Coach Summitt still on During the UT v Ga State game, Sept. 8, I was standing on the sidelines as a Knoxville Journal sports photographer when I realized someone was near me. I turned, and found myself face-to-face with Lady Vols Coach Emeritus Pat Summitt and present Coach Holly Warlick. It took me a moment to digest that I was next to Pat Summitt at a football game, not a basketball game.

Coach Emeritus Summitt had just been named the Twelfth Titan. Stadium announcer Bobby Denton called Coaches Summitt and Warlick onto the field for recognition of their achievements as well as introducing Coach Warlick to football fans. By the roar of the crowd, one would have thought the Vols had just made the winning touchdown against Florida.

At this point, considering all the accomplishments of Coach Pat Summitt, there might be only one more we should bestow on her. That would be the Guinness Record of receiving the most lifetime awards as a basketball coach. All of them well-deserved, of course.

Awards and titles

• 16-time SEC Champions (1980, 1985, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2011)
• 16-time SEC Tournament Champions (1980, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012)
• 8-time SEC Coach of the Year (1983, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011)
• 7-time NCAA Coach of the Year (1983, 1987, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2004)
• 8-time NCAA Champions (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008)

Honors

• 1990: Inducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame as a coach, the first year coaches were honored.

• 1999: Inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the inaugural class.

• 2000: Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

• April 2000.: Named the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century.

• 2008: Named Best Coach/Manager ESPY Award. Award encompasses all sports college and professional

• 2009: Named to Sporting News’ list of the 50 greatest coaches of all time (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, college basketball, and college football). She is listed in position 11.

• 2011: Named Sports Illustrated’s Sportswoman of the Year, Dec. 6th, 2011 in NYC. (She shared the Sportsman/Sportswoman honor with Duke University men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski.)

• Summitt is the only person to have two courts used by NCAA Division I basketball teams named in her honor: “Pat Head Summitt Court” at the University of Tennessee at Martin, and “The Summitt” at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

• She also has two streets named after her: “Pat Head Summitt Street” on the University of Tennessee campus and “Pat Head Summitt Avenue” on the University of Tennessee at Martin campus.

• 2012: Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

• Arthur Ashe Courage Award Recipient at the 2012 ESPY Awards

Records

Note: The first season for NCAA Division I women’s basketball was the 1981-82 season. Prior to that, Tennessee played women’s basketball in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) in Division I.

• Most NCAA women’s basketball championships (8)
• Most seasons coached in NCAA/AIAW play without a losing record (38, lost more than 9 games in a season only 6 times and more than 10 games in a season only twice)
• Most consecutive NCAA/AIAW postseason appearances (38, never missed a tournament)
• Most number 1 seeds in NCAA Division I postseason play (20)
• Most wins as an NCAA/AIAW Division I basketball head coach (1,098; in second place is Mike Krzyzewski with 927 wins)
• Most wins in NCAA postseason play (109)
• Most NCAA Final Four appearances (18, six more than John Wooden, who holds the men’s records)
• Most NCAA/AIAW Championship game appearances (15)
• Most 20-win seasons in NCAA/AIAW play (36, all consecutive seasons)
• Most 30-win seasons in NCAA/AIAW play (20)
• Third all-time in winning percentage (minimum 10 seasons) (.841, bested only by Geno Auriemma (.862) and Leon Barmore (.869)
• 45 former players have become coaches.
• Every Lady Vol player who completed her eligibility at Tennessee under Summitt graduated with a degree or is in the process of doing so.
• Every Lady Vol player who completed her eligibility at Tennessee under Summitt played in at least one Elite Eight.