The summer of 2022 provided two monumental opportunities to reflect on the journey of women’s athletics over the last 50 years. In June 2022, Title IX celebrated 50 years and is, undoubtedly, the single most important piece of legislation ever written for female athletes in the United States. In the same month, Pat Summitt would have celebrated her 70th birthday on June 14, 2022. It seems only fitting that these two momentous occasions would occur so closely together.
It is impossible to know what more Pat would have contributed to the world of women’s athletics and gender equity had her life not been cut short in 2016 due to early onset dementia - Alzheimer’s type. Pat was a trailblazer, not only for women’s basketball, but for all women athletes, coaches, and sports administrators. Her statistics are incredible. At the time of her retirement, she had amassed 1,098 wins, was the winningest coach in the history of women’s basketball, and in 32 years, her teams made every single NCAA tournament. Additional accolades include: 1,098 wins; 8 national championships; 16 SEC titles (in 32 seasons); 18 NCAA Final Four appearances; 100% graduation rate; 8 SEC Coach of the Year honors; 7 NCAA Coach of the Year awards; Naismith Coach of the Century award; Presidential Medal of Freedom; Olympic medals as both player and head coach; author of three best-selling books; and so many other honors. During an unprecedented run, Pat and the Lady Vols were the first ever team to threepeat the NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship (1996, 1997, and 1998). These not only made Pat Summitt a household name for sports fans, but also elevated the game of women’s basketball to national prominence.
Summitt’s Leadership Principles
After Pat’s untimely death in 2016, the Pat Summitt Leadership Group (PSLG) was created to educate and inspire individuals on leadership and success using the wisdom and principles of Coach Pat Summitt through her profound DEFINITE DOZEN©. One entity within the PSLG is The Pat Summitt Foundation, which was founded to award grants to nonprofit organizations that advance research for treatment and a cure, provide care and support for patients and caregivers, and educate the public about Alzheimer's disease. To date, the Pat Summitt Foundation has raised over $10 million dollars to support these efforts.
Pat’s legacy lives on and her influence continues, not only in the countless lives she influenced, but in her DEFINITE DOZEN© leadership principles. These timeless ideologies were non-negotiable pillars upon which Pat built her program. They apply not only to athletic teams but to the business world and every other facet of life. Pat believed fiercely that putting in the “work” was what separated good teams from the great. Sharing Pat’s leadership wisdom is embodied in the vision of the PSLG who seek to be the source for leadership education and personal/professional success inspired by the principles of the iconic coach.
Pat attributed much of her success, and the success of her teams, to the principles to which she had been so committed since she began coaching. For years, Pat had collected her pearls of leadership wisdom and put them together, with an assist from legendary sportswriter Sally Jenkins, in her 1998 book entitled Reach for the Summit: The Definite Dozen System for Succeeding at Whatever You Do, which became a New York Times best seller.
The DEFINITE DOZEN© was Pat’s proven formula for helping a team of any kind achieve their maximum potential and aspire to goals that would only be achievable with each team member contributing their absolute best to the effort. It includes principles built around respect, responsibility, loyalty, communication, discipline, hard work, change, and success. These values became the guiding force for every Lady Vol team and how they approached practice, game preparation, and life. The teams changed every year, but the culture, work ethic, and mental toughness Pat instilled in the Lady Vol’s never wavered. We can learn a lot from this; culture is not a one season thing.
Coach Development Opportunities
In college, Pat was a Physical Education major. For the entirety of her career she considered herself a teacher; she loved teaching the game of basketball. The Pat Summitt Leadership Group works to extend Pat’s legacy by continuing Pat’s platform of education on leadership development. Today, Pat’s DEFINITE DOZEN© is used in K-12 classrooms, kids camps, college classrooms, athletic teams at every level, MBA programs, corporate America, and beyond. The Pat Summitt DEFINITE DOZEN© Leadership Kit for high school helps student athletes develop championship level leadership skills in sport and in life. The Pat Summitt Online Leadership Program provides career related lessons from Pat through her own video content, as well as that of industry experts. The content is curated from various subject matter experts, archived Pat Summitt footage and audio files, examples of proven success in leadership, and interactive learning modules.
Pat was a mom, coach, teacher, mentor, and trailblazer who left us a legacy of class, grace, fierce determination, and unparalleled focus on success. As the most influential person in the game of women’s basketball, Pat will certainly be remembered for her remarkable number of wins, awards, and accolades. However, her greatest impact has been in the lives she has touched through her coaching, mentoring, and leadership lessons. If you are interested in learning more about the DEFINITE DOZEN©, or Pat’s contributions to women’s athletics, visit https://patsummittleadershipgroup.com/. To learn more about the Pat Summitt Foundation and their work, visit https://www.patsummitt.org/. Thanks to the commitment and dedication of these two groups, Pat’s legacy of leadership and fight against Alzheimer’s disease will continue for decades to come.
*all pictures and graphics are reproduced with the permission of the Summitt family.