Pat Summitt, Tennessee women’s basketball coach, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease

“It is what it is,” she said. “I’ve got to face it.”

‘You will always be our coach’

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 Summit, who holds the NCAA record for victories in any sport, will continue to serve as women’s basketball coach at the University of Tennessee.

More on this Story

• Pat Summitt to retire from coaching at Tennessee
• Pat Summitt brings fighting spirit to Alzheimer's disease
• Q&A with Tennessee assistant coaches
• Q&A with Tennessee athletic director Joan Cronan

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• Photos: A look at Pat Summitt through the years
• Video: Summitt sits down with Post’s Sally Jenkins

Last Thursday, Summitt, Barnett, and her 20-year-old son Tyler, who is a junior at the University of Tennessee, met with Chancellor Jimmy Cheek and Athletic Director Joan Cronan to inform them of her condition. Barnett warned Summitt that contractually school administrators had the right to remove her as head coach immediately. Instead, Cheek and Cronan listened to Summitt’s disclosure with tears streaming down their faces.

“You are now and will always be our coach,” Cheek told her. With the blessing of her university, she will continue to work for as long as she is able.

“Life is an unknown and none of us has a crystal ball,” Cronan says. “But I do have a record to go on. I know what Pat stands for: excellence, strength, honesty, and courage.”

To Barnett, Pat’s fight is characteristic; her determination to keep working, and also to act as a spokeswoman for Alzheimer’s, is not incompatible with the values she has always preached as a coach.

“If you go back to her speeches, and her discussions with players through the years, you see several things,” Barnett says. “One is absolute dedication. Two is an unwillingness ever to give up. And three is an absolute commitment to honesty. And in this challenge that she’s facing, she is displaying the exact traits that she’s always taught. . . .Pat is going to run this race to the very end.”

Tennessee will be in uncharted territory, as will Summitt herself: Alzheimer’s is an unpredictable and dignity-robbing disease, thus far without a cure. The school’s concerns over leaving her in place range from potential embarrassment, to a decline in Summitt’s health, to the possibility that players could feel short-changed, or that the team is more about Pat than them.

Cronan, however, believes the exchange is worth it.

“Think about the difference she’s made, and the difference she can make going forward,” Cronan says.

She points out that even as Summitt was struggling both mentally and physically with her undiagnosed condition last season, she led Tennessee to a 34-3 record, swept the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament titles, and reached the NCAA tournament region finals.

Nevertheless, Summitt has agreed to a significant redistribution of her duties. In consultation with Cronan and her staff, her role will be redefined to give her colleagues more formal responsibility, such as calling plays during games. Summitt will continue to do what she has always done best: teach, and lead.

Tennessee is uniquely positioned to make the experiment work. Summitt has constructed a stable, deeply experienced staff: Assistants Holly Warlick and Mickie DeMoss have each been with her for at least 20 years, and Dean Lockwood has been around another seven. Together they have helped Summitt build Tennessee’s juggernaut: 1,037 career victories against 196 losses; 18 Final Fours; and eight national championships.

“I’ve got a great staff and great support system, and I’m going to stick my neck out and do what I always do,” Summitt says.