I Know What Pat Summitt Felt

[Reginald Rutledge]

Being a guy who watched Pat Summitt up close and personal during my time at Tennessee when she made her start in 1981 as head coach, I share a great deal of satisfaction in watching her win again. She use to let the Lady Vols practice against us. She always put her Lady Vols up against guys to get them to become more physical. She was one of those who was ahead of her time, ahead of the curve. Pat Head (as we knew her) was making her mark.

What's funny is that we all learned from Pat. Her influence go way back. One of my girlfriends at the time was a high school player of the year out of Virginia. She would come to the dorm at 6:00 am after having worked out from 4:00 am til 6:00 am. Practice was grueling. Pat was hard nose. Ultimately, the demands of being a Lady Vol was one of the main reasons she quit the team. She thought Pat was too hard. Pat just wanted to win and creating a legacy meant setting the standards high. Winning would become everything to Pat and the Lady Vols program.

Time has proven that Pat's method were hard but winning. She was consistent in her approach to everything. When she won titles, she consistently did the same routine. For about 7-8 years, the Lady Vols had not reached the "Summitt". Being the type of competitor that she is, I know it had to eat her up! Watching Geno (UConn's coach), Maryland, and every other team win made it even tougher. Always gracious even in defeat, you could tell Pat wanted to win.

However, Pat has consistently stayed with her routine. She knew that if she continued to do what she believed in, she would ultimately make it back.

This is a reach (from an EFL perspective) but I felt her pain and her joy. Having watched 5 champions come since I last won a DFW title has been tough. In a league where I measure my success based on going undefeated, those standards in the post season had not been reached for the last 5 years! Yeah, I can blame it on having to do all the pregame work to make it look as real as possible but I realize that all EFLers understand is "Who Won?" No accoloades are given for the "show". That's "the show" is expected and often taken for granted. When the DFW history is written, no one looks at that. They look at the Lombardi Trophies that were won in the league.

It was tough watching other guys raise the Lombardi Trophy. You stand there and take it but your competitive drive tells you, "You can get back Reg". For whatever the reason, you never do! You play well in the regular season, winning in a dominant way, but when you have to make the plays in the ultimate game, you just don't do it!

Last week was special in winning my 3rd title in a league that has been around since 1995. We've seen many great coaches come and go. We've taught many guys to play under the Texas Shootout Rules system. In short, the investment has been great to educate guys in this style of play.

So when you've been to 9 league championships and only come away winning two, definitely winning that third one was very sweet. Like Pat Head Summitt, I am enjoying this victory for no one knows the tremendous effort it took for me to make it back to the "Summitt".

So much praise go back to the land of Rocky Top where my beloved VOLS add another championship to their lauded history, even if its a Women's basketball title. We treat all titles the same in the Land of Rocky Top. Right now, "I wish that I was on 'Ole Rocky Top, Down in the Tennessee hills". Congrats Coach, I feel what you feel (but on a much lower scale).

Reg