Pat Summitt’s decision creates a void which likely will never be filled

Lady Vols head coach steps aside after 38 years

While Pat Summitt’s announcement that she will hand over the head coaching duties of the women’s basketball program at the University of Tennessee was not surprising, it will remain a seminal day in the history of NCAA athletics forever. In short, the void left in her absence can never be filled.

Pat Summitt has been the consummate college athletic head coach since she took over the reins of the Lady Vols program 38 years ago. There is no one in college athletics that holds as much widespread respect as Coach Summitt. She has proven over time that a top-level program can be run completely within the rules. And, she has been a shining example to every coach in America in terms of recruiting, team preparation and individual player care and development while winning with class and losing with dignity and grace. Pat Summit never shortcut her school, her program or her players. Her legendary intensity as a basketball coach was coupled with an equally intense dedication to her former players and their families. These all are qualities and habits which many coaches have strived to emulate, but few have been successful in duplicating. Everyone in college athletics owes Pat Summit.

It is not a stretch to assert that she and the late former UCLA head men’s basketball coach John Wooden share a unique place in the annals of college sports. While their coaching styles and approach to the game exhibited stark differences over the years, they nonetheless achieved remarkably similar outcomes both as basketball coaches and as campus leaders. They both were sticklers for details and expected, if not demanded, the very best effort from their players, their staffs and themselves. From Day One, Coach Summitt and Coach Wooden each set standards so lofty that their peers and those to follow would find them unapproachable in their consistency. Further, it is not a stretch to believe their likenesses will never be seen again not only in college athletics, but also in coaching as a profession.

Coach Summitt is said to be taking on the new role of Head Coach Emeritus in Knoxville. Our ardent hope is that this will not merely be an honorary title, but that we will have the pleasure of watching her continue to have the ability to influence the University of Tennessee and its students along with anyone fortunate enough to cross her path. Her knowledge and experience will be lost soon enough and we rue the day that she will be forced to submit to the disease which has gripped her life and career. We can be assured, though, that Coach will fight it with all the intensity, class and grace with which she so admirably served her school and her sport.