Vols Pat Summitt Paid a Million
Tennessee University's head coach makes sports history with her new contract.
May 23, 2006
When Pat Summitt began her coaching career as an assistant over 33 years ago, she made a little over $200 each month and often relied on her parents to help put food on the table. My, how times have changed.
Today, Summitt is the first women's college basketball coach with a contract that pays her over $1 million per year. Summitt's new contract makes a bold statement that not only shows Tennessee University's commitment to the sport and its legendary head coach, but it also says, "It's about time."
It's about time that women in sports are treated equal to men. This brings to mind a constitutional amendment that says as much but reminds us that it's taken three decades for the sports world to realize this.
Summitt and her new contract says, It's about time the sports world appreciates women's athletics and the accomplishments of greats like the Vols' head coach, who happens to be the winningest basketball coach of all time at any level - including men. Yes, she's won more than even North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
It's about time that Summitt's 14 Final Fours, 13 championship games and six national titles be touted alongside all basketball coaches and records and not just compared to other coaches in the women's game.
Over one million dollars per year in base salary, advertising and Tennessee University PR illustrates that it's about time for all sports fans, not just women's basketball enthusiasts, to stand in awe of Pat Summitt's staggering career achievements:
- Nearly 900 victories
- 89 NCAA wins
- 29 straight NCAA appearances
- Youngest coach to reach victory plateaus of 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and 800
- Fifteen 30-win seasons
- Twenty-nine 20-win seasons
- Naismith Women's Coach of the Century
- 1984 women's Olympic team gold medal winning coach
- Two-time ESPY nominee for Coach of the Year, in same category with male coaches
- Four-time Naismith Coach of the Year
The world of sports is about competition and about winning. It is by no means about how men compete and win compared to how women compete and win. Pat Summitt illustrates this point better than any person, male or female, who has ever coached a basketball game or any sport, for that matter.
As far as Summitt's new millions and her recognition, it's about time.
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