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Excellent story in the NY Times about Pat Summitt and the legacy of coaches that she’s leaving in her wake.  You can follow the link to the story and read the whole thing, but here are a few snips:

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.

To play for Summitt is to feel her glare everywhere. She has certain nonnegotiable rules, like requiring her players to sit in the first three rows at class. When they are broken, she has a way of finding out. Even after her players leave, Summitt keeps an eye on them. When Caldwell’s Bruins lost at home to Oregon, 73-56, Summitt called afterward to offer encouragement.

She hears from former players regularly. Some are looking for a box-out drill to use in practice. Others seek career advice or want to know how to motivate an underachieving player. Trish Roberts, who played in the Montreal Olympics alongside Summitt before playing for her at Tennessee, said, “I could pick up the phone and talk to Pat anytime, and she’ll take the time out.”

I hear a lot in this town about UT football, a little less about UT men’s basketball, and even less about UT women’s basketball.  I think that’s backwards.  Knoxville needs to celebrate Pat Summitt far more than they talk about an average football program.  When she eventually retires, UT will go back to having an average Lady Vol’s team, and maybe people will realize what they had.

But that’ll be too late.

gk

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The Tennessee Lady Vols are the 2008 NCAA champions!  They successfully defended their title by beating Stanford last night, giving them 8 championships – and counting.

I moved to Knoxville in March of 2007, just before the Lady Vols won their 7th national championship last year.  I don’t know if the people around here are jaded, but I don’t understand the lack of respect the Lady Vols receive in this town. 

I listened to a local sports talk radio station this morning, and a female caller said “Women’s basketball is like watching the “B” team play – no one cares if they win or lose, because they’re not as good as a men’s team.”  (This may not be an exact quote, but it’s very close and it accurately captures what the caller was trying to say.)

To put what the Lady Vols have done into perspective, here are a few pertinent facts.

Pat Summitt is the all time leader in NCAA wins, with 983 career wins.  Jody Conradt (retired) and Bob Knight are second with 900 wins.  Dean Smith is 4th with 879.

The Lady Vols have not only been in every NCAA Women’s tournament, they have made it to at least the ”Sweet Sixteen”  every year.  In case you’re counting (I am!) that’s 27 consecutive years.  No other team – and certainly no other coach – comes close.  (North Carolina in mens basketball made it to the tournament 27 years in a row, but they lost in the first round a few times.)

The Lady Vols (and Pat Summitt) have 30 straight 20+ win seasons.

The Lady Vols have 104 NCAA tournament wins – and only 19 losses.  Any other team would be happy to have that record versus weak opponents.  Pat Summitt has done that against the best teams in the country – those who made it to the tournament.

Pat Summitt now has 8 national championships.  Only John Wooden (UCLA) has more with 10.

The Lady Vols have 8 national championships.  Only UCLA has more with 11.

Pat Summitt has a 100% graduation rate. 

Anyone want to compare that record with the UT football program?  ‘Nuf said.

gk

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