received a Number 1 seed in 20 of the 29 tournaments. Only once (2009) has Tennessee failed to advance beyond the first round.
Summitt has won 109 games in the NCAA post-season tournament. No other women's basketball program has played in 100 NCAA tournament games.
Summitt has more 20-win seasons (35) than any other coach in women's basketball history.
Summitt is third all-time in winning percentage among women's Division 1 coaches with a minimum of 10 seasons. Summitt is at .844, behind Leon Barmore of Louisiana Tech (.869) and Auriemma of Connecticut (.862).
Forty-five of her former players have gone on to become coaches.
Since Summitt became Tennessee's coach in 1974, every Lady Vol basketball player who has completed her eligibility at Tennessee has received a college degree or is in the process of completing degree requirements.
Head coaching record
† Also won SEC Tournament Championship.‡ Also won both SEC Regular Season and
Tournament Championship.
Sources: SEC records; Conference champions
External links
- Selected coverage of Pat Head Summitt , Knoxville News SentinelKnoxville News SentinelThe Knoxville News Sentinel is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. It operates , an award-winning news website....
- coachsummitt.com
- Summitt biography
- "Eyes of the Storm" - a 1998 Sports IllustratedSports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
feature article about Summitt by Gary SmithGary Smith (sportswriter)Gary Smith is an American sportswriter. He is best known for his lengthy human interest stories in Sports Illustrated, where he has worked since 1983.-Career: :)...