Pat Summitt to step down: legendary Tennessee women’s basketball coach won 1,098 game

[Montag]

Pat Summitt to step down: legendary Tennessee women’s basketball coach won 1,098 games, 8 NCAA titles
by Liz Clarke

April 18, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/pat...story.html

excerpt:

Eight months after disclosing her diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, Pat Summitt announced Wednesday that she will step aside as the Tennessee women’s basketball coach, making way for longtime assistant Holly Warlick take over the Lady Vols.

The university made the news official via a press release Wednesday afternoon after Summitt met with her players in Knoxville, Tenn., to inform them in private. A news conference is expected to follow Thursday.

Summitt, who has won more college basketball games than any man or woman in the sport (1,098), is not retiring but will remain part of Tennessee’s staff, assuming the title “head coach emeritus,” which will give her latitude and flexibility to do as much mentoring with players as her health allows.

But her role will be circumscribed by NCAA rules, which will permit her to watch practice, collaborate on game plans and continue as a motivator, disciplinarian and mentor but will preclude her from actively coaching. Rather than sit on the bench during games, she’ll sit directly behind the Volunteers’ staff, able to consult with Warlick and, no doubt, telegraph her impressions of what’s unfolding on court through her famously piercing glare.

The development brings a measure of stability to an inherently fluid and unknowable situation, with neither Summitt nor her doctors able to predict the course of the disease.

In an exclusive interview with The Washington Post on Wednesday morning, Summitt said the decision to step aside after 38 seasons as Tennessee’s coach was not difficult, particularly given her long and productive association with Warlick, an assistant these last 27 years who shouldered game-day coaching duties last season, when Tennessee went 27-9 and lost to eventual national champion Baylor in a NCAA tournament region final.

[Andrea]

This is very sad, but also bittersweet. She is stepping down while she can still appreciate the impressive career she had. She will remain active with the team, without having the intense demands that a head coach has. I wish her the best. Alzheimer's is a very scary disease in my mind, and early onset even moreso.

[Montag]

She's very much like Tom Landry, John Wooden, or Joe Paterno (pre-scandal) I think. You really don't see this kind of person in men's sports anymore (maybe Belichick) not 100% sure why. But she is definitely a legend of sports.

[Bellator]

(04-18-2012 03:36 PM)Montag Wrote:  She's very much like Tom Landry, John Wooden, or Joe Paterno (pre-scandal) I think. You really don't see this kind of person in men's sports anymore (maybe Belichick) not 100% sure why. But she is definitely a legend of sports.

I am going to add Dan Gable to that list.

Pat Summit is a household name for sure. I wish her the best.