Legendary Basketball Coach Pat Summitt: Confidence Defined

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Confidence in sports is so critical to success.

Perhaps no one in sports has summed up what confidence really means in the sports arena better than the late and legendary basketball coach Pat Summit. The longtime Tennessee womens’ basketball coach picked up 1098 career wins, the most in college basketball history when she retired in 2016.

“Confidence is what happens when you’ve done the hard work that entitles you to succeed.” – Pat Summitt

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Pat Summitt biography from Wikipedia

 Patricia Susan Summitt (née Head; June 14, 1952 – June 28, 2016) was an American women’s college basketball head coach who accrued 1,098 career wins, the most in college basketball history upon her retirement. She served as the head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team from 1974 to 2012.
Summitt won a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal as a member of the United States women’s national basketball team. She returned to the Olympics in 1984 as a head coach, guiding the U.S. women’s basketball team to a gold medal. Summitt won eight NCAA Division I basketball championships. In 38 years as coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, she never had a losing season. Summitt retired from coaching at age 59 following a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.Summitt was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 as a member of its inaugural class. She was named the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century in 2000. In 2009, the Sporting News placed her at number 11 on its list of the 50 Greatest Coaches of All Time in all sports; she was the only woman on the list. In 2012, Summitt was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama and received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2012 ESPY Awards. In 2013, she was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.

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David Keech
Author: David Keech

David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]