Basketball’s Winningest Coach – Ever

Pat Summit, the University of Tennessee women’s head basketball coach, has 1000 wins in her 34 year coaching career at UT. The Lady Vols beat the Georgia Bulldogs tonight for that win (sorry, GA). The winningest coach in all basketball, Summitt is also a class act. Here’s a video from ESPN:

Pat’s son, Tyler, has had a unique chance to watch women’s basketball. And some woman will appreciate his perspective some day. . ..

“I could never do for the game what she has,” he says. “But I definitely can see myself on the sidelines. I can’t wait to have that chance. That’s what I want to do someday. And if I do become a coach, I’ll probably want to coach women. I feel like it’s a more pure game.”

Tyler had no idea that anyone would denigrate women’s basketball — or women themselves — until he reached late middle school. It hit him like a slap in the face when he would hear snide remarks or when other guys at school would razz him. “It really makes me mad they don’t have the respect for women they should,” he says. “Because I’ve seen it all my life. I see how hard they work every day in practice. I see how hard my mom works.”

He has watched his mother come home from games to study tape for hours — after she made his dinner. “When I have time, I sit there and watch tape, too, and I’ll ask her what she’s seeing,” he says. “Because I can’t see everything she does. I’m watching the ball, and she’s seeing all 10 players. She’ll point out three things on one play, and I’m like, ‘How do you do that?’ She says, ‘You’ll get used to it.’

The Tennessean published a recent article that made its way across other publications.

“This is not about me,” Summitt said about the 1,000-win mark. “I have made it very clear that I have never scored a basket for the University of Tennessee Lady Vols. I’ve been very blessed to have had great support from the administration and the best assistant coaches and the most loyal people. There are so many people that are involved and so many difference makers.”
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Summitt, 56, is in her 35th season as UT’s head coach. Her staggering record stands at 999-186 entering today’s game. It is widely accepted that no one has had more of an effect on the women’s game than her. Few, if any, have had more impact on bringing national attention to women’s collegiate athletics.

There are the eight national titles, 27 consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 appearances and the 1984 Olympic Games tournament championship. There are the honors, awards, milestones, tributes, books, trips to the White House.
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As for the men, only one Division I coach has more than 900 wins — former Indiana and Texas Tech Coach Bobby Knight (902). . .
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“This is unprecedented stuff,” UT men’s Coach Bruce Pearl said. “These are records that will never be touched. Will we ever see a college basketball coach with 1,000 wins? Not the way we hire and fire coaches these days. It’s just an honor to be on her side and on her team. She’s unique in the world of coaching, and she’s been Tennessee’s own.”
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Kara Lawson has seen Summitt’s career from multiple angles. She played under Summitt from 2000-2003, is a member of the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs, and works as a college basketball and NBA analyst for ESPN.

Lawson said it’s widely known how much attention Summitt has brought the women’s game, but experiencing it in person was different.

“When we went to Kentucky, a good portion of the men’s players would be there watching the game,” Lawson said. “Steve Spurrier would come to our shoot-around when he was at Florida. We always said you never knew who was going to show up. There are a lot of different people who have been drawn to women’s basketball because of what Coach Summitt has done.”
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The first question I get from a regular fan almost always is, ‘What’s it like to play for Coach Summitt?’ ” Lawson said. “It’s not about where I’m playing professionally or being on TV or who I think is going to win a game. Nine times out of 10 it is, ‘What it’s like to play for Coach Summitt?’ ”
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Seven more national titles followed. But Summitt still goes back to that day at North Carolina State, before that first national title, back to career win No. 100. That one, looking back now, still hits her heart the hardest.

Kay Yow was the coach at N.C. State at the time. She and Summitt remained close friends throughout the years, and Yow was an assistant coach on Summitt’s 1984 Olympic team.

Yow died Jan. 24 after a long battle with breast cancer.

“I learned a lot from her, and not just basketball, about how to live your life,” Summitt said. “When she was my assistant Olympic coach, I was 32 years old and was hot tempered and very demanding.”

Summitt stopped. The steely eyes for which she is known slowly turned soft, a little glazed.

“I am still very demanding,” she said, a little softer.

The next words out of her mouth were something she learned from Yow.

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” Summitt said. “Kay was invested in her student-athletes. Just through watching her, it really helped me. When you start out coaching at 22, and you never coached a day in your life, you’re all about demanding this, this, this and this. I think I had my guard up. Being around Kay, I dropped my guard. And I’m glad I did.”
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A few notes:

Summitt has a 100 percent graduation rate for all Lady Vols who have completed their eligibility at UT.

Summitt is the first woman’s basketball coach to earn a $1 million salary [but only as of 2006 and despite huge success].

She donated $600,000 last August to be split between UT-Martin and UT-Knoxville to support the women’s basketball programs.

Coached gold medal winning U.S. team at the 1984 Olympics (with Kay Yow).

Has won 8 national NCAA women’s basketball titles, 27 SEC tournament and regular season titles, 27 consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournamment Sweet 16.

Tennessee players include 12 Olympians, 19 Kodak All-Americans and 71 All-SEC players.

Summitt earned the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching lifetime achievement award in 2008.

The International Herald Tribune added a couple of things.

“Coach always says she got the job when she was 10,” said Caldwell [former player now coach at UCLA], laughing. “I can’t see myself doing it that long. The thing about Pat getting there is that she is playing the toughest teams year in and year out.”

That’s true. Over 400 of her victories have come against ranked teams.
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“She’s the only one — male or female,” said Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, who is third on the women’s victory list with 816. “That’s pretty special and says a lot. That’s something she’ll always have and I can’t think of a more deserving person.”

Adds Pat Riley, who won 1,210 games with the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, and Miami Heat: “She’s respected by all her peers, both men and women, as being just an extremely great coach and probably one of the greatest coaches of all time, men or women.”
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“She taught us that being a lady and a wonderful person is way more important than anything that you accomplish on the basketball court,” [former player Tamika]Catchings said. “Pat wanted all of us to be successful women, and have more character and class about ourselves than anything.”

Summitt and UT men’s coach Bruce Pearl are willing to do what it takes to help their teams win. Pearl showed up at a women’s game in body paint to cheer on the Lady Vols. Summitt reciprocated by appearing at a men’s game in cheerleading outfit and singing “Rocky Top.” Both know how to laugh at themselves.

USAToday has this:

Leon Barmore, a Hall of Fame coach for his work at Louisiana Tech and now an assistant at Baylor, equates Summitt to men’s coach John Wooden, who won 10 titles at UCLA.

“She’s the best of our game. There’s nothing in the game she can’t do. She can administrate, coach x’s and o’s and motivate.”

And not just players. “I’ve said it before: she made my career,” Barmore says. “Me playing against Pat Summitt, she gave me that person and program that made me reach deeper than I ever thought I could reach, if I was going to play them. I really compliment that now.”
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The Lady Vols have won when favored and when discounted as in 1997 with a 10-loss team, the most ever by a champion. In the title game, Tennessee took a 68-59 win against Old Dominion, which had beaten the Lady Vols 83-72 in the regular season. The biggest win in the run may have been 91-81 in the regional final against Connecticut, which had beaten the Lady Vols 72-57 in the regular season.

“That (title) stands out,” Summitt says. “Everybody beat us that year.”

The unlikely title was chronicled by an HBO documentary, A Cinderella Season, which opened in the locker room after the ODU loss, with players crying and kicking over trash cans in frustration.

The NYT did a recent piece on Summitt and her effect on the coaching ranks.

It happens to every Lady Volunteers basketball player who has gone into coaching. She’ll be railing about a lazy pass in practice. Glaring at a player who failed to box out an opponent. Lecturing how leadership is about being respected, not liked.

Then it hits her. She has grown up to be just like her coach at Tennessee, Pat Summitt.

“That happens quite often, and it’s quite scary,” said Carla McGhee, who is on the coaching staff at South Carolina. “As a player, I couldn’t see why Pat would get so upset about a lack of effort, why she would say it was disrespecting the game. Now when I see a lack of effort, something about it just grates my nerves, and before I know it, I blow my top, and then, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m Pat.’ ”
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A better measure of Summitt’s success — in her eyes, anyway — is this: 45 Lady Volunteers, about a third of the players who have passed through her program, have become coaches — from youth leagues to the pros. In her coaching tree, the first ring was formed this season with the arrival of Glory Johnson, whose high school coach was Shelley Sexton-Collier, whose college coach was Summitt.

ESPN has a list of coaches who played for or worked with Summitt. I’ll just put the pro and collegiate list here. If you go to the ESPN site, check out the video where Bobby Knight talks about what Summitt has achieved.

Professional ranks
Nancy Darsch, A/GA (1978-85): Assistant, Seattle Storm
Danielle Donehew, BO (2001-08): Executive VP, Atlanta Dream
Tanya Haave, P (1980-84): Former head coach, Satila Skene, Sweden
Lisa Harrison, P (1989-2003): Former assistant, Phoenix Mercury
Carla McGhee, P (1986-90): Former WNBA Player Personnel
Carolyn Peck, A (1993-95): Former head coach, Orlando Miracle
Trish Roberts, P (1976-77): Former head coach, Atlanta Glory (ABL)
Heidi VanDerveer, GA (1986-88): Former assistant, Seattle Storm

College ranks
Jody Adams, P (1989-93): Head coach, Wichita State
Jane Albright, GA (1981-83): Former head coach, Wichita State
Kathy Allen, GA (2002-04): Assistant at UAB
Sheila Frost Anderson, P (1985-89): Former assistant, Richmond
Debbie Ayers, GA (1989-90): Assistant, Stony Brook
Alysiah Bond, BO (1998-2001): Assistant, Arizona
Al Brown, A (1991-2002): Assistant, Duke
Greg Brown, A/GA (2002-04): Assistant, Central Florida
Niya Butts, P (1996-2000): Head coach, Arizona
Tasha Butts, P (2000-2005): Assistant, UCLA
Nikki Caldwell, P (1990-94)/A (2003-08): Head coach, UCLA
Shelia Collins, P (1981-85): Former head coach, West Georgia College
Abby Conklin, P (1993-97): Assistant, San Francisco
Kelli Casteel Cook, P (1988-92): Former head coach, Maryville College
Tony Cross, GA (1983-84): Head coach, Belmont
Nancy Darsch, A/GA (1978-1985): Former head coach, Ohio State
Mickie DeMoss, A (1985-2003): Assistant, Texas
Rochone Dilligard, P (1991-94): Former assistant, Austin Peay
Todd Dooley, M (1994-97): Former assistant, Maryville College
Tonya Edwards, P (1986-90): Head coach, Alcorn State
Angel Elderkin, GA (2006-07): Assistant, Virginia
Kyra Elzy, P (1996-2001): Assistant, Kentucky
Sharon Fanning, GA (1975-76): Head coach, Mississippi State
Daedra Charles Furlow, P (1989-91): Assistant, Tennessee
Teresa Geter, P (1997-99): Head coach, Denmark Technical College
Bridgette Gordon, P (1985-89): Assistant, Georgia State
Aubrey Guastalli, P (2005-06): Assistant, Fresno Pacific
Tanya Haave, P (1980-84): Head coach, San Francisco
Sylvia Hatchell, GA (1974-75): Head coach, North Carolina
Cindy Noble Hauserman, P (1978-81): Retired head coach, Centre College
Dean Head, P (1988-92): Former assistant, Central Connecticut State
Marlene Jeter, P (1990-92): Former head coach, Clinton (South Carolina) JC
Bernitha Johnson, M (2003-05): Assistant, Binghampton
Dana Johnson, P (1991-95): Former assistant, Morgan State
Kellie Jolly Harper, P (1995-99): Head coach, Western Carolina
Nancy Bowman Ladd, P (1973-75): Retired head coach, University of the South
Angela Lawson, GA (1989-91): Head coach, University of the Incarnate Word
Cheryl Littlejohn, P (1983-87): Former head coach, Chicago State
Lea Henry Manning, P (1979-83): Head coach, Georgia Stated
Michelle Marciniak, P (1993-96): Former assistant, South Carolina
Nikki McCray, P (1991-95): Assistant, South Carolina
Calamity McEntire, M (2002-03): Director of Basketball Operations, UC Santa Barbara
Carla McGhee, P (1986-90): Assistant, South Carolina
Matthew Mitchell, GA (1999-2000): Head coach, Kentucky
Zandra Montgomery Morris, P (1977-79): Former assistant, Lee
Mary Ostrowski, P (1980-84): Former assistant, Ohio State
Carolyn Peck, A (1993-95): Former head coach, Florida
Shalon Pillow, P (1998-2002): Assistant, Hofstra
Semeka Randall, P (1997-2001): Head coach, Ohio
Jill Rankin Schneider, P (1979-80)/GA (1980-81): Former assistant, Texas
Trish Roberts, P (1976-77): Former head coach, Stony Brook
Joy Scruggs, P (1972-75): Head coach, Emory & Henry College
Amber Stocks, BO/GA (2000-02): Assistant, Xavier
Judy Southard, GA (1977-78): Retired head coach, Marshall
Pam Tanner, GA/A (1990-93): Former head coach, Denver
Heidi VanDerveer, GA (1986-88): Head coach, Occidental College
Holly Warlick, P (1976-80)/A (1986-08): Assistant, Tennessee