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
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.
I think they understand there is a lot of tradition here, and there's a lot of players that are upset. I've had phone calls. That just speaks volumes to what they've invested in this program. Still, they are like family. When we lose, they lose.
We know it's going to be a pretty hostile environment, but our team has been exposed to that. All the players that have played here understand that we go on the road.
We have a chance to learn volumes from this. I've said before, this is a talented, but young, team. Hopefully we can learn from this. It's a long season, and I have to believe these players will respond.
As a great long-range shooter, she has drawn the best defender, usually the most athletic, sometimes players with a lot of size. In essence, with her ability to shoot the ball the way she can, she has become a target for every team we play.
What she did is unacceptable in our program. I've never approved of players talking smack or taunting. You let your game do the talking. If you want to get excited, you get excited for the team.
I think with the players who have been here, regardless of whether they've been in that No. 1 position, that's what we're always trying to be -- the best team.
I don't think I've mentioned it to the players one time,
We remembered that. They had the ball and every opportunity to beat us in the last seconds. You want your team to respect every opponent regardless of record. Our team really respected this team.
We're facing a new opponent and trying to learn as much as we can about Army at this time and get ready for March Madness.
There is no question that (Army is) very well-coached and Maggie has done a great job.
Our philosophy has always been you better pack your defense and your board work on the road. Because those ugly nights and those poor shooting nights you just have to grind games out. Today, we just had to grind it out.
Our team responded coming out of halftime. I never even imagined coaching 900 games and it is just wonderful.
Our team respects Texas. They have beaten us four in a row and beat us by 10 last year in Knoxville. We were not surprised.