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Women's College Basketball Standard Bearer: A BIOGRAPHY OF PAT HEAD SUMMITT 1952 Pat Summitt was born Patricia Sue Head on June 14, 1952 in Clarksville, Tennessee to Richard and Hazel. She would get her height (5 ft 11) from her father, who was 6 ft 5, along with other qualities such as stubborness and determination. She has three older brothers: Tommy, Charles and Kenneth, and a younger sister, Linda. CHILDHOOD Pat Head grew up on a farm in Clarksville, Tennessee along with her three brothers and younger sister. As a baby she grew up in a two-room log cabin (which no longer exists). Her father, Richard Head, was a severe man, who whipped his children when they broke any of his rules. “While I loved and respected my father, I also feared him,” she said in her book Reach For The Summitt, (1998) (a book on motivation, with biographical highlights.) He would go for days without speaking…Summitt speculates that this behavior came from exhaustion “He built up his own dairy and tobacco farm out of nothing…He and my mother…started out working a small plot of leased land For just forty dollars a month. When I tell you they worked, I mean they worked, backbreaking hard.” As the years passed her father - with the assistance of his wife and children - built up a thousand-acre farm. Then he purchased a general store, opened a hardware store, a feed mill, a gas pump and a laundry. He also entered the construction business. For many years, however, they lived from crop to crop. They were cash poor - “except when the tobacco came in.” The roads in the area were mostly unpaved at the time, and Pat would travel from place to place on a pony named Billy. “All we did with our days was go to school, go to our Methodist church, and work the fields. We had to make up our own fun - what little my father permitted.” Richard Head’s discipline was such that Pat did not have an “untroubled relationship” with him, but she does say that, in the end, she was grateful for his peculiar combination of love and discipline. Richard Head did support her desire to play basketball - he built a basketball court on top of the hayloft, and strung lights so they could play at night. (Although more than likely he mainly did this for the boys, who could parlay their inherited height and basketball skills into scholarships.) HIGH SCHOOL Pat was five foot 9 in the third grade. When she reached high-school age, her father moved the household across the county line - six miles - to Henrietta, so that she could play basketball, because the school she’d been assigned to in Clarksville didn’t have a team for girls. RESPECT AND THE ROLE OF WOMEN As she got older, Pat says, “I understood that women had to fight for respect in more ways than one. It seemed to me that my mother worked as hard or harder than my father and my brothers. …At the dinner table, when my brothers would finish their tea, they’d hold up their empty glasses and rattle them. They wouldn’t say a word. They’d just lift their glasses, and shake them, until my mother served them. It was their way of saying, “Come fill my glass.”…My mother waited on them. And I thought, That isn’t right.“ Her brothers did no work around the house. Thy didn’t make the beds, work the garden, or mow the lawn. They just worked the farm. Her mother, meanwhile, did the cooking and the ironing and the cleaning, and the milking, and worked the garden, and worked in the store, and in the dry cleaners. “When my dad got into the house-building business, my mother was the one who painted the houses and laid the carpets. Looking back on it, I don’t think anyone in the family worked as hard as my mother or got less credit for it. In school, because of her height, her nickname was “Bone,” and she was teased about it. 1969 1969 CIAW Championship - 6-player format West Chester (PA) beat Western Carolina 65-39 1970 In the Echo, Cheatham County Central High School's yearbook, for 1970, Patricia Sue Head and Mack Hagewood have a page to themselves "among the senior superlatives." However, writes Dan Morris, in an article in Knox News published on March 22, 2005: "But Trish, as we called her, was much more to us than just a raw-boned, stellar basketball player. The rules said you could only receive one superlative; so we voted Trish, "Most Popular." And guess who the student body picked as our "Basketball Sweetheart of the Season?" Pat was chosen from among the cutest cheerleaders and beauty queens of our school. So, you see, we loved our Trish in ways that only those closest to her can understand. ... We never heard of Trish Head until our freshman year of high school. She had lived in Montgomery County, which did not have a girls basketball program. Realizing Pat's potential, her dad moved the family across the county line to the tiny community of Henrietta in Cheatham County, northwest of Nashville. It proved to be an historic moment for the Cheatham County Cubettes. By the time Pat arrived in Ashland City, site of the county's only high school at the time, she could dribble circles around most of the guys, much less girls. ... But the only thing that hurt my ego was how she schooled us guys on the basketball court when we dared to challenge her to a pickup game at the gym. Trish dated one of my best friends in high school, and we double-dated a time or two, once going to the state fair in Nashville. She was all about having fun, and we enjoyed plenty of good times, same as your average teenagers. She led the girls basketball team to the regional tournament, which was pretty rare prior to her arrival, and we all knew she would be the first from our school to play college basketball. In 1970, women's basketball was just beginning to take root at most colleges. Pat and I both wound up going to Tennessee Martin; so I got to see her evolve as an athlete and leader. 1970 CIAW championship, 6-player format Cal State-Fullerton beat West Chester 50-46. Billie Moore is the coach of Cal State. COLLEGE In 1970, there were no scholarships for women in athletics. Each of Pat Summitt's brothers had gotten an athletic scholarship, but her parents had to pay Pat’s way to the University of Tennessee-Martin. She was 18. She was “Trish” Head at home, but when she got to Tennessee-Martin people started calling her Pat. She was teased there as well, because she “wore the wrong clothes” and spoke “country.“ She joined Chi Omega sorority, changed her clothes and worked on her grammar to fit in, because she didn’t want to be made fun of anymore. 1971 The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women is founded. The NCAA was uninterested in women's basketball at this time, so the AIAW built up women's athletics...until 1982. 1971 CIAW Championship Mississippi State College for Women def. West Chester 57-55 1972 Title IX is passed, which states that for schools that receive government money, equal time and money must be given to womens' as well as mens' sports. Pat was feeling awkward at college: “I’d always been accepted in athletics, and had confidence on the basketball court. But this was a different world, and I felt awkward in it. In those early days at college, I realized that presentation counts. For better or worse, strangers made sweeping judgments based on my appearance and demeanor. So I began the process of self-transformation. She was helped by her roomate and sorority sister, Esther Stubblefield. ..I wanted to be an Olympian, and I eventually wanted to be a teacher. So it became important to me to at least have thhe passing respect of people in those circles.” She played basketball at Tennessee-Martin, and was an All American. In 1972, she received an invitation to try out for the U.S. national team. It was known at that time that Women’s Basketball was going to be included in the 1976 Olympic Games for the first time. 1972 DGWS Championship Immaculata (PA) beats West Chester 52-48 1973 In 1973, Pat Summitt went with the World University Games team to Moscow. It was her first time on an airplane. While there, she she took an elbow in the mouth during a game, that dislocated her jaw. She returned home 15 pounds lighter. 1973 AIAW Championship Immaculata beats Queens (New York) 59-52. 1974 In early 1974, Pat tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It happened in her senior year at Tennessee-Martin, in an early, regular season game, and it ended her season. Later that year, she would become a graduate assistant and head coach of the Lady Vols. [On pg. 195 of Reach For the Summitt, she says it happened in January 1993.] 1974 AIAW Championship Game Immaculata beats Mississippi State College for Women 68-53. PAT HEAD -- COACH, LADY VOLS In late 1974, at the age of 21, Pat became the coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, or Lady Vols as they are more popularly known. “It was an accident, really. I was supposed to be the assistant coach, but the former head coach left, and suddenly the job was open. So they stuck me with it. I still thought of myself as a player and a student. I was working towards a master’s degree physical education and teaching classes in sports I knew nothing about, like raquetball and self-defense, and I was coaching the team. In my spare time I was a member of the US Pan American team, in training to make the 1976 Olympic squad.” The floor of Thompson-Boling Arena is named the Summitt, in 2006 She was 22 years old, and four of her players were 21. All her players were from Tennessee. The players were also playing a new game. Each one of them had only played six-man basketball. That was the women’s game in the 1960s in Tennessee - a girl played either offense or defense, and whatever her role she never crossed the center line - that would have required running! It was not until 1971 that the five-player, full-court game became official, and that the 30-second clock was introduced. Dec. 7, 1974 Summitt's coaching career began on Dec. 7, 1974 with an 84-83 loss in the old Alumni Gym to a Mercer team led by two Sevierville natives, Myrle Huskey and Sybil Blalock. Mercer's coach was Peggy Collins, who later coached at Mississippi State. Attendance in those early years was sparse - perhaps fifty people per game. Summitt drove the team everywhere, they bedded down four to a hotel room, and Summitt washed the team uniforms herself. The Tennessee Lady Vols program had been successful before Pat Summitt arrived, and Summitt continued the winning tradition - taking it to perhaps undreamed of heights. "The year before I arrived, the team sold donuts to buy uniforms. On road trips our team used to sleep four to a room, because there was so little money for hotels/ We would cram into two vans and drive eight to ten hours to games. The yearly budget for the women's athletic department was $5,000 - for six sports." Pay "When I arrived at Tennessee in 1974 as a graduate assistant, I took home $250 a month. The following year I became a full-time teacher and coach with a starting salary of $8,900 a year. When we won our first National Championship in 1987, I was making $42,465. But I didn't get into this business for the money, or I would have gotten out a long time ago." Title IX and the Glass Ceiling There are two ways to break through a glass ceiling. You can scream and kick at it and try to shatter it with your high heels. Or you can learn to cut glass. I chose to be a glass cutter. Glass cutting requires patience and positive thinking... ." Coaching Summitt describes her early coaching style: "My first day on the job, I stood in front of a packed room of Tennessee undergrads who came to open tryouts for the team. I decided I was going to set the tone right then and there. I was going to let everyone know how in charge I was. I gave a long speech about how demanding it would be to play for the Lady Volunteers. Well, after that meeting at least thirty kids never came back. You could say I already had a style." 1975 1975 AIAW Championship Delta State (Mississippi) beat Immaculata 90-81. The Pan Am Games In 1975, she was part of the Pan Am team that went to Mexico City. However, her knee wasn’t 100% and she rarely played. She’d gained weight and gotten out of shape. "I struggled with my attitude at times...I never got to play, unless it was a blowout...I learned a lot about discipline sitting on that bench. My attitude had to be good because even though I was on the bench, I was one of the oldest members on the team, and I was the head coach at the University of Tennessee...Nancy Lieberman-Cline was one of the youngest members of the team, and she sat down at the end of the bench with me." During their game against Cuba, they got a big lead, and the coach sent in Summitt and Lieberman. Lieberman inititally didn't want to go in, because she was embarrassed, since it was obvious to everyone that's the only reason they were going into the game. Summitt (Head at that time, of course!) challenged her to go in, setting her the example. 1976 Pat earned her master's degree in physical education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She was co-captain of the 1976 Olympic basketball team. This was the first Olympics in which Women’s Basketball was played. The 1976 Olympics took place in Montreal, Canada, (Gymnast Nadia Comaneci was the star of the games…) Russia won the gold medal, the US the silver. Billie Moore was the coach of the Olympic team. She taught Pat a great deal. "I got the idea of practicing against men from Billie Moore... [She] was the first woman to ever speak to me harshly, or to drive me. ..I have never faced anything like her, before or since. You could not please her...I got my aggressive verbal and physical style from Billie." Members of the 1976 Olympic team were: Cindy Brogdon Susan Rojcewicz Ann Meyers Lusia Harris Nancy Dunkle Charlotte Lewis Nancy Lieberman Gail Marquis Patricia Roberts Mary Anne O’Connor Patricia Head Julienne Simpson 1976 AIAW Championship Delta State beat Immaculata 69-64. 1977 COACH: JR. AND NATIONAL TEAMS In 1977, at age 25, Summitt coached the first U.S. Junior National Team. She led it to two gold medals in international play. In 1979 she will take the U.S. National Team to the William R. Jones Cup Games, the World Championships and the Pan American Games. They returned home with two gold medals and one silver medal. 1977 AIAW Championship Delta State defeated LSU 68-55. 1978 1978 AIAW National Championship UCLA defeated Maryland 90-74. Billie Moore is the coach of UCLA. It is her first year as coach. The Wade Trophy for best women's collegiate player is instituted in this year. It is named after the late, legendary three-time national champion, Delta State University coach Lily Margaret Wade. Freshmen are not eligible to win the trophy. 1979 Pat Summitt "goes to bat" against the state of Tennessee. Tennessee high schools were still playing the six-man game - 3 players on the offensive and three players on the defensive side of the court. So were the high schools in Iowa and Oklahoma. "I came out publicly in favor of modernizing the game, scandalizing half the state and enraging a lot of parents. Fortunately, the game changed." 1979 AIAW National Championship Old Dominion defeated Louisiana Tech 75-65 1980 In 1980, Pat Summitt, aged 38, was named assistant coach to Sue Gunter on the U.S. National Team. Unfortunately, the United States boycotted the Games because they were held in Moscow, and Moscow had invaded Afghanisan the year before. However, the team did capture the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament title. Nancy Lieberman, age 22, was a member of the team. 1980 AIAW Championship Old Dominion defeated Tennessee 68-53 MARRIAGE Pat had met R. B. Summitt around 1976, when they’d been introduced through Pat’s roommate, Marcia McGregor, a bank examiner. (Summitt was also a bank examiner at this time.) After 3 and a half years, they got married in 1980. 1981 Pat's Lady Vols played their Final Four game against Old Dominion (coached by Marianne Stanley.) Pat learned a lesson in this game, about evaluating her players and knowing who would want the ball in pressure situations. Her point guard, whom she had expected to want the ball at those times, in this game, did not. 1981 AIAW Championship Louisiana Tech defeated Tennessee 79-59. The game took place in Eugene, Oregon. 1982 In August 1982, Summitt was named the 1984 U.S. Women's Olympic basketball coach. She will coach the 1983 World Championship team to a silver medal finish. 1982 AIAW Championship Rutgers defeated Texas 83-77. This was the last championship sponsored by the AIAW, who lost their best teams to the NCAA, including Tennessee. The NCAA had a budget of 20 million dollars, the AIAW of one million, and although many members of the AIAW protested, they could do nothing to stop the NCAA takeover of collegiate women's sports. The Lady Vols played Southern California in the regional finals for the right to go to the NCAA Final Four in Norfolk. They beat them 91-90. March 28, 1982: 1st NCAA Championship Louisiana Tech defeated Cheyney State (coached by C. Vivian Stringer) 76-62. This was the first year that the NCAA sponsored the College Women's Basketball championship. The game took place at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, VA. 1983 April 3, 193: NCAA Championship Game Southern California (USC) beat Louisiana Tech, 69-67. The game took place at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, VA. Members of the Southern California team include Cynthia Cooper and Cheryl Miller. Pat's Coaching Continues to Mature "At Tenneesee, we use a system called Rebound and Two Points. We came up with it in 1984, and we have used it ever since. The reason we invented it was because we had players on the team who were very sensitive to criticism, no matter how constructive. They felt I was too negative. And maybe I was. It seemed like whatever I said crushed them.... I had another dilemma as well. I was to coach the Olympic team in the Los angeles games that summer. The Olympic team was made up of players who were not accustomed to my agressive verbal style. I needed a way to soften my tone. R.B. (her husband) is the one who really came up with the system....Anytime a Lady Vol got a compliment from me, she had to say, "Two points." If I criticized her, she had to yell out "Rebound!" It forced her to keep score in her mind, to count compliments. 1984 April 1, 1984: NCAA Championship Game Southern California beat Tennessee 72-61. The game took place at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. For their back-to-back NCAA wins, members of the Southern California team again included Cynthia Cooper and Cheryl Miller. 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics took place in Los Angeles, CA from July 28 to August 12. In revenge for the US-led boycott of the 1980 summer Olympics that took place in Moscow, Russia led a boycott of these Olympics. The US women's basketball squad coached by Pat Summitt won the gold medal. South Korea won the silver and China the bronze. "That job," [coach of the 1984 team] "aged me years. I've never had anything stress me like that. For two-and-a-half years, not a day went by that I didn't think about the Olympics... We couldn't have asked for better talent. It was an all-star collection. My main concern was not to over-coach and to get those young women to play together." 1985 Mickie DeMoss and Holly Warlick joined Tennessee as assistant coaches. Summitt's assistant Nancy Darsch had left to go to the WNBA, where she coached the New York Liberty for one season. (As of 2007, she is a scout for the Minnesota Lynx.) March 31, 1985: NCAA Championship Game Old Dominion beat Georgia 70-65. The game took place at the Georgia Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. 1986 "It is crucial in the game of basketball to known when to peak," Summitt comments. "I learned my lesson once and for all at the 1986 Final Four in Lexington... On the day befoe our national semifinal game against Southern California, we practiced in Rupp Arena in front of a huge crowd. This was the first time, in an effort to stir up excitement, that the NCAA opened practices to fans and the press...because of all the people in the stands, I felt like we had to put on a show. ...I knew we had done too much. It was entirely my fault that we came out flat as a board against Southern Cal. We lost, 83-59. March 30, 1986: NCAA Championship Gamr Texas beat Southern California 97-81. The game took place at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. 1987 After 14 years of coaching, Pat Summitt's Tennessee Lady Vols wins its first National Championship. They‘d reached the Final Four 7 times from 1974-1986, and lost each time. "Perhaps the best role-playing team we've ever had at Tennessee was our 1987 squad... People forget that there was not a single All American on that team... We were only ranked No. 7 in the country. We had the worst record in the Final Four, at 26-6. We had to go up against Long Beach State, and their All American Cindy Brown, which was the highest scoring team in the nation, and then Louisiana Tech, with Tersea Witherspoon. Nobody had any respect for us. ... Cindy Brown called us "those corn-fed chicks from Tennessee." The Naismith College Coach of the Year award is inaugerated. Bob Knight of Indiana wins on the men's side, Pat Summitt wins on the women's side. March 29, 1987: NCAA Championship Game Tennessee beat Louisiana Tech 67-44. The game took place at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. (FIRST) 1988 April 3, 1988: NCAA Championship Game Louisiana Tech beat Auburn 56-54. The game took place at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. 1989 Pat Summitt wins the Naismith College Coach of the Year Award in its 3rd year of existence, for the 2nd time. April 2, 1989: NCAA Championship Game Tennessee beat Auburn 76-70. The game took place at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. (SECOND) 1990 April 1, 1990: NCAA Championship Game Stanford beat Auburn 88-81. The game took place at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee. September 21, 1990 Pat Summitt, nine months pregnant, had flown on a recruiting visit to see Michelle Marciniak. She went into labor and returned to Tennessee immediately aboard their charter jet so that her husband could be present at the birth. She gave birth to a boy whom they named Ross Tyler Summitt. October, 1990 The 1990-1991 season begins. Pat Summitt brings tiny Tyler on all road games, starting with his first game when he's 12 days old. The team passes the baby around in what will become a pre-game ritual. 1991 March 31, 1991 NCAA Championship Game Tennessee beat Virginia in OT, 70-67. The game took place at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. (THIRD) 1992 March 29, 1992: NCAA Championship Game Stanford beat Western Kentucky 78-62. The game took place at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. 1993 State Farm begins its sponsorship of the Women's Tip-Off Classic. By 2002 it will become the longest-running in-season college women's tournament. (late March or early Apr?) 1993, NCAA Championship Game Texas Tech beat Ohio State, 84-82. The game took place at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. Sheryl Swoopes is one of the members of the Texas Tech team that beats Ohio State. She scored 47 points in the win - the highest point total to that time of any player in NCAA championship history, male or female. 1994 Pat Summitt of Tennessee wins the Naismith College Coach of the Year Award in its 8th year of existence, for the 3rd time. 1994 NCAA Championship North Carolina beat Louisiana Tech, 60-59. The game took place at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia. 1995 (late March- early Apr?) 1995 NCAA Championship Game Connecticut beat Tennessee 70-64. The game takes place at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Summitt was impressed by the triple-post offense that UConn had used to defeat her own team. She and her staff flew to Chicago to talk about it with Phil Jackson and Tex Winter, head and assistant coaches for the Chicago Bulls, respectively - who used that offense in the pros. They instituted parts of this offense in their next season - which resulted, Summitt declared, in their first two back-to-back championships. 1996 Pat hires her third full-time assistant, Al Brown. The Lady Vols will win their fourth National Championship. (late March- early Apr?) 1996 NCAA Championship Game Tennessee beat Georgia 83-65. The game took place at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. (FOURTH) Pat tells the story that this is the first time she ever got a hug from her father, who was not one to be demonstrative. "I had said publicly over the years that he was a forbidding man, and that I'd never been able to win his approval. I guess he got tired of hearing about it....I climbed into the stands to see my parents, like I always do. He put his arms around me, and in his own awkward way, hugged me and kissed me." 1997 January 5, 1997 The Lady Vols are having a tough season, with five losses already. On this night, Pat Summitt sits in the Washington, DC airport after a loss to UConn (72-57), waiting for the connection back to Knoxville. Her son Tyler (who travelled with the team) was asleep in her lap. The North Carolina team and their coach Sylvia Hatchell passed through the airport. Hatchell spoke some comforting words - she and Summitt were good friends. March 29, 1997: NCAA Championship Game Tennessee beats Old Dominion 68-59. The game takes place at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio. (FIFTH) During the summer and fall of 1997, Pat Summitt wrote her first book, Reach For The Summitt, with the help of Sally Jenkins. It will be published in 1998. July, 1997 Tiffni Johnson, a 6 ft 4 center from Charlotte, NC, an integral part of the Lady Vols' back-to-back titles, had consistently violated team policy - curfew and living off campus without permission. In this month during their summer camp, Summitt told TJ she was off the team. Johnson went into the WNBA in 1998 and played for the Phoenix Mercury. (She then spent five years with Houston and in 2006 was traded to Seattle.) November 23, 1997 Summitt brought the Lady Vols to play at the University of Tennessee at Martin, her alma mater, which spent the weekend honoring her. UTM designated a street on campus "Pat Head Summitt Avenue," and named the basketball court in the Skyhawk Arena, the Pat Head Summitt Court. The Lady Vols team "christened" the newly-named court with a 73-32 victory over Tennessee-Martin. December 18, 1997 Jody Conradt of the Texas Longhorns, at age 56, reaches a milestone that no women's basketball coach had achieved up to that time - she wins her 700th game in front of the hometown crowd. 1998 Pat Summitt of Tennessee wins the Naismith College Coach of the Year Award in its 12th year of existence, for the 4th time. March 29, 1998: NCAA Championship Game Tennessee beats Louisiana Tech 93-75. The game takes place at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. (SIXTH) This is their third national championship in a row, and their first undefeated season. Only UConn in the 1990s will be able to repeat this feat. Prior to the NCAA win, the Associated Press had named her their Coach of the Year. Glamour magazine named her one of their 1998 Women of the Year, and the City of Knoxville also named her the 1998 Woman of the Year. June, 1998 An article in the New York Times reports that Chamique Holdsclaw and coach Pat Summitt had attended a New York Liberty WNBA game. According to this article, reported in Nike is a Goddess, "Summitt also admitted that she herself, the highest paid college women's coach, finds the idea of moving into the professional league very intriguing. 'I never thought I'd see something like this,' she said at the Liberty game. 'I like this, I like this for me.'" Nothing will come of this, however, although she will become a consultant to the Washington Mystics in 2002, for three years. The first women's college basketball team to "Three-peat" 1995-1996 Lady Vols Michelle Marciniak G SR Tiffani Johnson C SO Latina Davis G SR Kim Smallwood F/C FR Laurie Milligan G SO Misty Greene G/F FR Kellie Jolly G FR Chamique Holdsclaw F/C FR Brynae Laxton F FR Pashen Thompson C JR Abby Conklin F JR 1995-1996 Lady Vols Niya Butts G FR Tiffani Johnson C JR Kyra Elzy G/F FR Laurie Milligan G JR Misty Greene G/F SO Kellie Jolly G SO Chamique Holdsclaw F SO Brynae Laxton F SO LaShonda Stephens C FR Pashen Thompson C SR Abby Conklin F SR 1997-1998 Lady Vols Niya Butts G SO Kyra Elzy G/F SO Laurie Milligan G SR Misty Greene G/F JR Kellie Jolly G JR Semeka Randall G FR Chamique Holdsclaw F JR Tamika Catchings F FR Brynae Laxton F JR Kristen "Ace" Clement G FR LaShonda Stephens C SO Teresa Geter G FR After their sixth title, season tickets for the Lady Vols almost doubled. Also, an anonymous donor gave a $50,000 gift to the program. At one point after this win, the team was receiving two hundred pieces of mail a day. The Tenneesee Lady Vols led by Chamique Holdsclaw in her senior year were hoping to be the first women's college team to do a "four-peat", but unfortunately it was not to be. They were the SEC conference champions, and the SEC tournament champions, but instead placed only 2nd in the NCAA East Regional. Kyra Elzy had torn her ACL, and was out for the season. LaShonda Stephens had bad knees and could not play, although Pat left her on scholarship and she continued to travel with the team. 1999 March 28, 1999: NCAA Championship Game Purdue beats Duke, 62-45. The game took place at San Jose Arena in San Jose, California. June 5, 1999 The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (located in Nashville, TN) opens on this day, and in inaugural ceremonies Pat Summitt is inducted into the inaugural class, along with: Senda Berenson Abbott, Lidia Alexeeva, Carol Blazejowski, Joanne Bracker, Jody Conradt, Joan Crawford, Denise Curry, Anne Donovan, Carol Eckman, Betty Jo Graber, Lusia Harris Stewart, John Head, Nancy Lieberman, Darlene May, Ann Meyers-Drysdale, Cheryl Miller, Billie Moore, Shin-Ja Park, Harley Redin, Uljana Semjonova, Jim Smiddy, Bertha Teague, Margaret Wade, and Nera White. 2000 April 2, 2000: NCAA Championship Game Connecticut beats Tennessee, 71-52. The game took place at First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Oct. 13, 2000 Pat was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA -- the first time she was eligible for the Hall's ballot. Summitt became just the fourth women's basketball coach to earn Hall of Fame honors when she was inducted with the Class of 2000, which included former NBA greats Isiah Thomas and Bob McAdoo, legendary high school coach Morgan Wootten and contributors C.M. Newton and Danny Biasone. 2001 Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame wins the Naismith College Coach of the Year Award in its 15th year of existence. April 1, 2001: NCAA Championship Game The Savvis Center in St. Louis is "packed with fans" to see the NCAA final. Kristy Curry was the coach of Purdue, Muffet McGraw was the coach of Notre Dame. Notre Dame beats Purdue, 68-66. 2002 March 31, 2002 NCAA Championship Game Connecticut beats Oklahoma, 82-70. The game took place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Aug. 18, 2002 On this day, the Lady Vols released their 2002-2003 schedule. Summitt stated in the press release: "Our schedule for the coming season is a typical challenging adventure. Once again we travel from coast-to-coast and have added a first time trip to the Caribbean to play in the San Juan (Puerto Rico) Shoot Out. In all, we have added four first-time opponents to this season's schedule." Tennessee opened the 2002-03 campaign at home, hosting the 10th Annual State Farm Classic on Nov. 10, which pitted the Lady Vols against 2001-2002 Final Four runner-up Oklahoma. Oklahoma was coached by Sherri Coale, in her fifth season with the Sooners. Former Lady Vol Nikki Caldwell joined the coaching staff this season as a replacement for Al Brown, who went on to become an assistant coach at Wisconsin. Aug. 19, 2002 Lady Vols alumni Tamika Catchings won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award on this date. She played for the Indiana Fever. Aug. 28, 2002 Pat Summitt announced that she'd hired Danielle Donehew as the Director of Basketball Operations for the Lady Vols, replacing Amber Stocks, who was named as an assistant coach at Xavier University earlier in August. Last year, Donehew had served on Summitt's staff as a graduate assistant for basketball administration. Sept. 16, 2002 SLAM Magazine issued a press release, in which the Lady Vols were selected as the second-ranked team in the nation in a preseason poll. Duke was ranked number 1, and Kansas number 3. Texas was #4, and Connecticut #5. Sept. 19, 2002 The University of Tennessee put out a press release stating that basketball coaches Buzz Peterson and Pat Summitt would hold their annual coaches clinic Oct. 11-12 at Thompson-Boling Arena. Peterson, Summitt and former Chicago Bulls and Iowa State head coach Tim Floyd were the featured speakers. Sept. 27, 2002 ESPN Classic aired a 30-minute special on the 1998 NCAA Women's Final Four. The 1998 season was Tennessee's crown glory as it capped three straight NCAA Titles and a 39-0 season. November 5, 2002 This was Lady Vols media day, with Pat and her team giving interviews and having publicity photos taken. Nov 29, 2002 The Lady Vols lost to Duke in the previous week, and dropped from #2 to #4 in the polls. On this day, they were in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the San Juan Shootout. They would win the tournament on December 1, 2002. Dec. 16, 2002 Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols were in Los Angeles for a game (which they won) and also got to meet legendary coach John Wooden. They met for dinner at his favorite restaurant in Encino, "the Valley View Inn," and spent the evening talking basketball, taking pictures and signing autographs with the team. Dec 17, 2002 In a teleconference, Pat Summitt revealed her thoughts on the newly formed Title IX commission: "It is a great concern for all of us. For women and all sports across the country and for Women's Basketball. We have talked about it and a number of coaches have talked about it. I can't tell you that we have a voice that is being heard. A lot of people are fighting for Title IX to see it remain and maybe improve. A lot of people are not in compliance with it right now and to weaken opportunities would be a devastating blow." 2003 January 2, 2003 In her weekly teleconference, Pat was asked about the entertainment value of the UT/UConn rivalry (UConn had Diana Taurasi at this time): "What makes a great college rivalry? Certainly, the Tennessee and Connecticut rivalry over the past eight years is probably the best we've been involved in during my time at UT. I think the reason is because the stakes have been high. The teams have always been ranked at the top and the national media attention, television and fan interest have made a difference. Certainly, there is a level of interest in the game that you don't have any other time in the year except the Final Four and the NCAA Tournament. This matchup has been great for women's basketball. I don't look at it as showtime for me. I see it as an opportunity for our team to play against someone that is a great barometer for us. That's how you learn, by playing the best. That's my general feeling about this game. It's just a high-level of intensity and play." She was also asked, "Is Tennessee still in an enviable position recruiting?" "We have a lot to sell," replied Summitt. "It's more than tradition. We have great fans and facilities. We have a commitment to academics and compete in a great conference. Our player development speaks for itself. We play on television a lot and have a tough schedule. It's all about what you have to sell and then you have to sell it. We don't get all of the student-athletes we go after, but I will say our percentage has been strong. I give a lot of credit to Mickie DeMoss and Holly Warlick. They are the ones that have to convince a 17-year-old that I'm not as crazy as people say I am." January 14, 2003 Pat Summitt wins her 800th game, as her Lady Vols defeat DePaul. She was the first women's basketball coach to reach that milestone. April 8, 2003: NCAA Championship Game Connecticut beats Tennessee, 73-68. The game took place at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. 2004 Jan. 22, 2004 Pat set a new record by coaching her 1,000th collegiate game. The Lady Vols beat Vanderbilt at home, 79-54. Pat Summitt of Tennessee wins the Naismith College Coach of the Year Award in its 18th year of existence, for the 6th time. April 6, 2004: NCAA Championship Game Connecticut beats Tennessee, 70-61. The game took place at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. UConn Coach Geno Auriemma thus matches Summitt's feat of 3 back-to-back NCAA championships, and now has a total of 5, to Summitt's 6. 2005 March 22, 2005 In Knoxville, Summitt's Lady Vols beat Purdue, 75-54, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The victory was the 880th of her coaching career, moving her past Dean Smith of North Carolina (879 victories) as the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history. Pokey Chatman of LSU wins the Naismith College Coach of the Year Award in its 19th year of existence. Seimone Augustus of LSU wins the Wade Trophy, in its 28th year of existence. April 5, 2005: NCAA Championship Game Baylor beats Michigan State, 84-62. The game took place at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. Aug. 4, 2005 Sue Gunter, former coach of Louisiana State University (from 1982-2004), died early in the morning on this day, at the age of 66, after a lengthy illness. Reporters contacted various friends and associates of Gunter for their reactions. PAt Summitt was in Los Angeles,where she was speaking at Collegiate Business Conference. She stated: "Sue Gunter was a wonderful friend, an exceptional person and an incredibly talented basketball coach." She continued: "Definitely one of the pioneers of women's collegiate basketball. She was one of my mentors. Sue was the assistant coach to Billie Moore when I played on the 1976 USA Olympic Team (silver medalist) in Montreal. Four years later, I had the privilege of serving as her assistant when she was named head coach of the 1980 USA Olympic Team to the boycotted Moscow games. "I learned so much from Sue about the X's and O's of the game of basketball. But more importantly, she taught me about the delicate balance of coaching and teaching the game and the value of great player-coach relationships. She made playing basketball fun due to her ability to connect with her players. Personally, I am going to miss her tremendously and I know the game is going to miss her." October 23, 2005 Pat Summitt's father, Richard Head died at his home, surrounded by family: his wife of 63 years, sons, Pat, her brohters Tommy (married to Deloris) Charles (married to Mitzi), and Kenneth (married to Debbie) and her sister Linda (married to Wesley) Attebery. All of Pat's siblings live within a five-mile radius of their mother. December 01, 2005 Cait McMahan, a high school senior who had, in November, signed scholarship papers with Tennessee, tore her ACL and missed the remainder of her senior season. "'I think she's pretty devastated,' said Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt, who spoke with McMahan by phone Tuesday. 'It's her senior year. You go through a lot, no matter when it happens, but it's probably more difficult for her considering the timing.' Still, McMahan should be healthy in time to join the Lady Vols next fall. Tennessee players Candace Parker, Sade Wiley-Gatewood, Alex Fuller and Sidney Spencer all suffered knee injuries and underwent surgery last season. " December 4, 2005 On this night, the Lady Vols play and beat Tara VanDerveer's Stanford Cardinal. According to Sports Illustrated writer Kellie Anderson: "Last summer, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer called up Tennessee's Pat Summitt and asked her if the Fastbreak Club could auction off a seat on the Tennessee bench to a fan for their December 4 game. Not only did Summitt enthusiastically agree -- as well she might, given that Stanford has generously contributed to her record 800-plus wins -- she also offered to bring the fan into the locker room at halftime and after the game." That was enough for Douglas Lee, who shelled out $5,000 for an anniversary present for his wife, Kellee Noonan. "At first I thought it would be weird to not be rooting for Stanford," says Noonan, a Hewlett-Packard engineer and a former president of the Fastbreak Club. "Then I realized this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience." "When you see Pat on TV or from the bleachers, you see her glaring and waving her arms and it's a little scary," says Noonan. "She looks a little maniacal. But on the bench, she never yelled, she was never threatening. She kneeled down in front of players and gave them very specific feedback. After sitting on her bench, I have a much deeper respect for her as a coach. She gives her players everything she has. She really wants to win for them." Anderson continutes: "Because Summitt has always been open to being miked and letting cameras follow her team into the locker room, her style and her methods are pretty familiar to fans. Stanford is far more mysterious. VanDerveer isn't your pacing, anguished sideline coach. She mostly stays in her seat. Her teams don't get tested much in the Pac-10, a conference the Cardinal have dominated for years. Some people think they overachieve, others think they underachieve." December 19, 2005 On this day, Pat Summitt announced that starting point guard, sophomore Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood has decided to leave the University of Tennessee. She will transfer to Maryland. 2006 January 19, 2006 On this day, Pat Summitt won her 900th win with a come-from-behind victory over #19-ranked Vanderbilt, 80-68, in Nashville, Tenn. April 4, 2006: NCAA Championship Game Maryland beats Duke in OT, 78-75. The game took place at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. September 1, 2006 It was announced on various sports blogs that Pat had separated from her husband of 26 years, RB Summitt. No details as to why have been released. Nov. 1, 2006 The Tennessee Lady Vols were ranked #5 in the pre-season poll, for the 2006-2007 season. On the night, they beat Carson-Newman in an exhibition game. November 11, 2006 The Lady Vols open the 2006-2007 season with a victory on this night against Chattanooga. 2007 February 2, 2007 "Wheaties® unveiled its newest Breakfast of Champions® box Thursday in front of thousands of cheering UT fans at halftime during a game at Thompson-Boling arena, the largest home fan base in women's college basketball. The special-edition package, rolling out this week, features the elite University of Tennessee women's basketball program and head coach Pat Summitt."> The cereal box was only available for sale on a regional basis, but flat boxes were available from the UT store and also on Ebay. Pat Summitt is the first women's basketball coach to be honored on a Wheaties box. Candace Parker of Tennesee wins the Wade Trophy, in its 29th year of existence. April 3, 2007 2007 NCAA Championship The Tennessee Lady Vols beat Rutgers for their record seventh title! The celebrations of the NCAA victory are marred, a couple of days later, by a racially insenstive comment made by Don Imus on his radio show, directed toward the Rutgers team players. Imus found himself in the middle of a firestorm (pointing out that black rappers say the same things and much worse about all black women, and reach a much larger audience of impressionable youth, did him no good) and eventually he was fired, despite the fact that the Rutgers team publicly forgave him. Sports Illustrated publishes an 80-page commemorative issue on the Lady Vols, released only in Tennessee. 1) A Whole New Ballgame 2) The 2006-2007 Season in Pictures 3) 2007 Tournament Brackets 4) Hitting the Road 5) Two Over Easy 6) About A Team 7) The Belle of the Ball 8) History: The Greatest Lady Vols of all Time 9) Eyes of the Storm Monday, April 23, 2007 Pat Summitt is the second guest on The Tonight Show, starring Jay Leno. She is only given about 6 minutes of air time, but tells a few stories, gives "props" to her players and to rival UConn. Bibliography Hard Fought Victories: Women Coaches Making a Difference, Sara Gogol, 2002, Wish Publishing. Extraordinary Women Athletes, Judy L. Hasday, 2000. Children's Press A History of Basketball for Girls and Women: From Bloomers to the Big Leagues. Joanne Lannin. 2000. Lerner Sports. Reach For the Summitt, Pat Summitt and Sally Jenkins. 1998. Broadway Books. Raise the Roof, Pat Summitt and Sally Jenkins. 1998. Broadway Books. Nike Is A Goddess: The History of Women in Sports. Edited by Lissa Smith. 1998. Atlantic Monthly Press. 1952-1969 1970-1979 1980-1989 1990-1999 2000-onward