The 2007-08 Tennessee Lady Vol, Pat Summitt's last national championship team.

When she was 22 years old, Pat Head Summitt took over the job as the women’s basketball coach at the University of Tennessee because no one else really wanted the job.  She was on campus, rehabbing a knee injury in an attempt to get back to playing basketball before the 1976 Montreal Olympics (she would end up winning silver), and her first game as a head coach was a 84-83 loss to Mercer on December 7, 1974.  She wouldn’t have too many more losses after those first few seasons.  Pat Summitt’s coaching career can be summed up by sheer numbers:  1098 victories, 8 national championships, 7 NCAA coach of the year awards, a gold medal (1984), and 38 years as the Wizard of Knoxville.  Pat Summitt is stepping down as head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols, moving into a head coach emeritus position as she continues her fight against Alzheimer’s Disease.

The game has changed wildly since Summitt took over as Tennessee’s coach, and a lot of those changes have to do with Summitt herself.  She was the first rock star in women’s sports, let alone women’s basketball, and her Vols went from a 6-on-6 half-court game in the days before Title IX to the modern basketball we see today.  All the while, Summitt racked up wins and coached with the kind of fire and impact that would have translated across genders.

Summitt’s final team at Tennessee went a respectable 27-9 and made it to the Elite Eight before falling to the 40-0 Baylor Bears behind Brittney Griner, the kind of player that didn’t exist in women’s sports before Summitt.  She will step back into an assistance position while former assistant Holly Warlick takes over as head coach of the Lady Vols.

Tags: pat head summitt, pat head, pat summitt, holly warlick, women’s basketball, ncaa basketball, ncaa women’s basketball, college basketball’s all-time winningest coach, winningest coach in basketball history, pat summitt steps down at tennessee, pat summitt retires, pat summitt retires from tennessee, pat summitt alzheimer’s disease, sports, basketball, coaching, lady vols, tennessee lady vols

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