Once You’ve Been to the Summitt, It’s All Downhill

Pat Summitt, who proved testicles were not necessary to browbeat athletes into winning, has died of Alzheimer’s-related complications at the age of 64. When Summitt started her coaching career with the 1974-75 season, women’s college basketball was not yet an NCAA-sanctioned sport, with the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women serving as the governing body. She earned $250 a month, drove the team van and had to wash the team’s uniforms, which had been bought with the proceeds of a donut sale the previous year. After her second season at Tennessee, Summitt was co-captain on the women’s silver-medal winning Olympic team. She won gold as head coach in 1984, becoming the first to earn medals as both player and coach. Summitt took Tennessee to the Final Four of the first women’s NCAA Tournament in 1982, and reached at least the Sweet Sixteen every year thereafter until 2008-09. All told, she won 8 NCAA titles, the record at the time of her retirement, and is one of only 4 coaches to win more than 1,000 games, finishing with an all-gender record 1,098, never posting a losing record in 38 seasons as head coach. She won 7 NCAA Coach of the Year awards, and was named the Naismith Coach of the Century in 2000. She was so successful, that the University of Tennessee twice asked her to take over the men’s team. Of greatest satisfaction to Summitt, every player who completed her eligibility at Tennessee during her tenure graduated with a degree or is in the process of doing so.