Auriemma, Rizzotti, Connecticut Reflect on the Passing of Former Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt

MANSFIELD, CT - University of Connecticut Women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma and other figures with Connecticut basketball ties were remembering former Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt as a leader and innovator throughout the day Tuesday.

Summitt died Tuesday morning at the age of 64. Her death was announced on the UT Athletics Web site. She had been suffering from Onset dementia.

"Today is a sad day for me personally and for everyone in the women's basketball community," Auriemma said. " One would be hard-pressed to name a figure who had a more indelible impact on her profession than Pat Summitt. Pat set the standard for which programs like ours dreamed of achieving, both on and off the court. Our sport reached new heights thanks to her success, which came from an incomparable work ethic and a larger than life, yet, compassionate personality. But her legacy is illustrated most clearly by the Lady Vols who went on to achieve greatness in basketball and in life."

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Auriemma, in an early-morning phone interview on ESPN, Auriemma said, Summitt, "was the first ... No one did it longer and no one did it better."

Auriemma said that was a reference to Summitt essentially paving the way for the spotlight in which UConn would win 11 national titles.

"She did something really special for women's basketball," Auriemma told ESPN. "It was something no one had ever done before - the issue of being a mom and a coach."

He said Tennessee became "a program you measured yourself against."

Jennifer Rizzotti remembers winning UConn's first national championship in 1995 against Summitt and the Lady Vols. Rizzotti went from UConn player to professional player to coach at the University of Hartford and now George Washington University.

"I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to compete against her during my time at Connecticut and her passion for the game and her players is something that has always stuck with me," Rizzotti said Tuesday morning. "She is an icon in every sense of the word and her legacy will live on into the future with every player and coach that takes to the court."

"I am deeply saddened to hear of Coach Summitt's passing. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and her extended family at the University of Tennessee during this difficult time. Coach Summitt touched so many lives during her time at Tennessee and was truly a legend in the game."

Sportscaster Leah Secondo, who herself was a women's pioneer as the first major female sports television presence in the state, also remembered Summitt as an icon.

"I am very saddened by Coaches passing. The only consolation is she is no longer suffering, but in a good place," Secondo said. "She is back to being vibrant about her passion... basketball."

Secondo said she first encountered Summitt while covering UConn's first national championship victory over Tennessee for WTIC radio. She said she later had a revelation.

"I think I probably took for granted the true greatness I was with," she said. "It was later while covering the SEC and its tournament when I around Coach I really comprehended the impact she had made - not just to the game but to the well-being of her players and so many women."

Secondo recalled an evening when she was on on a highway in Nashville for a game the following day between the Lady Vols and Vanderbilt.

"I was doing sidelines. I had set up to speak with Coach over the phone shortly after I landed as part of the game prep," she said. "On the mark, my phone rang with a Tennessee area code ... 'Good Evening, Leah, this is Pat Summitt ...' She chatted it up making me feel like we were old friends picking up where we left off. I said, 'Coach, are you good with me being in the huddle tomorrow?' She said, 'Leah there isn't anything you can't hear me say.' It was incredibly awesome to say the least to be on the inside. That night is definitely one of the top highlights of my career."

Summitt was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield in 2000.

Former UConn player and current assistant coach Shea Ralph is currently in Europe. She said via e-mail that Summitt's influence went beyond basketball.

"Pat Summitt was a pioneer and a true visionary, not only for women, but for all people who love the game of basketball," she said. "Her hard work has paved the way for so many of us, and she will be missed dearly. I was lucky enough to be recruited by Pat, and will forever remember her passion, her dynamic personality and most of all, her kind heart."

Photo Credit: UT Athletics