Summitt's Disease

[diggerfoot]

Greetings Boneyarders. I've been on a self-imposed hiatus. I police myself when I feel I start posting in a manner I would not say face-to-face. Beyond that, I'm dealing with some challenges that preoccupy my time 24/7. I figure that I would use this lull time before the tournament to get a number of posts out of the way, stored up while I was lurking, before my 24/7 gig probably will necessitate I go back to lurker mode. That gig, in fact, relates to the first topic I want to cover.

In the nineties and early millennium Pat Summitt was my favorite WCBB coach not in UConn blue. She would play anybody that was good, to her credit and our advantage for helping us break in as a national power. Then things changed.

In retrospect I believe the cause of that change was her impending Alzheimer's. Some recent research suggests that the first indicators considered for the disease should not be the memory problems that eventually surface, but the stress that often triggers them. Often wonder why such vibrant people succumb to the disease? It's because of their vibrancy, if they are too stressed in their pursuits.

Coaching with the passion Summitt had is stressful enough, particularly when some upstart threatens to usurp her throne. I believe that to be her tipping point. Her paranoid behavior in regards to us is consistent with an Alzheimer's patient's fear of losing control of their lives, particularly when they don't yet understand what is going on with them.

For that reason Summitt forever has a pass in my book. When she was normal she was the worthiest opposing coach we've ever faced. The paranoid Summitt that ended up dragging us through the mud was not that same coach and should be considered with compassion more than condemnation.

 

[msf22b]

Well put

 

[Sonny44]

Thanks digger,
reminds me that I need to be a little more understanding and a little less judgmental - a basic Biblical theme.

 

[Bgillon]

Great post. I hope some of the vol fans who post here read it also. The hatred some of them spew on volnation regarding Geno as a cheater is based I believe on jealousy and Pat's abnormal reaction to Geno's success (as you explained).

 

[DobbsRover2]

Sure that was a factor in the UConn interaction and a number of other actions concerning court appearance, and it is a tribute to Pat that Tennessee won two NCs on what had to at least have been the borderlands of the disease, if my own associations with it are any indication. Or, if as you are saying that her charges to the NCAA in 2006 were the offshoot of the disease, then the titles were won well into the onslaught of the Alzheimer's. The lead up is many years and progresses at different rates.

The difficult issue here though is that to a large group and maybe even most of the Vol fans, the belief that the volumes of unsubstantiated and trivial charges that Pat made about Geno is indisputably the gospel truth about him and his program, and that is now part of Pat's legacy. Yes, you can give it a pass, but it still remains. When you have a relative with a deteriorating mind making irrational and damaging claims, it is impossible to deal with the bad effects in a manner that does not leave a lot of hurt and resentment, and the family of WCBB coaches, players, and fans have been deeply affected by what went down in 2006 and after.

 

[barbrox]

I fully agree. And I miss those meetings between 2 great coaches, 2 great teams and fans that appreciated and respected good basketball . It was nailbiting good fun.

 

[Bayareahusky]

Good post about the scourge of Alzheimers and the precursor signals of it. And Pat is responsible for her generation's wave of WCBB interest, and she will always be one of the greats. I have always said that about her.

I totally agree with DobbsRover2...... when Pat climbed aboard the dozer and attempted to raze our entire program, to shake out at one secondary violation..... the ESPN tour..... there was no remorse for the 30 something accusations that were investigated and found to be not true..... and nothing but silence in terms of a revision in addressing the matter from the UT athletic department. And the blind followers down there who to this day..... say "you know what you did", parroting her words, without ever knowing what we did...... and the vile, foul, caustic language on their message boards..... and their accusing our coaching staff of being cheaters makes me not at all giving Tennessee a free pass, though I am quite sympathetic to Pat personally. Alzheimers is a terrible affliction.

 

[Sargassoc]

In retrospect I believe the cause of that change was her impending Alzheimer's.

I have always assumed that this was the case. For the year and a half before she made her announcement, I kept watching her and saying to anyone with whom I happened to be watching, "There's something wrong with her. There's something wrong with her." To me, there was something unpredictable and about her behavior on the floor that simply did not compute. I imagined a brain tumor then-- something that could change a person's behavior with no obvious outward sign.

 

[Ctpaul0825]

Take this for what it'ss worth and delete if not appropriate. If you google Pat Summitt recruiting violations you will find this.

One of the lastest issues is BB coach Pat Summit left over Dimential Issues, and soon after her pal in Media Relations, Debby Jennings, essentially gets fired for insubordination. Jennings runs a Private Eye company in Knoxville to spy on divorce issues and other matters, and appears to be doing that now. So, Jennings was going to sue UT and another coach named Bud Ford was going to sue UT, in these lastest UT mishaps. So, with the media propaganda hounds missing now, the dirt is appearing.

Turns out that Summit had the Dimentia issue problem for some time and kept loosing her car keys and accusing everyone of taking them. But, with cameras catching her total loss of concentration on the court, the end of a career was obvious. Jennings went down shortly after for some E-mails she wrote that appeared to blame AD Dave Hart for wanting UT to distance from Summit. It appears that big blazon on the UT court calling it "The Summit" is past due to be sanded off the BB court. These days, it seems Summit has good days and bad, and that she can't really drive around anymore on her own. It is that bad, it appears.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Take this for what it'ss worth and delete if not appropriate. If you google Pat Summitt recruiting violations you will find this.

One of the lastest issues is BB coach Pat Summit left over Dimential Issues, and soon after her pal in Media Relations, Debby Jennings, essentially gets fired for insubordination. Jennings runs a Private Eye company in Knoxville to spy on divorce issues and other matters, and appears to be doing that now. So, Jennings was going to sue UT and another coach named Bud Ford was going to sue UT, in these lastest UT mishaps. So, with the media propaganda hounds missing now, the dirt is appearing.

Turns out that Summit had the Dimentia issue problem for some time and kept loosing her car keys and accusing everyone of taking them. But, with cameras catching her total loss of concentration on the court, the end of a career was obvious. Jennings went down shortly after for some E-mails she wrote that appeared to blame AD Dave Hart for wanting UT to distance from Summit. It appears that big blazon on the UT court calling it "The Summit" is past due to be sanded off the BB court. These days, it seems Summit has good days and bad, and that she can't really drive around anymore on her own. It is that bad, it appears.

I don't think anything further on the situation has come out since last August, and in any case, I'm not sure we should want it to. No one can say for sure how many years before the 2011 meeting between UTenn AD Hart and Summitt that the disease had badly affected her. Was it as far back as 2006 as this thread OP is suggesting or later? We will never know.

And no one can take any happiness away from the Jennings suit. As far as we can tell, as Pat's friend she was fighting the UTenn's AD's desire to get her moved out of the head coaching role and maybe take a coach emeritus situation. Pat had not yet announced her dementia situation, and I have nothing but sympathy for the bad bad situation that Hart was in. He probably did the best he could with it.

 

[willtalk]

I have always assumed that this was the case. For the year and a half before she made her announcement, I kept watching her and saying to anyone with whom I happened to be watching, "There's something wrong with her. There's something wrong with her." To me, there was something unpredictable and about her behavior on the floor that simply did not compute. I imagined a brain tumor then-- something that could change a person's behavior with no obvious outward sign.

I was a relative late entry into following WCBB extensively. Although I did follow Stanford and the Pac 10 at that time somewhat. I had not really watched the coaches enough to get a feel for what was normal behavior for them so I interpreted what I saw from Summit as a decline in her abilities due to burn out. I thought she had passed her prime and should retire. She seemed clueless on the sidelines. Not like a coach that was supposed to be a legend. When they announced her illness it all began to make sense. I definitely agree with you that she showed signs long before the announced it to the public. I didn't just mention it to friends but made posts in that regard. You can imagine the feedback I got from Tenn Vol fans. Of course people on this site seemed to not have a problem with it. lol. It did seem to explain not only her blank stare's and dis-engaged attitude in games but also some of her other weird behavior. I suspect that people in the Tenn system should have also known something was wrong but just chose to ignore the elephant in the room.

 

[Lurker]

In retrospect I believe the cause of that change was her impending Alzheimer's. Some recent research suggests that the first indicators considered for the disease should not be the memory problems that eventually surface, but the stress that often triggers them. Often wonder why such vibrant people succumb to the disease? It's because of their vibrancy, if they are too stressed in their pursuits..

Thank you Digger! Your comments have given me some useful insights to the situation I am dealing with in my own family. I've done some searching on the web and that information has really been helpful.

As far as Pat is concerned: She was a ferocious competitor and put WCBB on the map. I agree with the suggestion of compassion. None of us who have the gift of our mental facilities can fully understand the terror and despair that someone with that disease faces. We should all hope for a cure before we reach that point in life!

 

[Joobie]

Thanks for that reminder, Digger. Pat's stock dropped tremendously for me when we won the NC & she stormed off to the locker room without shaking hands with our team & coaches. More importantly (to me) tho, she left her players sobbing on the sidelines while she angrily stomped off . As you said, that was probably just a consequence of her disease. It sure had me seeing red spots in front of my eyes at the time!

 

[DobbsRover2]

But again, the huge book of charges against UConn were filed almost two years before the Vols won their last national championship, so she and the team were definitely operating at a high enough level to do great things long after the effects of the dementia paranoia became prominent, if the theory is true that her extreme behavior toward UConn was a by-product of the disease. Alzheimer's is indeed a complex and often puzzling illness that can leave a victim in much better shape one day after a very bad day shortly before, but I'm still not quite getting any firm connection between paranoid rages leading to the spate of charges balanced against a firm enough condition two years later to guide the Vols to the NC win. We know what it takes to win a title, and being in the very evident state that Pat exhibited in 2010 was far far different than the Pat I saw on the court back in March 2006.

 

[SWHuskyFan]

I agree with the general sentiment of the OP. My issues have been more with 'The Summitt' than Pat Summitt. I think my thoughts on Pat drastically changed when her disease was revealed.

 

[Beemer]

I agree with the general sentiment of the OP. My issues have been more with 'The Summitt' than Pat Summitt. I think my thoughts on Pat drastically changed when her disease was revealed.

I know mine did. Whatever personal animosity I had towards her went right out the window when she made her announcement.
I wish her nothing but the best in her fight against Alzheimer's disease.

I still loathe the Lady Volunteers. Too much bad blood .

 

[Ellie]

Enjoyed your thoughtful post.
We all need a break from passionate expression from time to time. The Boneyard is just a small part of us and never forget basketball is just a game, your good health is everything.
Be well.

 

[HoopsFan21]

But again, the huge book of charges against UConn were filed almost two years before the Vols won their last national championship, so she and the team were definitely operating at a high enough level to do great things long after the effects of the dementia paranoia became prominent, if the theory is true that her extreme behavior toward UConn was a by-product of the disease. Alzheimer's is indeed a complex and often puzzling illness that can leave a victim in much better shape one day after a very bad day shortly before, but I'm still not quite getting any firm connection between paranoid rages leading to the spate of charges balanced against a firm enough condition two years later to guide the Vols to the NC win. We know what it takes to win a title, and being in the very evident state that Pat exhibited in 2010 was far far different than the Pat I saw on the court back in March 2006.

Also if Pat really was experiencing dementia driven paranoia, shouldn't someone in the Athletic Dept. have picked up on it and used good judgement in not filing the complaint against UConn? Pat leads Geno, not only in career victories, but also in NCAA violations, so if Geno is a "cheater," then what does that make Pat? Those in glass houses and all that.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I sit 4 rows almost directly behind the opposing head coach at USC games and I noticed a change in Pat Summitt several years before she announced having Alzheimer's. My mom had Alzheimer's at the time so I was probably more attuned to it than someone who had not experienced it in such a close manner. The change in Pat was so obvious to me as a fan that I mentioned it to a friend of mine who is also a season ticket holder, but doesn't sit near the opposing bench. In my mom's case, irritability had been my first indication of an issue. Obviously, I wouldn't have noticed that of Pat, from a distance, but I did notice the blank stares and the change in her demeanor and activity when she had the team huddled.

 

[tennparker3]

As a Lady Vol fan it is very difficult and emotional to read some of this. Not because it is offensive or wrong but because of my emotional attachment to Pat. She is why I became a fan of the Lady Vol basketball team, she is why I became a fan of all things Tennessee, and obviously she is why I am a big fan of WCBB all around. She created a close bond with the fans because she was so transparent in how she ran the program and she was extremely successful obviously. She worked harder than everyone else and she held people accountable. She also was known by many to be incredibly humble and never think of herself as better than anyone else. Kara Lawson had a few good stories in Pat's last book that is a testament to that. For me, I guess that is where I see the handling of the series as being out of character. She had her reasons and for me I always thought the whole body of work (i.e. the toxic relationship between coaches) was more responsible than the actual write up of suspected violations but I have to believe she may have handled it differently had there not been other major factors going on in her personal life. She was also going through her divorce during that time as well.

I wish it could have been different honestly but Pat is an idol in my life and I will forever be loyal.

With all that said, this thread details the information as to why I get so frustrated with Holly's critics. She took over a program that was going through a horrible loss, a huge AD transition, and a lot of turmoil and lawsuits involving former members of the program because of the new AD and yet she still has them operating as a top 10 program. She has not had it easy. With all that has transpired over the last 8-9 years we are lucky we have not fallen into the abyss. I am grateful for that.

 

[tennparker3]

Ask Geno how he feels about Pat Summitt. His thoughts might actually help you gain some respect for Pat. Regardless of the things that happened they are very respectful and complimentary of each other at this point.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Ask Geno how he feels about Pat Summitt. His thoughts might actually help you gain some respect for Pat. Regardless of the things that happened they are very respectful and complimentary of each other at this point.

I do not hate Pat Summit. I think she is a founder of women's basketball and, in her time, a great coach. But I do believe she became, as so many successful people do, too big for her britches and when women's BB evolved she could not cope and she reacted badly to her inability to cope with that. I don't have a single malicious thing to say about Pat Summit, but I don't worship at her alter either.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

She is the only coach I have ever seen throw a clip board into the stands, on an off the floor rebound I believe, in the NCAA tourney. Or maybe it was the in season UCONN game. It does no honor to a person to turn them into something they were not. St. Teresa she was not. Strong women...amen.

 

[DobbsRover2]

As a Lady Vol fan it is very difficult and emotional to read some of this. Not because it is offensive or wrong but because of my emotional attachment to Pat. She is why I became a fan of the Lady Vol basketball team, she is why I became a fan of all things Tennessee, and obviously she is why I am a big fan of WCBB all around. She created a close bond with the fans because she was so transparent in how she ran the program and she was extremely successful obviously. She worked harder than everyone else and she held people accountable. She also was known by many to be incredibly humble and never think of herself as better than anyone else. Kara Lawson had a few good stories in Pat's last book that is a testament to that. For me, I guess that is where I see the handling of the series as being out of character. She had her reasons and for me I always thought the whole body of work (i.e. the toxic relationship between coaches) was more responsible than the actual write up of suspected violations but I have to believe she may have handled it differently had there not been other major factors going on in her personal life. She was also going through her divorce during that time as well.

I wish it could have been different honestly but Pat is an idol in my life and I will forever be loyal.

With all that said, this thread details the information as to why I get so frustrated with Holly's critics. She took over a program that was going through a horrible loss, a huge AD transition, and a lot of turmoil and lawsuits involving former members of the program because of the new AD and yet she still has them operating as a top 10 program. She has not had it easy. With all that has transpired over the last 8-9 years we are lucky we have not fallen into the abyss. I am grateful for that.

I too can still dig back to a time where I can remember a Pat Summitt that I had a grudging admiration for, and who seemed to be almost a match for Geno's sassiness with her understated humor, making for a pair of competitors and maybe even comrades that was fun to watch.

But that did change, though at what exact point the respect turned to antipathy is had to know for sure now. Having gone through the disease at something close to Pat's age with my own mother and various relatives, the signs of Pat's state like with one of our past Presidents when he was still in office was alarming, but because of a certain stigma, it is not something you can ever communicate in public. I did feel guilty for hating Pat around 2006 and the years following because I saw much in her face and actions that mirrored my mother's.

I'm not too sure what UTenn could have done much differently in this extraordinary situation, especially with the athletic department having been under many other stresses and scandals. If anything great can come of the horrible disease that brought Pat down, perhaps it is just a much greater awareness of nature of dementia for older sports figures and that more vigilance is required through frequent health examinations to make sure that they can do themselves and others the type of huge damage that was done in this case.

 

[HuskyNan]

She is the only coach I have ever seen throw a clip board into the stands, on an off the floor rebound I believe, in the NCAA tourney. Or maybe it was the in season UCONN game. It does no honor to a person to turn them into something they were not. St. Teresa she was not. Strong women...amen.

No, she threw a clipboard to the floor after Michelle Snow gave up a three pointer to Asjha Jones. PHS never threw it into the stands.

PHS was an intense coach, driven to succeed and get the most from her players. Sound familiar? I think the reasons Pat and Geno were fated never to be good friends while they were both coaching were that 1. they were too different, culturally, and 2. they were at the same time, too much alike professionally.

I wish PHS all the best. I don't know if the suspicions of cheating and resulting complaints were caused by her illness but I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt as it's probably true. The clowns that actually followed through on the complaints? Not so much. A thirty page complaint consisting of tonyc's bragging about undefeated seasons and getting top recruits combined with a 75+ year old guy in a wheelchair giving a sign to a recruit's father should have had one of the rocket scientists at the SEC askin, "WTF?" before passing it on to the NCAA.