That's certainly a bummer. Summitt is only 59. She's on the short list of best basketball coaches, men's or women's, ever. Her 1079 wins are tops for any coach. Coach K has 900 for Duke and will become the Men's Division I record holder with Duke's third win next season, presumably against Colgate. For reference, even Pat Summitt stopped coaching and didn't win another game (which won't happen) even at a typical Duke average of 27 wins a season, Coach K would still have to coach for about 8 more years to pass her. Pretty amazing.
Her 8 NCAA Championships would be second to John Wooden I'd assume off the top of my head without looking. Her success put women's basketball on the map, and possibly all of women's sports. She put Tennessee basketball on the map period. For many years the women's team outdrew the men's team. University athletics programs are still men's sports driven, but Pat Summitt has been no less than the second most powerful coach at Tennessee, and would be THE big dog there now given the recent upheavals with both the football team and men's basketball team.
Her legacy is tremendous. For women's basketball she's Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Adolph Rupp, Bobby Knight, and John Wooden rolled into one. She's vowed to keep battling this with medication and mental exercises and intends to coach this coming season.
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