Pat Summitt: 1,000 Victories, and She's Not Done Yet

I have an assumption that any manager or coach that gained 1,000 victories in their career has earned each and every one on the diamond, with players swinging horsehide and cork with lumber or aluminum sticks as the defenses hold sway.

But to see a college basketball head coach win 1,000 victories in his or her career means that this coach is not your average coach. In fact, this is a coach that is in a company all her own.

Pat Summitt of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers is that coach.

The most storied head coach in college basketball history got win number 1,000 with a victory over the Georgia Lady Bulldogs in Knoxville, Tenn.

It's a story that began three and a half decades ago, when she was hired as a graduate assistant, and the university's women's basketball team, succeeding Margaret Hutson.

In those days, the team was a member of the AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women).

Her first game was an 84-83 defeat to the Mercer Bears, and her team would not taste victory until over a month later, in a 69-32 win over Middle Tennessee State on Jan. 10, 1975.

Summitt's first two teams finished a combined 32-19, but her first breakthrough season came in 1976, when the Lady Vols went 28-5, and finished in third place at the AIAW Championships.

The program's years of consistency continued with a 27-4 record in 1977, a 30-9 record in 1978, a 33-5 record in 1979 (finishing runner-up in the AIAW Championships and AIAW South Satellite Champions), and a 25-6 record in 1980 (with another AIAW runner-up finish).

As the Lady Vols basketball program transitioned to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Summitt's teams began a run of competing in the National Tournament. They have yet to miss making the postseason field.

THe 1986-87 season saw the Lady Volunteers win their first national title. Since then, the Lady Vols have never finished worse than Sweet Sixteen. The program won titles in 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, and 2008.

In the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Lady Volunteers have clinched 14 regular season championships (1980, 1985, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007) and 13 SEC Tournament titles (1980, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2008). Summitt also was named SEC Coach of the Year six times (1983, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2007).

In 1978, Summitt clinched her 100th victory over North Carolina State, 79-66. Her 200th win was against St. John's, 69-56, on Dec. 3, 1982.

During the 1986-87 championship season, Summitt took home win number 300, with a 87-66 victory over North Carolina. Win number 400 came against South Carolina on Jan. 25, 1990. Nov. 25, 1993 saw Tennesee win number 500 for Pat Summitt, a 80-45 victory over Ohio State.

On Nov. 23, 1996, Summitt took home her 600th win in her career over Marquette, 83-68. Two seasons later, the Lady Vols experienced their first undefeated campaign to finish 39-0 on March 29, 1998.

The wins continued to come, and Tennessee's 700th win for Pat Summitt came with a 85-62 win over Wisconsin in Madison on Dec. 5, 1999. The rivalry with Geno Auriemma's Connecticut Huskies was stirred even more with Summitt's 750th win, a 92-88 classic at the Thompson Boling Arena.

On Jan. 14, 2003, Summitt continued her path to 1,000 by winning number 800 against DePaul, 76-57. Summitt would pass Dean Smith with her 880th win by defeating Purdue in the second round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

The following year, Summitt would win her 900th of her career, an 80-68 victory over Vanderbilt on Jan. 19, 2006.

Finally, win number 1,000 came against the Georgia Bulldogs, a 73-43 blowout. "It's a hard number to even comprehend," said Summitt, as she was showered with a Gatorade bucketful of confetti in an interview with Fox Sports.

As a coach, milestones are a testament to a formula that works, and Summitt has brought that to her players, who continue to achieve in the classroom as well as on the court. Last season, all the seniors on the 2007-08 team graduated.

Summitt's mind-boggling superlatives of success has streets and courts on the Knoxville and Martin campuses named after her ("Pat Head Summitt Road"/"The Summitt" and "Pat Head Summitt Avenue"/"Pat Head Summitt Court," respectively).

Her philanthropic work off the court is highlighted by her role as a member of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History Board.

At age 53, it's a possibility that Summitt could be coaching her 1,500th or maybe  2,000th victory (if longevity is in her favor).

But this is a certainty: for all the contributions that Patricia Head Summitt has given to the University of Tennessee and to women's basketball, she's not done yet.