Tyler Summitt...WTH? -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SUMMITT RESIGNS FROM LA. TECH AMID INAPPROPRIATE RELATIONSHIP CHARGES

What in the wide world of sports is going on here? Tyler Summitt, head coach of Louisiana Tech and son of legendary coach Pat Summitt, has resigned from his position as head coach of the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters.

" It is with great regret that I resign from my position as head coach of the Louisiana Tech women's basketball program. I am profoundly disappointed in myself for engaging in a relationship that has negatively affected the people I love, respect and care about the most." 

Multiple sources are indicating he has impregnated a player on the squad (whose name is being with-held currently). Summitt was head coach at LA Tech for two years...compiling at 30-31 record and also served at Marquette as an assistant coach at Marquette from 2012-14. 

A scan of the LA Tech roster...and by no means an implication of any sort...shows that two players transferred from Marquette to LA Tech to play under Summitt...senior guard Brooke Pumroy and redshirt junior guard Ashley Santos. Both were starters in the 2015-16 season...Pumroy the second-leading scorer at 12.2 ppg and Santos averaging 9.6 a game. Once again, we have NO knowledge on whether it was either of these two women or not. It's very possible both transferred seeking more playing time or because of their confidence in Tyler as a coach and mentor. They may have decided to transfer after Terri Mitchell left Marquette as a head coach on April 9th., 2014. 

Whoever the player is, though, is irrelevant. The act itself is the issue and the concern. 

There is an implicit trust that is established between a player and coach throughout their time in school. It extends off the court in the time a player attends school...preparing for the life after graduation, social commitments, interacting with the community and representing the university as an ambassador. There are ups-and-downs in those relationships. I spoke with a former student-athlete at the University of Louisville about that relationship and trust in a coach...who requested to be un-named. 

"When you arrive on campus, your head coach is basically your father or mother, your confidant, your nemesis at times and the one you place your hopes trust and future in. They teach you how to play better. The coach also helps you get ready for life after college. Sex is something I never would have considered with my coach. Going to a coach with a relationship problem, yeah...I did that twice but those were private and confidential things...and I got good advice. It's a growing time for a young women. You're learning things, you're experimenting. For a coach to take advantage of a vulnerable young woman like that...it's unacceptable. On both parties parts...but especially as far as the coach goes." 

Poor Pat Summitt. I sincerely hope that the legendary coach's memory has gone to the extent where this won't affect her. After all her accomplishments, her triumphs and records...to have something like this hit her in the twilight of her cognitive existence would be a cruel and mortifying issue to deal with. If, by some chance, she is still able to comprehend and understand what has happened here...one can only hope that she isn't too badly scarred and affected by this indiscretion. She deserved much better from her only son. 

Tyler Summitt married his high-school sweetheart in June 2013 and accepted the LA Tech job in April of 2014. He's a young man we watched grow up by the side of his mom during the years of Tennessee women's basketball golden years. He played for the Tennessee men's team. He stood by his mom's side when the horrible diseases that are dementia and Alzheimer's were announced. He learned a lot of things over the years as a close insider to one of the most successful programs in the history of college sports. When he landed at LA Tech, he brought aboard one of his mom's best friends and a former head coach in Mickie DeMoss....a person that was well capable of helping him continue his learning and knowledge of the game and learning the mechanics of being a head coach.   

Apparently, fidelity and morality weren't in the curriculum. 

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THANK YOU

Thanks for all the texts and e-mails about my recent medical procedure. I appreciate your concerns and well-wishes. The colonoscopy was a success, all good to go for another five years. And, I slept 12 hours yesterday...which was a rare and needed treat. 

paulie