The book recalls Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a 1000 Faces about the hero or heroine's journey. Not a bad approach, it worked for Homer, every major religion, George Lucas, and more.
The heroine (Pat Summitt) begins early life as a farm child, learning everything from tractor driving, to milking, to tobacco curing...an unforgiving journey, "milk cows don't go on vacation." Her background creates a work ethic expectation...show up on time, pay attention, bust your butt. Recall that Nick Saban's father owned a service station and that young Nick washed cars. Leave a spot unclean and his father demands he rewash the whole car.
She explores the players in establishing rules, like curfew. Ownership is everything. You can't argue with the rules...they're your rules.
Her Tennessee coaching career wasn't an overnight success. Ascending to the Tennessee job as a graduate assistant in 1974, she first won an NCAA title in 1987...after she had won Olympic silver (1976) as a player and Olympic gold (1984) as coach. She had six losing trips to the Final Four before breaking through.
Every player won't sail through. She describes struggles with punctuality for Nikki McCray, whose grandmother strapped on her watch after McCray was late for early meetings.
She insisted that players call her Pat as she felt titles set up barriers and discouraged openness of communication. A high school coach once insisted on being called Coach when being addressed. I knew a specialist in the Navy whom the players called Mr. X behind his back. Position is granted; respect is earned.
Summitt hated like tattoos and piercings, demanding that players cover them up with bandaids or cloth.
Summitt didn't believe in privilege. She kicked her team out of their plus locker room (couches, wood paneled lockers, television) for a month because of poor attitude. A month? She said that it took her that long to get over their transgressions.
At the time of writing, she reported a 100% graduation rate for four year players, which earns her credibility as an educator.
Coach Summitt points out that sometimes you aren't the best, so surround yourself with better people. She hired Mickie DeMoss as assistant because Mickie a better recruiter and signed better national players than she could. Don't let stubbornness stand in the way of success.
Lagniappe: Usher reminds us in his MasterClass to study your mentor's idols. Why study Summitt? She was the anti-hero to the Auriemma-led UCONN dynasty. My corollary is "study your idol's competition." What makes your competitors tick?
