After 38 long years coaching in Tennessee, Summit has embarked on her new mission, Sum It Up: 1,098 Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective.
An excerpt was published on SI.com on Tuesday.Summit gives an in-depth account of her life, recalling vivid details on and off the court, while opening up about how it felt to be diagnosed at the age of 59 with an incurable brain disease.
The book also details Summitt’s relationship with former players as well as her feud with UConn Coach Geno Auriemma, which has now since been prepared.
“I didn’t do gray. I only did black and white. I believed I had a special responsibility to follow the rules closely, because whatever a coach at the top of the game did, every other coach in the country was going to do twice as aggressively. Over the course of about a year, I became increasingly upset with a couple of UConn’s tactics in recruiting. I didn’t itemize my complaints publicly then, and I’m not going to now. I went through the appropriate channels and that’s how it will stay. I made my concerns known to UConn through our athletic director, Joan Cronan, and the Southeastern Conference. UConn responded that they saw nothing wrong with what they were doing. I made my concerns known again. Same response.”
This memoir should be filled with honesty and candid moments. Summitt opens up about her fears, wishes, younger years of anger, her decision to retire, and her left after.
This should be a good read from one of the best coaches in all of sports.