Summitt coached Tennessee for 38 years, winning eight national titles, making 18 Final Four appearances and retiring as the winningest coach in Division I history.
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Lady Vols head coach, Holly Warlick, held a press conference following the death of former coach and sports legend Pat Summitt.
The former Lady Volunteers’ star may be more grateful to her former coach for how she helped her long after her college career ended.
“I guess that’s something that when I started coaching, rather than raise my voice at times, I would just look at someone”, she said.
In 1979, when Knoxville native Delaine Mast arrived on the Tennessee campus as a freshman, she was hoping to play basketball for Pat Summitt.
“She was a coach, but she was also a mentor, a friend”, Burdick said Tuesday. “Her legacy will live on through the countless people she touched throughout her career”. I can’t think of anyone whose footsteps I would want to follow other than hers.
Girls’ basketball coaches in York County are mourning the loss of Pat Summitt.
Summitt passed away Tuesday after a battle with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease.
Summitt stands in company with UCLA mens’ head coach John Wooden and UConn womens’ head coach Geno Auriemma- both who have won 10 NCAA national championship titles. “She was a genuine, humble leader who focused on helping people achieve more than they thought they were capable of accomplishing”. Additionally, Summitt was the first men’s or women’s collegiate basketball coach to reach 1,000 victories. “She was always a great person”.
“I’m deeply saddened by what has happened to Pat Summitt”.
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Part of her iconic status was her famously intense stare, often used to motivate her players and intimidate opponents. “She was tough, she was a disciplinarian [and] she didn’t allow for any deviation of how she coached but by the same token, they all loved her”.
