Bulls atop the Summitt

Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt announced on Saturday that she plans to quit her job as head coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers. After this year's women's basketball championship game, Summitt will apply for the vacant job as head coach of the UB women's basketball team.

University of Tennessee officials were stunned when they heard of Summitt's plans.

"We always knew she'd be leaving us at one point," said Tennessee director of athletics, Doug Dickey. "We assumed she would land a job in the NBA, but we never thought she'd be leaving us for Buffalo."

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the winningest coach in college basketball history is going to replace Cheryl Dozier as the coach of UB's women's basketball team.

Summitt, who has won 882 games so far in her coaching career, will come into UB with an .838 winning percentage and 31 years of coaching experience.

"I'm really excited to be starting at UB next year," said Summitt. "I look forward to the challenge of taking a program from obscurity to the forefront of the national media."

Summitt is not the only one who is excited about the switch. Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year Heather Turner is glad to see her arrive.

"Having someone like Pat Summitt at the head of our program is really going to help with recruiting," said Turner. "She is nationally known and respected, and you have to be a really good coach to win that many games."

Interim Athletic Director Bill Maher is enthusiastic about the support that Summitt will ideally generate for UB's women's basketball program.

"Last year, our women's basketball program did not generate the fan-base that I expected it to," he said. "This year, with the changes that we made at the top of the pyramid, we should be able to excite people enough to fill a few rows in the stands."

Graduating senior, Allison Bennett is so excited about Summitt's arrival that she plans on gaining another year of eligibility.

"I read somewhere in the NCAA bylaws that if I take enough credits, fail the right classes and lie about how many years I've actually played for the team, I can play one more year," said Bennett.

According to Maher, however, nobody told Summitt about the weather in Buffalo and they would appreciate it remaining a secret.

"This is off the record," said Maher. "But Summitt thinks that the weather here in Buffalo is the same as it is in Tennessee and if she found out any differently she probably wouldn't come here at all."

Dozier, the Bulls' former head coach, is a little disappointed that the program was able to land such a big name to lead its team into the next era.

"It's like when you're dating someone for a while, and you don't want that person's next significant other to be better than you were," said Dozier. "I was with UB for seven years, and just like that, they found someone who has 700 more wins than I do. It's just not fair."

This hiring for UB is very impressive and has led many to wonder how the negotiations actually took place.

"Well, it was pretty simple actually," said Maher. "We explained to Pat how our program actually has more talent than was shown last season, we showed her tape of Heaher (Turner) and Brooke (Meunier) and she just jumped at the opportunity to head up our program."

Summitt, however, has a completely different version of that story.

"Bill Maher called me on the phone one day and offered me the head coaching job. I didn't even know UB had a women's basketball program before that day," she said. "Then he offered me 75 percent of all the revenue that the women's basketball team generated for the university if I took the job. It was basically a no-brainer."

Regardless of the negotiating tactics used by the university officials in landing Summitt here at UB, the Bulls will be better off this coming year with a hall of fame coach, who is perennially in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament.

"I don't know about getting to the NCAA tournament with these girls just yet," said Summitt. "We're going to focus on getting there, one game at a time, and if we make it to the NCAA's, we make it to the NCAA's."