Pat Summitt Named Head Coach Emeritus
College basketball all-time wins leader won 1,098 games at UT; Warlick named head coach
NOXVILLE, Tenn. - The
University of Tennessee announced today that head women's basketball
coach Pat Summitt, the all-time wins leader among NCAA basketball
coaches, has been named head coach emeritus following 38 seasons
(1974-2012) and 1,098 victories at Tennessee. Summitt will report to
Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Dave Hart and will serve in a
variety of endeavors. In that capacity, she will continue to serve the
women's basketball program and its coaching staff and as a liaison to
the Director of Athletics, remain involved in on-campus recruiting, and
serve as a personal mentor to players, including life skills coaching.
Associate
head coach Holly Warlick, an assistant on the Tennessee staff for 27
seasons and a three-time All-American as a player for the Lady Vols,
has been named Summitt's successor and will assume head coaching duties
for the Tennessee women's basketball program.
"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," said
Summitt. "I support Holly Warlick being named the next head coach, and
I want to help ensure the stability of the program going forward. I
would like to emphasize that I fully intend to continue working as head
coach emeritus, mentoring and teaching life skills to our players, and
I will continue my active role as a spokesperson in the fight against
Alzheimer's through the Pat Summitt Foundation Fund.
"If anyone
asks, you can find me observing practice or in my office. Coaching is
the great passion of my life, and the job to me has always been an
opportunity to work with our student-athletes and help them discover
what they want. I will continue to make them my passion. I love our
players and my fellow coaches, and that's not going to change."
The
all-time wins leader among college basketball coaches, Summitt finishes
her 38-season career at Tennessee with a 1,098-208 record and an .841
winning pct. The Lady Vols won an unparalleled eight national
championships under her leadership (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998,
2007, and 2008) and played in 13 national championship games. Tennessee
also won the SEC Championship and SEC Tournament title 16 times each,
and Summitt was named SEC Coach of the Year eight times and NCAA Coach
of the Year in seven seasons. Her sixth national championship team, the
1997-98 team, finished a perfect 39-0.
Additionally, the
Tennessee women's basketball team has reached the NCAA Final Four 18
times, tied with the UCLA and North Carolina men for the most all-time
by a college basketball program. Summitt's 18 trips to the Final Four
is the most all-time among coaches, and her eight national titles
trails only the 10 won by former UCLA coach John Wooden in Division I
college basketball. Including the years as a member of the AIAW and
four Final Four trips between 1977-81, Tennessee played in a combined
22 Final Fours overall during Summitt's tenure. The program has
appeared in 25 NCAA Regional finals, posting an 18-7 record, and the
Lady Vols are 48-1 all-time in NCAA First and Second Round games.
"It
is extremely difficult to adequately express what Pat Summitt has meant
to the University of Tennessee, the sport of basketball, and the growth
of women's athletics nationally," said Hart. "She is an icon who does
not view herself in that light, and her legacy is well-defined and
everlasting. Just like there will never be another John Wooden, there
will never be another Pat Summitt. I look forward to continuing to work
with her in her new role. She is an inspiration to everyone.
"Holly
Warlick has earned the opportunity to be the head women's basketball
coach at the University of Tennessee and to lead the Lady Vol program
she has embraced as a player and a coach. I watched Holly grow
tremendously as a coach throughout this past season. Under unique
circumstances, the job she did away from the glare of the lights and
crowds was as impressive as the job she did during game action. At this
time in our historic program, which Pat Summitt built from scratch,
Holly Warlick, the former player and longtime assistant coach, is
deserving of the head coaching position. Her mentor will be available
for insight and advice, but this is Holly's team now."
Warlick,
who recently completed her 27th season as an assistant coach for
Tennessee and her 31st overall with the program as a player or coach,
is the first head coach of the Lady Vols other than Summitt since 1974,
when Margaret Hutson completed a four-year tenure as the leader of the
program (1971-74). Named associate head coach before the 2003-04
season, Warlick has been on the Tennessee coaching staff for all eight
NCAA titles, and as a player or assistant, she has a role in 949 of
Summitt's 1,098 victories at Tennessee.
"I'm very thankful for
all Pat Summitt has done to prepare me for this opportunity," said
Warlick. "She is my coach, mentor, and great friend, and I am honored
with the opportunity to continue and add to the great tradition of this
program. I'd like to thank Dave Hart, Chancellor Cheek, and the
University for having confidence in me to lead the Lady Vol program,
and we will work as hard as we possibly can with the goal of hanging
more banners in Thompson-Boling Arena."
Warlick originally
joined the Tennessee athletics program as a scholarship 400-meter track
athlete and a walk-on to the basketball team. A three-time All-American
as a point guard at Tennessee, Warlick led Tennessee to three AIAW
Final Fours as a player (1977, 1979, 1980) and held numerous school
records upon the completion of her playing career in 1980, including
most assists in a season and a game, most steals in a game, and most
games in career. Warlick was the first Tennessee athlete, male or
female, to have her jersey retired at the end of her career in 1980.
Warlick
was inducted the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and the
Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, and in October 2002, she was a
member of the second induction class of the University of Tennessee
Lady Vol Hall of Fame. She also served two seasons each as an assistant
coach at Virginia Tech (1981-83) and Nebraska (1983-85).
Under
Summitt's leadership, Tennessee is the only school to appear in all 32
NCAA Women's Basketball Tournaments since its inception in 1982,
Tennessee has posted more NCAA Tournament victories (112) and has
played in more tournament games (135) than any other college basketball
program. The Lady Vols have earned a No. 1 seed in the tournament 21
times, including nine consecutive from 1988-96.
Additionally,
the Tennessee program has produced 12 Olympians, 21 State Farm
All-Americans named to 36 different teams, including 2012 All-American
Glory Johnson. Lady Vol players have also received All-SEC accolades on
120 occasions.
Summitt was the head coach of the 1984 U.S.
Olympic Basketball team that captured the gold medal in Los Angeles. On
Oct. 13, 2000, she was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall
of Fame in her first year of eligibility and was inducted along with
former NBA greats Isiah Thomas and Bob McAdoo, high school coach Morgan
Wootten and contributors C.M. Newton and Danny Biasone.
Summitt
added to a remarkable career of accomplishments and accolades during
the 2011-12 season, when she was named Sports Illustrated Sportswoman
of the Year, an honor she shared with SI Sportsman of the Year Mike
Krzyzewski, the Duke men's basketball head coach who has won more games
all-time than any other coach in men's college basketball. The NCAA
also named Summitt this year's recipient of the 2012 NCAA President's
Gerald R. Ford Award, which is named after the 38th President of the
United States and annually honors an individual who has provided
significant leadership as an advocate for intercollegiate athletics
over the course of their career.
A 1974 graduate of UT Martin
with a degree in physical education, Summitt earned her master's degree
in physical education from UT Knoxville in 1975. Her son, Tyler, was a
member of the men's basketball team who graduates with a degree in
communications studies from UT Knoxville this May.
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