Pat Summitt stepping aside at Tennessee

The time Tennessee Lady Vols and women’s basketball fans have dreaded for months finally has arrived.

April 19 2012

“I’ve loved being the head coach at Tennessee for 38 years, but I recognize that the time has come to move into the future and to step into a new role,” the 59-year-old Hall of Famer said in a statement issued Wednesday by the school.
Summitt will discuss the move, including the promotion of longtime assistant Holly Warlick as her replacement, at a Thursday news conference on the court named in her honor the night she won her 1,000th game. Making the decision had been only a matter of time since Summitt revealed Aug. 23 that she had been diagnosed with early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type.


It’s why players from opposing teams joined fans from coast to coast donning T-shirts saying “We back Pat” and greeted Summitt with cheers at every game. Even the Murray State men put shirts with the phrase on when they played at Summitt’s alma mater in Martin this winter on another court named in her honor.


But Summitt’s every move was studied to see how she felt, down to how many officials she yelled at or her icy glares at a player. After losing to eventual national champ Baylor in a regional final, Warlick’s tears during the postgame news conference gave a glimpse of how exhausting the season had been and the possibility it was Summitt’s last game.