ATS Consultants posted on April 18, 2012 17:06
Summitt retires as coach of Vols
One of the legendary coaches in the history of women's college basketball is stepping down. Not do to lack of success or scandal, illness has forced Pat Summitt to stepping aside as Tennessee's women's basketball coach and taking the title of "head coach emeritus."
Longtime assistant Holly Warlick will be promoted to replace the sport's winningest coach.
Tennessee released a statement on Wednesday announcing the move.
The 59-year-old Summitt will report to the athletic director and help the women's program she guided to eight national titles. Warlick, her assistant for 27 years and a three-time All-American, played for Summitt and helps ensure the stability of the program.
The move comes less than a year after Summit's diagnosis with early onset dementia-Alzheimer's type.
Tennessee has scheduled a news conference Thursday afternoon in Knoxville with Summitt and Warlick.
Warlick, who came to Tennessee as a scholarship track athlete, walked on to the basketball team as a point guard and led the Lady Vols to the AIAW Final Four three times. She is the first new women's head coach at Tennessee since Summitt succeeded Margaret Hutson in 1974.
Summitt revealed her diagnosis on Aug. 23, 2011, after a few months of trying to come to terms with dementia, which had caused her problems with memory loss both on and off the court during the previous season. Alzheimer's is a brain disease that destroys cognitive abilities over time.