Marley Nowell

April 18th, 2012 at 2:36 PM ^

She literally built the sport of woman's basketball from the ground up and became the winningest coach in history.  Hopefully she can somewhat manage her disease and continue to be a part of the sports world in some capacity.

KAYSHIN15

April 18th, 2012 at 2:50 PM ^

Pat Summit is the reason I started watching Women's Bball. It was obvious this year that this disease was slowly taking her away from the sport. I had hoped that she could hold on long enough to win one more trophy, but obviously it was not in God's will...

JHendo

April 18th, 2012 at 3:06 PM ^

I'm by no means a women's basketball fan, but I grew up with a mom who was in the booster club for U of M women's team and a sister who played D1 (and whose team lost to the Lady Vols in the '97 final four), so I'm quite aware of the impact she's had on the sport and have the utmost respect for her.  She's easily one of the greatest college coaches ever (men's or women's) and her presence on the sidelines will most definitely be missed.

VermontMichiganFan

April 18th, 2012 at 3:22 PM ^

59 years old with 1,098 wins.  She could have had a couple decades left with who knows how many wins.  She built Tennessee into arguably the top program in the country (or at least right behind UConn and way ahead of anyone else).

Besides being perhaps th etop coach (man or woman in the country) she seemed like a class-act as well.  Wish her and the family the best!

 

readyourguard

April 18th, 2012 at 3:34 PM ^

It is sad to see a giant in her sport fall to such a grizzly disease.  I hate Alzheimers almost more than I hate Leukemia/cancer.

good luck to her and her family.  I hope they find comfort.