Tennessee legend Pat Summitt is coming to visit and Jane Albright is irritated.
She's also motivated, humbled, and -- she's not too proud to admit -- intimidated.
| UW vs. Tennessee |
| Teams: University
of Wisconsin (4-1) vs. University of Tennessee (4-1).
When: 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Where: The Kohl Center, Madison. Coaches: Jane Albright (100-53, sixth season at UW; 248-163, 16th season overall) and Pat Summitt (699-147, 26th season at Tennessee). Broadcast: Midwest Sports Channel. Tennesee's probable starters: Forwards - Tamika Catchings, a 6-foot-1 junior who is averaging 18.0 points and 8.4 rebounds per game; and Gwen Jackson, 6-2 freshman, 8.8, 4.8. Center - Michelle Snow, 6-5 sophomore, 9.2, 6.8. Guards - Semeka Randall, 5-10 junior, 13.6, 5.4; and Kara Lawson, 5-9 freshman, 14.6, 5.4. Wisconsin's probable starters: Forwards - Jessie Stomski, 6-3 sophomore, 18.8, 9.0; and Latonya Sims, 6-3 junior, 15.4, 6.6. Center - Nina Smith, 6-4 freshman, 10.6, 4.0. Guards - Dee Dee Pate, 5-5 senior, 2.0, 1.0; and Tamara Moore, 5-11 sophomore, 13.2, 6.8. Tennessee preview: OK, so maybe the Volunteers are not as good as they have been in past years. Chamique Holdsclaw, Miss All-World, is gone, but how would you like to play the Volunteers with Summitt going for her 700th victory? The Badgers don't want to be there, either. Catchings, daughter of former Milwaukee Bucks center Harvey Catchings, has picked up the slack and is building a case for national player of the year. Not only is Randall back in the backcourt, but freshman Lawson has been matching her teammate point for point. The Volunteers have no seniors in their starting lineup, so if Albright is to break through against her old mentor, this might be her best chance. Summitt is 3-0 against Albright since she left for Wisconsin, but the series was interrupted last season. "I had seen enough of Chamique," Albright said. "I figured that out." Tennessee's loss was to Louisiana Tech, 69-64, in the season opener. Summitt would like to see her squad's halfcourt defense improve, but it looked OK in the Volunteers' 72-68 victory Thursday at Purdue. Wisconsin update: Speaking of milestones, Albright got one of her own Wednesday night when she got her 100th victory at Wisconsin by beating Green Bay. The Badgers' six-person rotation has been settled temporarily because Kelley Paulus has missed the past two games with a concussion and her status for today is still uncertain. Paulus' absence leaves the Badgers woefully short on outside shooters, not a position you want to find yourself in against Tennessee. Inside, the Badgers have been getting stronger every game with the three S's - Stomski, Sims and Smith - leading the way. -- Dan Manoyan |
There is a basketball game to be played between their teams Sunday, but that is not the issue. Game or not, Albright always runs the gamut of emotions when she thinks about being in the same room with her mentor.
Albright, the University of Wisconsin women's basketball coach, is trying her darndest to describe her relationship with Summitt, but she is struggling. She mulls the options: Is it a mother-daughter thing? Teacher-pupil? Icon-fan? Friend-friend?
She finds a smidgen of truth in each but none completely captures the essence of what can be described as an extremely complicated relationship. As Dr. Laura would say, "There are issues here that need to be addressed."
"Mother, daughter, teacher, pupil, friend," Albright said. "A little bit of each, I guess."
It was much simpler 20 years ago when Albright pestered Summitt until she relented and gave the young high school coach from South Carolina a non-paying graduate assistant's job in her program. Summitt was the sensei and Albright was the grasshopper.
But with each passing year, as Albright has climbed the ladder of success to the extent that she is almost on an equal footing with Summitt, there have been complications.
Take the game today, for instance, where a victory would give Summitt her 700th victory at Tennessee. Although Albright is still an unabashed Pat Summitt fan, she doesn't necessarily relish playing the Al Downing character to Summitt's Henry Aaron.
"We got a phone call the other day from the (Basketball) Hall of Fame and they want us to send them Pat's towel after the game," Albright said. "That irritated me a little bit. I mean, this is our place.
"I know it's the type of thing that would make Pat mad, so I guess there is a little bit of Pat in me."
Actually, there is more than a little bit of Pat in Albright. Both women are driven, motivated competitors.
Where they differ, however, is in their methods. Summitt has been compared to a female version of Bobby Knight, coaching by intimidation, whereas Albright takes a more positive, John Wooden-like approach to motivation.
"Obviously we are different people, but I don't want everybody in my program to be like me," Summitt said. "I think I've toned things down a little since Jane was here. I've had to work a little on my relationships with my players. See, I'm 47 but I'm still learning, too.
"I still yell, though. If I'm a 10 as far as volume during a game, Jane is probably about a five."
Summitt didn't win 699 games and six national championships by being a shrinking violet, but some of her exploits are a bit over the top. The story most told about Summitt is about how while nine months pregnant, she went on a recruiting trip only to have her water break in the recruit's living room.
"That's not me," Albright said. "Pat is the most driven person, not just basketball coach, male or female that I know. She does whatever she needs to do to get what she wants. But yet, she is also one of the most honest and ethical persons I have ever known, too.
"Obviously you have to be a motivated person to last as a Division I coach. But I think I'm much more of a Type B personality, more laid back, and she's a Type A. I don't think there has ever been a player who was afraid of me or intimidated by me, but I think Pat is a very intimidating person.
"I was always told there are two ways to motivate - love and fear - and I don't believe in fear. When I was growing up, when people yelled at me, I would probably fall apart. I liked an environment where I could feel secure and make mistakes and not get yelled at."
Albright can clearly delineate the differences between her and Summitt now, but there was a time when she followed the imposing coaching icon around like a star-struck puppy dog. Albright clearly recalls, when as a high school coach in Spartanburg, S.C., four years out of Appalachian State University in 1981, she pestered Summitt relentlessly for a job.
"I don't know Pat, but like everybody else, I marveled at her from afar," Albright said. "She never returned my calls, so I took a vacation day, got in my car and drove over to Knoxville to meet her. I waited outside her office in the lobby and waited until she went out to lunch and then I told her what I wanted."
Summitt says the thing that impressed her most about Albright was her tenacity.
"Jane was so persistent (in applying for the job)," Summitt said. "I'm so glad she was and we got her into Tennessee."
Albright spent just two seasons at Tennessee but freely admits they were the two most important years of her life from a professional standpoint. She credits Summitt for making her the coach she is today.
"It was like if you had a blank slate and you got to write something about basketball on it every day," Albright said. "It was a book of knowledge - how to run a program, recruit, strength and conditioning - everything.
"I really don't think I understood the game of basketball until I got there. The thing I took away from my time with Pat was the love of the game. I didn't understand the game well enough to love it. To be honest, I had very average coaches before that. I wasn't around anyone who really understood the game.
"The beauty of the game is to be able to make adjustments that can influence the outcome of the game. That's what I learned from Pat."
Yet that's where the two part company. When it comes to dealing with people, Albright makes it clear she is her own person.
"I've always been a people-person, so that wasn't a problem with me," Albright said. "Pat motivates like she would like to be motivated. I think the kids who are here are here for a reason. They obviously fit my personality type. Some people need (to be yelled at), some don't."
Recruiting is an issue that has further complicated the relationship between the two women. It started when Albright was at Northern Illinois and recruited a player whom Summitt was after and it increased when Wisconsin and Tennessee both went after Tamara Moore and Nina Smith.
Both recruits ended up with Albright at Wisconsin, but not without considerable hand-wringing from all involved.
"We were both going for the same kid when I was at Northern Illinois and I had found out where she was staying during the state high school tournament because I did my homework," Albright said. "Pat called me and asked me where she was staying and I told her. My assistant coaches were very angry with me but, I mean, how could I say no to Pat?
"I'm as intimidated by her as anyone else but I love her, too. I felt guilty but I also felt proud because Pat knew I was doing my job.
"My whole relationship with her is weird and bizarre but the bottom line is I know that the reason I was hired at Northern Illinois is because I worked for Pat Summitt. It had nothing to do with me."
Their recruiting competition came to a head last year when both programs went hard for Smith, the No. 1 high school player in the country.
"Nina told us later that they hit her hard and said things like, 'Why wouldn't you come to Tennessee? You must not be tough enough mentally.' " Albright said. "The only thing I could sell her on was that I would take care of her as a person, not just a player."
Landing Smith should have been one of the greatest moments in Albright's professional career but, again, there were the mixed emotions.
"I couldn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked," Albright said. "I still feel that teacher-pupil thing. I go to visit Pat on vacation and I still feel like a little kid, to be honest. Part of me felt guilty, but that's my inhibition."
Defining their relationship is something that Albright has wrestled with, long and hard.
"Obviously I want to beat her bad, whether it's a game or recruiting, but it's hard for me to feel good about it. I watch their games on television, but not to scout them, it's because I'm a fan. I have Tennessee T-shirts. I cheer for Pat. So you ask me what I am to her and I don't really have an answer."
Despite her ambivalence toward Summitt, Albright knows for certain that they will always be good friends. One of the first persons Albright turned to for counseling on her recently finalized divorce from Dave Dieterle was Summitt.
"It wasn't the touchy, feely thing," Albright said of her advice from Summitt. "It was get yourself the best lawyer in Wisconsin or you're going to lose a lot of money.
"Is that advice from a friend? From a mother? From a teacher? I don't know, but I did what she told me.
"The bottom line is she trusts me and I trust her and I don't know if Pat trusts a lot of people. I've tried to figure out what our relationship is but it isn't easy."