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Pat Summitt steps down due to dementia


BigMac12

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I would not hesitate in the slightest to put her name up there with people like John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith in terms of greatest basketball coaches at the college level. She deserves to be in that class.

She was there right at the start of women's hoops as a major college sport and had dominating teams year in and year out all the way up until her retirement. How many coaches can say they won multiple National titles in three different decades?

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It was somewhat jarring to not see her active on the bench during the tournament.

FWIW, on Monday the University announced that 17 athletic department jobs would be cut as a result of the consolidation of the two departments (women's and men's departments were run as separate businesses). Cutting those 17 jobs will save $2.5M/year in salaries and benefits. Her base university salary was $375,000, endorsements and bonuses took her over $1.2M.

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She is alone at the top if you ask me, nobody meant more to Women's Basketball than Pat Summit. Sad to see her go, and that its an illness that will ultimately rob her mind and kill her that forced her to leave before she wanted to.

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As a Tennessee fan, this is pretty devastating, but totally expected. Best wishes go out to Pat Summitt. She did some amazing things for Ol Rocky Top.

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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It's a bad situation, sure, but I wouldn't mind seeing Tennessee lose a step, or two. Women's basketball really needs some new blood winning every once in awhile.

You do know that Texas A&M won the championship last year, right? :P

*Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who are authoritative experts on stuff. 😁

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It's a bad situation, sure, but I wouldn't mind seeing Tennessee lose a step, or two. Women's basketball really needs some new blood winning every once in awhile.

You do know that Texas A&M won the championship last year, right? :P

Well, yes, but still. It's generally Baylor, UConn, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and Stanford in contention for the National Championship. Last year was, unfortunately, an outlier, not the norm.

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Pretty illustrious career that ended well before her time. Sucks about the dimentia, but being away from the game may help manage that while also letting her lasting image with basketball fans be one of composure, grace, and dignity.

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I had the absolute honor to play in the band for her final game (in Des Moines) and for her final home game in Knoxville. This obviously came as no surprise to anyone, but it's still a very sad and quiet day when the face of a university, city, state, and sport is forced away for these reasons. For anyone that followed the team at all this year, it was very difficult seeing Pat just sitting on the bench silent, occasionally staring off into space.

It may be a hectic time in the athletic department with this merger, but I definitely commend Dave Hart for how he handled this.

It's also notable that [21 year old] son Tyler Summitt accepted a job as an assistant coach at Marquette the same day this was released.

Wow what a crazy 3-4 years around here....

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That is sad, and 59 is young for dementia, hopefully they can slow the disease enough that she can keep her memories and her mind for many years to come.

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The most impressive stat so far that I've seen:

Since the inception of the Women's NCAA Tournament in the 81-82' Season, Pat Summit has lead the Lady Volunteers to every single tournament. All 31. Never missed a year. That is impressive. :notworthy:

Here is a stat that is even more impressive. Of those 31 years the Vols at least made it to the Sweet 16 all but one time.

If they haven't already the Women's NCAA Coach of the Year and Player of the Year should become the Summitt Award like the Wooden Award for the Men.

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I had the absolute honor to play in the band for her final game (in Des Moines) and for her final home game in Knoxville. This obviously came as no surprise to anyone, but it's still a very sad and quiet day when the face of a university, city, state, and sport is forced away for these reasons. For anyone that followed the team at all this year, it was very difficult seeing Pat just sitting on the bench silent, occasionally staring off into space.

It may be a hectic time in the athletic department with this merger, but I definitely commend Dave Hart for how he handled this.

It's also notable that [21 year old] son Tyler Summitt accepted a job as an assistant coach at Marquette the same day this was released.

Wow what a crazy 3-4 years around here....

Face of the university, city, and state? Maybe sport, but when people think of the state of Tennessee, they think of Pat Summitt?

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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I had the absolute honor to play in the band for her final game (in Des Moines) and for her final home game in Knoxville. This obviously came as no surprise to anyone, but it's still a very sad and quiet day when the face of a university, city, state, and sport is forced away for these reasons. For anyone that followed the team at all this year, it was very difficult seeing Pat just sitting on the bench silent, occasionally staring off into space.

It may be a hectic time in the athletic department with this merger, but I definitely commend Dave Hart for how he handled this.

It's also notable that [21 year old] son Tyler Summitt accepted a job as an assistant coach at Marquette the same day this was released.

Wow what a crazy 3-4 years around here....

Face of the university, city, and state? Maybe sport, but when people think of the state of Tennessee, they think of Pat Summitt?

Alright, I'll back up. To the rest of the nation, maybe not... but to someone that grows up here and is constantly surrounded in the culture of UT athletics, yes she is all of those things. Anyone in Knoxville/"Big Orange Country" would argue that. From this perspective, there is no one better, even at a school so rich in football tradition.

dzh6fs12jk4gddgfd123hlxft.gif

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I had the absolute honor to play in the band for her final game (in Des Moines) and for her final home game in Knoxville. This obviously came as no surprise to anyone, but it's still a very sad and quiet day when the face of a university, city, state, and sport is forced away for these reasons. For anyone that followed the team at all this year, it was very difficult seeing Pat just sitting on the bench silent, occasionally staring off into space.

It may be a hectic time in the athletic department with this merger, but I definitely commend Dave Hart for how he handled this.

It's also notable that [21 year old] son Tyler Summitt accepted a job as an assistant coach at Marquette the same day this was released.

Wow what a crazy 3-4 years around here....

Face of the university, city, and state? Maybe sport, but when people think of the state of Tennessee, they think of Pat Summitt?

Alright, I'll back up. To the rest of the nation, maybe not... but to someone that grows up here and is constantly surrounded in the culture of UT athletics, yes she is all of those things. Anyone in Knoxville/"Big Orange Country" would argue that. From this perspective, there is no one better, even at a school so rich in football tradition.

I can vouch for this. I done been through Knoxville quite a bit, and that woman there?let's put it this way: it wouldn't surprise me one bit if one day a statue of her is erected in downtown or somewhere on Rocky Top in the future.

(Fun trivia fact: for those of you who've seen the movie "Coach Carter" starring Samuel L. Jackson, if you view the special features of that DVD, he talks about how he went through preparations for the role. The coach he studied and after whom he modeled his character's coaching style? Yep...Pat Summit.)

*Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who are authoritative experts on stuff. 😁

|| dribbble || Behance ||

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I had the absolute honor to play in the band for her final game (in Des Moines) and for her final home game in Knoxville. This obviously came as no surprise to anyone, but it's still a very sad and quiet day when the face of a university, city, state, and sport is forced away for these reasons. For anyone that followed the team at all this year, it was very difficult seeing Pat just sitting on the bench silent, occasionally staring off into space.

It may be a hectic time in the athletic department with this merger, but I definitely commend Dave Hart for how he handled this.

It's also notable that [21 year old] son Tyler Summitt accepted a job as an assistant coach at Marquette the same day this was released.

Wow what a crazy 3-4 years around here....

Face of the university, city, and state? Maybe sport, but when people think of the state of Tennessee, they think of Pat Summitt?

Alright, I'll back up. To the rest of the nation, maybe not... but to someone that grows up here and is constantly surrounded in the culture of UT athletics, yes she is all of those things. Anyone in Knoxville/"Big Orange Country" would argue that. From this perspective, there is no one better, even at a school so rich in football tradition.

I can vouch for this. I done been through Knoxville quite a bit, and that woman there?let's put it this way: it wouldn't surprise me one bit if one day a statue of her is erected in downtown or somewhere on Rocky Top in the future.

Well yeah, but that's because the Phil Fulmer statue would tip over due to overweight and Johnny Majors was a drunk.

On 8/1/2010 at 4:01 PM, winters in buffalo said:
You manage to balance agitation with just enough salient points to keep things interesting. Kind of a low-rent DG_Now.
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