The sports world lost another legend Tuesday morning when former Tennessee Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt lost her battle to dementia. She was one of the most legendary coaches in college basketball history and now you can read exactly what lead to her job with the Volunteers.
In 1974, Tennessee offered Summitt the head coaching job, which ended up being the only one she ever held in her career. Here is the letter that set out that offer.
Here is the 1974 letter from U of Tennessee to Pat Summitt offering her the job. pic.twitter.com/4hjTq9FbP5
— SI Vault (@si_vault) June 28, 2016
I’m sure Tennessee is happy they made their offer to the coach.
Not only is Summitt the winningest coach in women’s college basketball history, but in men’s history as well. She recorded 1,098 wins in her career and would undoubtedly locked down more had her career not been cut short in following the 2012-13 season as she retired due to a diagnosis of early onset dementia.
In her near 40-year career, she led the team to a NCAA Tournament appearance every year from 1982 to 2013 and helped them to 18 Final Four appearances and eight national titles.
Rest in peace, Pat Summitt. You will certainly be missed by many in the sports world.
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