Outside The Box: Pat Summitt- Holistic Player Development

Every so often, I go outside the world of soccer to talk about another sport, in this case, I’m jumping into women’s basketball, and a coach that I think, has had a tremendous amount of influence on me: Pat Summitt.

Pat Summitt, in some circles is considered one of the best, if not the best, Women’s College Basketball coach of all time. In almost 4 decades of coaching, she posted a record of 1,098-208 (. 840) that included the most victories in NCAA basketball at the time of her retirement

Let’s take a step back in time for a minute:

Imagine if the University of Tennessee board of directors went to Coach Summitt and told her: “No, your ideas don’t make sense and forced her, the women’s basketball expert on staff at UT to ‘go a different direction’ Early on at the job while she was trying to build the program, not everything was perfect in their eyes.

She didn’t qualify for her first ‘tournament’. (The NCAA TOURNEY DIDNT EXIST IN WOMEN’S BBALL YET)

She coached her first game for Tennessee on December 7, 1974, against Mercer University in Macon, Georgia; the Lady Vols lost 84–83. Her first win didn’t come for almost a month later when the Lady Vols defeated Middle Tennessee State, 69–32 on January 10, 1975.The Lady Vols won the Tennessee College Women's Sports Federation (TCWSF) Eastern District Championship however, the team finished 4th overall in the TCWSF and were not invited to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) tournament.

She went winless for almost a month at the start of her coaching career. In college basketball, in today’s game, people would be on X calling for her head. IN AAU Basketball, Parents in the program would be going crazy because their child was losing. It has to be the coach’s fault. It can’t possibly be the players that don’t execute the plan. Can it?

Imagine, while developing talent in a game that was constantly evolving, The University of Tennessee told Pat Summitt, NO, we know more about this than you do.

None of this, would have happened at UT:

8× NCAA Division I tournament (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996–1998, 2007, 2008)

18× NCAA Regional—Final Four (1982, 1984, 1986–1989, 1991, 1995–1998, 2000, 2002–2008)

16× SEC Tournament (1980, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998–2000, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010–2012)

16× SEC regular season (1980, 1985, 1990, 1993–1995, 1998, 1999–2004, 2007, 2010, 2011)

Awards

Presidential Medal of Freedom (2012)

Sports Illustrated Sportswoman of the year (2011)

John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award (2008)

Naismith Coach of the 20th Century (2000)

5× Naismith Coach of the Year (1987, 1989, 1994, 1998, 2004)

3× WBCA Coach of the Year (1983, 1995, 1998)

AP Coach of the Year (1998)

USBWA Coach of the Year (1998)

8× SEC Coach of the Year (1993, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011)

Best Coach/Manager ESPY Award (2008)

The University of Tennessee gave Coach Summitt, an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop, in her role as a head coach in 1974. Because of their belief in her, she was able to accomplish great things in her career and in the lives of the young people she coached.

In 38 years as coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, she never missed the NCAA Tournament (once women’s basketball became a sanctioned sport) nor did she ever have a losing season.

Sure, all her success on the court was great, Pat was given the room to grow as a coach and given the tools to succeed and in turn, shared that with her players.

She believed that when you push a player to the brink, the mind and body respond by expanding. That's called "growth", and Coach Summitt was always ready to force the growth out of each player.

“When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do in life.” Pat Summitt

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As a society, we have lost sight of what amateur athletics is about: development of young people. Even at the college level, Coach Summitt knew that there were going to be tough moments, conversations that weren’t easy, and she often times had them with players.

What makes coaches like Pat Summitt so great? They LIVE the 8 C’s of Coaching:

Clarity

Compassion

Character

Consistency

Competency

Connection

Contribution

Commitment

*more about these in a later post

Do you know any coaches that stand out to you that display the 8 C’s? I sure do. Sometimes, coaches that focus on the 8 C’s are just as focused on helping the players win off the field/court as they are on it.

“You can’t always control what happens, but you can control how you handle it.” Pat Summitt

Imagine if we were all truly committed to holistic player development. It’s time to refocus, and do what is right for our players and help make them better people on and off the court/field.

“Here’s how I’m going to beat you. I’m going to outwork you. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.”

OUT. WORK. EVERYONE. (Hence the reason I’m posting this at 5:45 am) after writing it for the last hour and fifteen minutes or so.

~ Ryan L Sparks