Pat Summitt
Pat Summitt
Patricia Sue "Pat" Summittwas an American college basketball head coach whose 1,098 career wins are the most in NCAA basketball history. She served as the head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team from 1974 to 2012, before retiring at age 59 because of a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. She won eight NCAA championships, a number surpassed only by the 10 titles won by UCLA men's coach John Wooden and the 11 titles won by UConn...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth14 June 1952
CityClarksville, TN
CountryUnited States of America
I don't think you can say that a coach that hasn't won a championship isn't a great coach. You have to have breaks along the way, and you have to have a dominant player.
Sylvia and I go back 32 years to when we were in grad school at Tennessee and she coached my junior varsity team. I value her as a dear friend in this profession. When you've been in it this long, you make a lot of people mad.
There are some coaches who believe you just let the best players get all the points they can and stop everybody else. Others limit the best player and make other people beat you. For us, we want to guard everybody. But we really want to make sure that we make it hard or at least difficult for that player to continually make the plays.
Our team responded coming out of halftime. I never even imagined coaching 900 games and it is just wonderful.
I just think they were just a team that really enjoyed the process and allowed our coaching staff to enjoy the process.
Teamwork doesn't come naturally. It must be taught.
Our emphasis is on execution, not winning.
If it doesn't bother you, it won't bother them.
Put the Team Before Yourself.
If you want to be in the game you better shoot 75% from the line.
Sometimes you learn more from losing than winning. Losing forces you to reexamine.
I just want her to play the game under control. And for her, it's much different from any player I've ever coached in that she can be flat-footed and go up and dunk. So it's not like things have to be perfect in her basketball world for her to dunk. If she goes up inside and dunks it, more power to her.
In most of my coaching years, I've called timeout. But I've found it very difficult at times to get the ball back inbounds. You just have to trust your team. I think I've changed my philosophy in probably the last three years.
In most of my coaching years, I've called time out. But I've found it very difficult at times to get the ball back inbounds. You just have to trust your team. I think I've changed my philosophy in probably the last three years.