Pat Summitt is no ordinary college women’s basketball coach. She was only twenty-one years old when she became the head coach for the Tennessee’s Vols women’s basketball team in 1974. Pat has been with the Lady Vols for her entire career. She has built her program into a powerhouse in the SEC College Women’s Basketball world. Many say she is tough to play for, but her players say she has instilled in them that they can do anything that they work hard for and there’s nothing in life to be afraid of. Summitt is said to have this “icy glare” she gives, but that is just how she is. She modeled her basketball career success from her father’s example of steady and disciplined guidance. Pat isn’t a push over coach, and she demands a lot of her players, both academic in the classroom and on the …show more content…
With this enforcement Pat has boasted a hundred percent graduation for her players. Pat, however, is not just success in the eyes of her players, but also the SEC. For 38 years, Pat has broken many records: winning more games than any other NCAA team in basketball history, won her 1,000th game in 2008, coached an undefeated season in 1997-98 with a record of 39-0, her program have won six NCAA titles, won twenty-one Southeastern Conference tournaments and regular-season championships. Pat has produced 16 Kodak All-Americans and 11 Olympians in her career. She not only produced Olympians, but she played on the United State women’s Olympic team in 1976; then coached the first women’s Olympic team to win the gold medal in 1984. Her career head coaching record was at 1098 wins and 208 losses. In May of 2012 Pat was awarded the “Presidential Medal of Freedom” by President Barack Obama. Summitt is a role model for many of the women she has coached, formal coaches, present coaches, and future coaches like