| Welcome to TheVolunteerOnline. The Volunteer Online is a place where UT fans cross paths to discuss sports and life's other matters. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Fill out the registration as instructed. Go to your email, where a message will be sent to you. Click on that link to activate your membership and posting options. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Pat's last run? | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 10 2012, 11:15 AM (262 Views) | |
| LonzoVol | Mar 10 2012, 11:15 AM Post #1 |
![]()
|
Note: This is my newspaper column for next week. Coach Summitt deserves one more run to the final four, but I really don't know if this senior class can get it done. Even if she returns next season, which is extremely doubtful at this time, the team will be young and without a dominate post player. In any event, thought I would share this with the board. The Reality of the Moment As certainly as a memorable journey begins, it is inevitable that it must, at some point come to an end. Peyton Manning is leaving the Colts, but that is not what this column is going to address. The Manning story is important, but it does not compare to the question that continues to swirl around Lady Vols head coach Pat Summitt. Is this her last Big Dance or will she be able to coach again next season? Yes, the heart is a lonely hunter when the only companion on life’s journey is harsh reality. The hope here is that she will return, but the gut feeling shouts otherwise. Her condition is such that one simply cannot predict what her status will be eight months from now. It is a cruel, unforgiving medical malady and there is no cure. We know certain medications and mental gymnastics can slow the progress in some cases and Pat certainly has the feisty spirit of a cornered wolverine who will battle with every fiber of her being. But the fact remains she has already yielded much of the coaching responsibilities to her committee of assistants. Next season is out there in the future and for now, all who know the pitfalls and perils of her condition are simply hoping for one more glorious run through the brackets of this year’s NCAA tournament. Patricia Sue Head was born on June 14, 1952 in Clarksville. Her family moved to Henrietta so that she could participate in basketball for Cheatham County. Following a stellar high school career, Pat enrolled at UT Martin to play for Coach Nadine Gearin. Dent Yarbro of Dyersburg dated Pat a few times while both were students at UTM. “She was a typical college student, but somewhat shy and a little bashful until you got to know her,” Yarbro recalled. “I also remember that she could become extremely focused and not be distracted. When she was invited to try out for the team that was going to play in the World University games, she really was a “workout warrior”, determined to do her best to earn a spot on the squad.” Pat garnered the respect and admiration of her teammates and coaches in 1970 and was named a co-captain of the silver medal team. Eight years later, she led the United States squad to the gold in the ’84 Olympics. Her first game as coach at Tennessee was an 84-83 loss to Mercer College. The initial victory on the almost annual joyride to almost 1100 triumphs came on a Pearl Harbor Day, 69-32 over Middle Tennessee. She has since claimed 16 SEC titles, eight national championships and has been named National Coach of the Year seven times. This is quite a resume for a lady who once was paid 250 dollars a month coaching the Lady Vols, driving the team van and washing the one set of uniforms that the team possessed. Sometimes it causes sad and melancholy moments of reflection when one must face the fact that the end is closer than the beginning. For the greatest coach in the history of college basketball, the face of Tennessee women’s athletics and NCAA women’s hoops for four decades, that reality is drawing near. She will never surrender but the outcome is irreversible. That famous, steely stare, that stern demeanor, that pursuit of excellence could never be defeated by mere mortals, but her adversary here is an opponent that will eventually bring a spectacular, magnificent and unforgettable career to its conclusion. If this were a Fairy Tale, this Tennessee team and its five seniors would lace their shoes up tight and compete with a grim, square-jawed resolve devoted to the proposition that they would take the great lady on one more fabulous ride to the Final Four. If we could write the ending to this season, it would find Pat Head Summitt staring down her arch-enemy, Geno the Terrible and his UConn women with the national title on the line. That would be poetic justice, but it may not end in Fairy Tale fashion. However, the final disposition of this Lady Vols’ ball club will not detract from the legacy of Pat Summitt. Rather it could only enhance her accomplishments. Nothing can ever tarnish or damage what she has already logged into the eternal record books. The undisputed Queen of the Courts and her legendary career will always be one of the true crown jewels in the illustrious athletic history at the University of Tennessee. So we close now with this message for our beloved heroine of the hardwoods. The entire Volunteer state stands by your side today Coach. We yearn for another run by you and your team in the tournament, but win or lose, you belong to Tennessee forever and we will never, ever forget you and what you have done for your school and this great state. You haven’t done half bad for a country girl from Cheatham County! |
![]() |
|
| Student Radical | Mar 10 2012, 12:53 PM Post #2 |
![]()
|
Very well done and heartfelt. |
![]() |
|
| Tnphil | Mar 10 2012, 01:51 PM Post #3 |
![]()
|
Good read.. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Thompson-Boling Arena · Next Topic » |








9:45 AM Jul 11