Pat Summitt
Pat Summitt
Patricia Sue "Pat" Summittwas an American college basketball head coach whose 1,098 career wins are the most in NCAA basketball history. She served as the head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team from 1974 to 2012, before retiring at age 59 because of a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. She won eight NCAA championships, a number surpassed only by the 10 titles won by UCLA men's coach John Wooden and the 11 titles won by UConn...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth14 June 1952
CityClarksville, TN
CountryUnited States of America
I didn't say a lot. I didn't throw anything. That's not my style. I did think about it though.
I remember every player-every single one-who wore the Tennessee orange, a shade that our rivals hate, a bold, aggravating color that you can usually find on a roadside crew, "or in a correctional institution," as my friend Wendy Larry jokes. But to us the color is a flag of pride, because it identifies us as Lady Vols and therefore as women of an unmistakable type. Fighters. I remember how many of them fought for a better life for themselves. I just met them halfway.
Candace commented that she had a lot of shots that seemed to go halfway down and come back out. We had to grind it out, and I wasn't particularly happy with that, but was proud at the end. Our ball movement and player movement was stagnant at times.
I was pleased that we managed to make some adjustments because they were getting good open looks against us and we weren't communicating as well defensively.
We lost the ball game in the first half. I don't have any excuses for this team. I don't know when they're going to show up and play.
We were on defense, and I heard 'Defense' so loud, it was like a home game. I can't believe they're yelling 'Defense,' so obviously they feel the way I do about the weakness of our team right now.
Change equals self improvement. Push yourself to places you haven't been before.
By doing things when you are too tired, by pushing yourself farther than you thought you could - like running the track after a two-hour practice - you become a competitor. Each time you go beyond your perceived limit, you become mentally stronger.
There is always someone better than you. Whatever it is that you do for a living, chances are, you will run into a situation in which you are not as talented as the person next to you. That's when being a competitor can make a difference in your fortunes.
See yourself as self employed.
Success lulls you. It makes the most ambitious of us complacent and sloppy. In a way, you have to cultivate a kind of amnesia and forget all of your previous prosperity.
I'd wake up in the morning and I would think, 'Where am I?' I'd have to gather myself,
In most of my coaching years, I've called timeout. But I've found it very difficult at times to get the ball back inbounds. You just have to trust your team. I think I've changed my philosophy in probably the last three years.
Discipline helps you finish a job, and finishing is what separates excellent work from average work.