Report: Summitt describes issues with Auriemma
In a soon-to-published book about her career, former University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt said her relationship with Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies' program ended over recruiting practices, according to SI.com.
The two schools had a fierce rivalry from 1995-2007, and played twice during the regular season from 2000-02, with Connecticut holding a 13-9 edge. Summitt wrote that she eventually stopped the rivalry over complaints that she didn't elaborate on in the book.
The web site published an excerpt on Tuesday.
"Over the course of about a year, I became increasingly upset with a couple of UConn's tactics in recruiting," Summitt wrote in "Sum It Up: 1,098 Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective," co-authored with Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins. "I didn't itemize my complaints publicly then, and I'm not going to now. I went through the appropriate channels and that's how it will stay. I made my concerns known to UConn through our athletic director, Joan Cronan, and the Southeastern Conference. UConn responded that they saw nothing wrong with what they were doing. I made my concerns known again. Same response.
"I was finished. I didn't see any other choice. 'I'm not putting up with this anymore,' I told my staff. I met with Joan and our university president, Dr. John Petersen, and outlined my reasons for wanting to discontinue the series: The lack of response from UConn and the personal negativity convinced me it was no longer in our best interest. I thought we needed to send a message that we didn't want a game that wasn't played in the right spirit. The administration agreed, and we declined to renew the series."
Summitt wrote that her relationship with Auriemma has improved recently. When she formed the Pat Summitt Foundation to fight Alzheimer's, Auriemma was among the first to respond.
"He wrote out a check on the spot -- for $10,000," she wrote.
Summitt was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease in August 2011, and retired after the next season with 1,098 career wins and eight NCAA national titles.
