The winningest coach in in NCAA Division One history has passed away earlier today.
Pat Summitt, former University of Tennessee basketball coach, has been battling Alzheimer’s since 2011 which caused her to step down from her role as head coach a year later.
Her amazing career began in 1974 when she took the head coaching job at Tennessee at just 22 years old. Since then she led the Lay Volunteers to a 1,098 wins with eight national titles. In 1984 she was the head coach for U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team. The U.S. team went undefeated and won their first ever gold metal!
Summitt stand as one of the greats in the sports world, belonging in the company of coaching revolutionaries such as Vince Lombardi and Bear Bryant. She was an eight time SEC Coach of Year , along with NCAA Coach of the Year seven times. She was also honored with the 2012 President Medal of Freedom, the highest award a civilian can win in the United States.
She has produced some the best basketball players in woman’s history including Tamika Catchings, Chamique Holdsclaw, and Candace Parker.
Any one who believed she couldn’t coach due to her gender was quickly equalized. Pat Summitt was even asked to coach the Tennessee’s men team twice but declined. She was a fiery and intense coach, who always stood behind her team. Summit wanted the best for each of her players stating that she expected each player to sit in the first three rows in every class, with zero unexcused absences. She would stop practices to ask her players “What have you for your team today?”.
Summitt was one of a kind and has paved the way for several players and coaches to succeed in the sport of basketball. She will be missed.
