OT: Pat Summit Has Early Onset Dementia
http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/6888321/tenness…
While I routinely rag on the quality of watching women's sports with my friends, I think we can all agree that Pat Summit is one of the best coaches ever, for any sport, men or women. This is truly sad news for college sports, and I hope she can get as many more years in coaching as humanly possible.
August 23rd, 2011 at 5:40 PM ^
Best of luck to her.
August 23rd, 2011 at 5:54 PM ^
her players and teams.
people can rag on womens sports all they want, but compared to mens (not really a fair comparison) womens sports are in their infancy...different games that clearly appeal to different audiences.
howeva..Pat Summit's teams are so fundamentally sound. she gets great athletes and is such an amazing coach. i hope the news of this allows the appreciation of her abilities to be more broadly appreciated.
thanks for posting this...it is very sad news indeed.
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:12 PM ^
i'm waiting for e gordon gee to say he has it too to make emmert and the tsio look even more sympathetic
as for pat summit, thats a daam shame, great coach, even if its womens basketball, which is boring beyond belief. in her prime, i bet she could of coached with the best of them in college, even on a mens level, recruiting might of been a different story. thats why we may never see a female coach coach a mens d 1 basketball team at a high level.
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:42 PM ^
wow, the gee/emmert thing is really eating at you, isn't it??
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:19 PM ^
i truly enjoyed the work pat has done with john madden.
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:37 PM ^
She says she'll coach this year but early onset Dementia got bad pretty fast for my dad that first year. Good luck to her and her family.
August 23rd, 2011 at 9:46 PM ^
this is one reason why Carr "retired". Actually showing early signs of Alzheimers but you get the picture.
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:41 PM ^
For as much as I cannot stand watching women's basketball, I am truly saddened to hear about this. Great coach, good luck to her.
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:48 PM ^
Very sad news. Dementia is one horrible son of a bitch to watch someone go through.
August 23rd, 2011 at 7:00 PM ^
Also a huge loss for UT sports. After all of the Pearl and Kiffin negativity, continuing to have a legend with the character and integrity of Summitt on campus is huge. I hope that she can defy the odds and coach/enjoy life for years to come. Summitt is also a native East Tennessean, from Alcoa, I believe.
August 23rd, 2011 at 7:15 PM ^
as sad as it gets. Prayers to all in Vol Nation.
August 23rd, 2011 at 8:13 PM ^
I watched two grandparents go through this - I wish her and her family the best.
August 23rd, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^
Best wishes to her and the family.
August 23rd, 2011 at 8:23 PM ^
i guess thats why i lost 500 pts
which is some serious fuckin bullshit, just take em all at this point.
I guess people just can't handle it from my other post
i didn't say anything bad about her, well besides womens b ball is boring !
either that post regarding gee, or my other one about gee in regards to the guy not handling the post .
oh well , fuck it !
August 23rd, 2011 at 8:22 PM ^
This is sad news. I wish Pat the best, and hopefully she will be able to forestall the onset as long as possible.
August 23rd, 2011 at 9:11 PM ^
Here is the text of a letter she sent to the team, and then Chancellor Cheek sent it out to all the students at UT. She's an icon on campus, and in sports in general, and she'll have massive support from our community.
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August 23rd, 2011 at 9:15 PM ^
For the time being, I hope you will respect my privacy regarding this matter.
Sending this letter to the student body seems like an odd way to respect her privacy.
August 23rd, 2011 at 9:27 PM ^
Eh, I think "privacy" for a public figure is relative. I'm sure she knew this was going to make ESPN and most other major news outlets. I think she doesn't want reporters at her home and stuff like that.
August 23rd, 2011 at 9:31 PM ^
It just seems like an odd thing to have in a letter that's being sent out to thousands of people.
August 23rd, 2011 at 10:04 PM ^
BlueDragon - I believe she is defining privacy as further hounding from media types. I think she is basically saying I've been frank and chosen to disclose my condition, now please show some respect and ask me questions about basketball.
August 23rd, 2011 at 10:21 PM ^
That makes sense to me.
August 23rd, 2011 at 9:42 PM ^
...WaPo story about her friend Summit. Incredible stuff.
August 23rd, 2011 at 10:15 PM ^
Nice post. Apparently she took enough time away from winning championships to raise her son the right way too. I've always really admired Summitt. I think its because her personality has always seemed more old-school football coach than that of a women's basketball coach.
August 23rd, 2011 at 10:18 PM ^
This is pretty unfortuate. That said, early detection and treatment of early onset dementia does offer some opportunity for improved outcomes with professional care and therapy.
August 23rd, 2011 at 11:03 PM ^
The Associated Press reports that the head football coach at MSU has early onset douchentia.
August 24th, 2011 at 12:20 AM ^
And she suffers from RA?! Bless her heart.