Legendary Coach Pat Summitt Dies

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Pat Summitt, who put women's college basketball on the map, has died. The legendary former coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols died early this morning (6/28) after a five-year battle with early-onset dementia, Alzheimer's type. She had just turned 64 two weeks earlier. Patricia Sue Head Summitt was, and will ever be, the "summit" of college basketball coaching. Consider some of her achievements: Never had a losing season. Every player on every team she coached graduated from college. The winningest coach in NCAA Division I college basketball, men's or women's, with 1098 victories. (The closest person to her is Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, who would need two more years, at least, to catch her.) Eight national titles, including an undefeated season in 1997-98. Sixteen SEC titles. And, most significantly, she took the women's college game from something that happened in the practice gym in front of family members to sold-out arenas, TV coverage, and, eventually, the formation of the WNBA. Amid all of that, she never left home. Summitt was born in Tennessee, went to the University of Tennessee, and was their head coach for 38 years. Her players graduated, which was what she said was the most important statistic that she amassed as a head coach. In this era of "win at any cost" we need more coaches like Pat Summitt, who did everything the right way. Pat Summitt was just 64. Here's one of my favorite moments, when she came out to sing "Rocky Top" at a men's game after then-coach Bruce Pearl had sung the school's fight song at a Lady Vols game: