The Tennessee coach has a career record of 800-161 in 29 seasons, all with the Lady Vols. She has won six national titles, which is second to any college coach.She reached the elusive 800 wins faster than any other basketball coach in history. She was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., the first time she was eligible for the Hall s ballot.Every Lady Vol who has completed her eligibility at Tennessee has received her degree or is in the process of completing her degree requirements. As a player, she won an Olympic silver medal in 1976; as an international coach she brought home the first USA women s hoops gold medal in Olympic competition in 1984; and in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997 and 1998 she led her Tennessee teams to NCAA Championships.
Rationale:
Recruiting for big time college programs is an extremely competitive business . Head coaches are responsible to recruit their players. This requires scouting the top 100 plus high school players, maintaining statistics, personal information about their skills and personality. Then the coach must get to know the top recruit. Their interests, motivations and concerns. Student athletes have many choices and many important issues to consider that can affect their whole life. A wide range of personal factors and individuals enter into the equation. In the end, winning or lossing can be directly linked to the recruitment of talent; the fit of the talent into the system and the chemistry between the talent and the coach. To her athletes, she is just 'Pat' from the minute she meets them for the first time on a recruiting visit to the day they walk across the stage in the Arena to receive their diploma from UT.
Summitt instills a pattern of success in her players and constantly challenges them to reach their potential as a student and an athlete.
Worked into her ninth month and gave birth to her son on a recruiting trip.
Quotations:
'I was determined to coach and try to win every game that we were involved with. Maybe when I have time to reflect on this, I will realize what this achievement means.'
About Pat Summitt:
Summitt begins her 30th season in coaching at the helm of the Tennessee Lady Vols. In the 1990s alone, she has brought four NCAA titles home (1991-1996-1997-1998) to the Knoxville campus.
In 1998 she orchestrated a 39-0 campaign, capped off with the program s sixth national title in 12 years, resulted in hoops analysts and fans everywhere proclaiming the 1997-98 Lady Vols as the best collegiate women s basketball team of all time. The best collegiate women s basketball recruiting class ever!
Summitt s team didn t just win games, they dominated them, coasting by an average margin of 30.1 points per contest. In the Final Four, where only the nation s top tournament-tested teams have advanced, Tennessee dispatched Arkansas (86-58) and Louisiana Tech (93-75) by an average of 23.0 points. The 39-0 mark also gave UT the most wins and best record in NCAA men s or women s basketball history.
After guiding the Big Orange to those feats and to SEC regular-season title number seven and SEC postseason tourney crown number eight, Summitt was the recipient of a bevy of honors. She was named SEC Coach of the Year for the third time in her career (1993, 1995 and 1998), The Sporting News Coach of the Year and the Naismith Coach of the Year.
She was also chosen as the Associated Press Coach of the Year and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Coach of the Year in addition to receiving the Wooden Award, as presented by the Utah Tip-off Club. Furthermore, she was honored as the IKON/WBCA Coach of the Year, the Frontier/State Farm Coach of the Year and the Columbus (OH) Touchdown Club Coach of the Year.
