Ode to Pat Summitt (and praise for Holly Warlick), courtesy of Amanda Butler
Thursday, April 19, 2012 | Women's Basketball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Amanda Butler had no problem putting Pat Summitt's legacy into words.
The Florida basketball coach didn't need many words, either.
“The simplest thing I can tell you is that she's just the best in the history of ever,” Butler said.
Butler, like some of the biggest names in sports, weighed in Wednesday on the Summitt situation after the University of Tennessee announced its iconic women's basketball coach of the last 38 years would step aside and assume the title of “Head Coach Emeritus.”
The move came nearly eight months after the 59-year-old Summitt, winner of eight national championships, announced she had been diagnosed with early onset dementia, a precursor to Alzeimer's Disease.
Longtime assistant Holly Warlick, who has worked alongside Summitt on the bench for 27 years and three years before that as an All-America guard for the Lady Vols, was promoted to take over for the coach who went 1,098-207, with 16 regular season Southeastern Conference titles and 18 Final Four appearances.
Summitt, meanwhile, will report to the UT athletic director and vowed to work toward ensuring stability in the juggernaut program she built.
“I think they're treating a unique situation in a very unique way,” Butler said. “And I'm really happy Holly is officially taking the reigns. There is no better choice, no better person, to lead that program.”
The news out of Knoxville hit particularly close for Butler -- and not just because of the SEC affiliations the Gators and Lady Vols share.
Butler was born in Mount Juliet, Tenn., where she scored more than 1,400 points and dreamed of playing for the coach credited with putting women's college basketball on the map.
“I think any girl in the nation, and especially someone in my age group, if you wanted to play basketball you wanted to go to the University of Tennessee and play for Coach Summitt,” Butler said. “You were like, 'How do I impress her?' She was the standard of success and there is nothing else that is even close to that sort of greatness.”
Particularly gratifying for the UF coach was the time Summitt donated to advise the young, up-and-coming Butler during her ascension -- and even after her arrival -- to becoming a rival SEC coach.
And Butler wasn't the only one. Summitt not only loved the game, but the people in it and was there to nurture their growth.
“The statistical things, like the number of wins and championships are there for everyone to see,” Butler said. “But there are things that can't be measured, such as the impact she had on her players -- and will continue to have -- as well as her willingness to help people like me who are younger coaches trying to figure out how to be good coaches. She advised and mentored throughout her career. That's why I say she's the best. Not just because she won more games than everybody. She was so much more.”
