Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt has elected to end her illustrious coaching career after 1,098 wins and eight national titles in 38 seasons. After being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease less than a year ago, Summitt decided it was time to step down.
“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," Summitt said in a statement. “I would like to emphasize that I fully intend to continue working as head coach emeritus, mentoring and teaching life skills to our players … I love our players and my fellow coaches, and that's not going to change.”
This news shocked the college sports world, as Summitt was one of the last remaining “lifers” in the collegiate coaching business.
Aside from Roy Williams at North Carolina and Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, there are not a lot of coaches that stick in one spot long enough to be considered legendary at the school.
A prime example of this is Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari. While his on-court accomplishments speak for themselves, Calipari’s career has consisted of coaching at a school long enough to gain recognition, only to bolt for a more prestigious school.
However, the blame doesn’t rest solely on Calipari — or any other coach for that matter — as the current culture in collegiate sports has changed since the days of John Wooden, Bear Bryant and Woody Hayes.
This shift in culture is apparent in the amount of players and coaches who jump from school to school. Players often search for more playing time to showcase their abilities to professional scouts, while coaches search for national championships to bolster their résumé.
Regardless of the reasons, the lack of loyalty and longevity is alarming.
ASU has seen it’s fair share of coaching changes over the past few years, including Pat Murphy, who seemed to be on track to becoming a fixture in Sun Devil Athletics until he was forced to resign after NCAA violations became apparent.
Charli Turner Thorne, coach of the ASU women’s basketball team since 1996, has led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Tournament seven times in her career, including six of the seven years prior to her voluntary leave of absence from the team during the 2011-12 season.
It is yet to be seen how long men’s basketball coach Herb Sendek, football coach Todd Graham and baseball coach Tim Esmay will stick around, but it appears Thorne is the current frontrunner to become the next “lifer” at ASU.
These types of coaches can change a university, and we hope to see another Pat Summitt in our lifetime.
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