The death of legendary Tennessee women’s basketball head coach Pat Summitt rocked the sports world Tuesday morning, and its impact was felt at Duke.
Head football coach David Cutcliffe was an assistant for the Volunteers from 1982-1998 and 2006-2007 during Summitt’s tenure and released a statement following the news of her passing at age 64.
Condolences to the family of Pat Summitt -- here are thoughts from @DavidCutcliffe: pic.twitter.com/pvynxY64NQ
— Duke Football (@Duke_FB) June 28, 2016
Summitt became the head coach at Tennessee when she was just 22 years old during the 1974-75 season and won her first of eight national championships in 1987, ultimately winning seven national titles while Cutcliffe was an assistant in Knoxville, Tenn.
Head women's basketball coach Joanne P. McCallie also released a statement to recognize's Summitt's impact on the sport.
"Words can never describe Pat's effect on others. She is the heart and soul of women's basketball forever," McCallie said in the statement. "Today is a very sad day. She left us too soon but not without setting the highest standards of competition and care."
McCallie was 1-1 at Duke against Summitt's Volunteer teams and 2-2 against Summitt during her career.
Summitt’s 1,098 career wins make her the only Division I head coach with more victories than Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who currently has 1,043.
Summitt retired in 2012 a year after being announcing that she had been diagnosed with early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s Type, a disease that she battled for the last five years of her life.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.