Summitt’s Hall of Fame head coaching career spanned 38 years from 1974-2012.
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Pat Summitt, the winningest coach in Division I College Basketball history, died Tuesday morning at 64. “Pat’s competitive spirit, discipline and work ethic have challenged, taught, and inspired so many, and the legacy she leaves will forever be a vital part of our game”, Fanning said in a statement. There’s a different air.
“She dealt with it in a public way, which I try to figure out how anyone could be that open, but that was Pat. It will never be the same, ever”.
The Missouri State women’s basketball coach has a rule for her program, that no one is allowed to wear clothing with the name of any other college or university. Notes, balloons and even a couple of basketballs were placed alongside flowers at the foot of the statue. “When she took the helm at Tennessee as a 22-year-old, she had to wash her players’ uniforms; by the time Pat stepped down as the Lady Vols’ head coach, her teams wore eight championship rings and had cut down nets in sold-out stadiums”.
“Pat Summitt was iconic”. “They were just first-class people”.
Today, a makeshift memorial grew at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and tributes rolled in, starting with Summitt’s greatest rival, University of CT coach Geno Auriemma.
Summitt also impacted other North Carolina coaches as well, saying she was a force to be reckoned with on the court.
“I’m going to keep on keeping on”.
Basketballs, orange and white balloons and flowers were left in front of her statue on Tennessee’s campus Tuesday. “Everything about her just brought inspiration to all of us”. Warlick and athletic director Dave Hart choked up on multiple occasions as they discussed what Summitt had meant to them. “Pat agreed to do it and we were able to fill this place at 22,000 and I still think today, we probably picked up 2 or 3,000 season ticket holders just from that one game”.
“There’s no question, really one of the great coaches of any sport”, Duke men’s head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said. Then she realized she hadn’t made her bed yet. I am proud to say I was able to meet her and have conversations with her.
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She promised me three things that day: I would graduate college, I would always have my family and sisterhood at UT, and that she would always be there for me. But I can honestly say, when the game was over and we turned to the outstanding friendship we always had on a personal level, it was always the same.
