Divorce is never a good thing. Nastiness normally prevails. Families are disrupted. Mutual friends are left conflicted, forced to choose sides. And what to do during special occasions like weddings, baptisms and Final Four welcoming dinners? Do you leave two doors open in the ballroom so the parties at war can enter and exit separately?
That’s apparently where we are now with UConn and Tennessee. The Lady Vols served papers Tuesday night by issuing their one sentence rejection of UConn’s offer that they meet for coffee and try to talk things out. Geez, UConn was even going to pick up the check!
So now we know; what happened, whatever was said, whatever was done, imagined, supposed, suggested, rumored and floated was enough to really make the people at Tennessee so angry they believe there is no looking back. No olive branch. No arbitration. No peace Summitt.
Let me tell you, that’s very angry.
All that’s left to say now is fare thee well, Lady Vols. Good luck with your new coach, your new sports information director, the consolidation of your athletic department, the deposition of your pending lawsuits and trying to keep the ball moving in the way Coach Summitt rolled it.
We are sure the Pat Summitt Foundation will thrive without the boost of a UConn-Tennessee reunion on ESPN, perhaps in front of 19,000 at Madison Square Garden. We are sure the game of women’s basketball, with such declining relevance in the national media, will deal successfully with this, now without a chance to ever beat its chest again about one of the greatest rivalries in collegiate sports history.
We are sure the Lady Vols are certain they have made the right decision and can content themselves by playing everyone else in the nation except the program most associated with it, in terms of national prominence, WNBA player placement and historical significance.
We are sure, MLB will someday allow the Yankees and Red Sox to quit playing. Army and Navy can’t last forever. How long will it take before Yale gets really peeved at Harvard and takes home its tailgate candleabra.
That’s for the memories, Tennessee. See you down the road someday.
Just don’t stay mad forever. It’s not good for your health.
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15 Responses to The Divorce Is Final
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Excellent, John! Well said!
The bitter old bitty must have put her two cents in to squash it. The way things are going Tenn will need UConn not the other way around. Tenn womens basketball is out of sight out of mind. No one will remember it.
Great article John. There are hard no’s and soft no’s – couldn’t get all the details worked out; schedules didn’t fit, etc. but this was a very hard no. I’m surprised that anyone could make a no decison that quickly.
I remember reading where Geno wouldn’t play Penn State for quite a while because way back when he needed a big game they refused to play UCONN.
Our 8th and subsequent championships will just be our desert over TENN’s spoiled milk.
What’s funnny is that Tenn needs the Huskies with all the changes going on with the program. The Huskies don’t need them. We have Stanford and Baylor to play and those games are the marque games in the women’s college game.
Good article. Well said.
This is truly a shame. But a very witty column, John. I don’t think Geno or UConn held out an olive branch. Someone from the Vols brought up the possibility. Geno was being gracious and did what any decent person would do====forget past bad vibes and move ahead with a positive attitude. If Tenn is taking their position from Pat—they must remember her mind is not working properly, no nasty thing intended. But she quit coaching because she had dementia with everything that means. I am sorry for Pat, Respected her coaching abilities but Tenn is wrong in taking this road.
Maybe Tenn disagreed to play Uconn because Pat Summitt is still somewhat involved with such decision making. She’s coach Emeritus. But maybe, just maybe when Holly W has a few years of head coaching under her belt, she’ll be more willing to agree to such a game. At that time Uconn may decline, so it’s up to the seedings and luck in the NCAA tournament.
Holly W will only be the Lady Vol head coach for 1 or 2 years. Tennessee will have Holly W on a very short leash. Failure to make it to the Final Four in year 1 or 2 will not be tolerated with Holly W. Lady Volys failing to make it to the Final Four the last 4 years was “tolerated” because PHS was still the “coach”.
Tennessee is second tier now any way. They have been out of the final four for 4 years and won’t be back for a long time, if ever. They don’t want to play UCONN because they would have no chance to win and want to avoid embarrassment.
With more conference realignment (football) still a possibility, UConn *might* actually need Tennessee more than the other way around.
Big East WBB is all about Notre Dame and UConn. If Notre Dame leaves the Big East for the Big 12 or for any other reason, UConn *might* very well lose *some* potential recruits.
Recruits come to play for Geno and CD at UConn. Huskies annual Top 5 SOS and RPI is also a plus for potential recruits.
UConn playing Notre Dame three or four times per season gives the Huskies some Top 5 competition. Without the Fighting Irish, UConn would have to rely on *renewed contracts* with Stanford, Baylor, Duke, and Maryland to get Top 5 competition prior to March Madness.
I do not see any other team posing a threat to the Top 5 in the next few years. I am not convinced Hatchel can lead her loaded 2013 class to the Top 5 until possibly their senior season. CViv’s recent teams have been horrible on offense.
It’s better this way. I don’t think I could tolerate “rocky Top”, and it is obvious that with UConn’s current talent and it’s up coming Freshman class UT wants to avoid a public humiliation!!!!!!!!!
Summitt was a coward to stop the series in the first place, and she’s a coward now because she doesn’t want the series to continue, even if it helps her foundation! Good riddance.
if the first high-profile thing the new Vols folks did was resume the UConn series, wouldn’t that be seen as kind of a slap at Pat Summitt coming so soon after she left? I think they’ll resume playing in a couple years when the new folks running the Tenn athletic dept–not just the women’s athletic dept–decide they need another payday, and business is business.
I have to agree that the most likely reason for rejecting the offer to at least discuss a resumption of play is a concession to Summitt’s continued association with the Tenn. program. I think sadly once her dementia has advanced to claim her mind (and it will, I know first hand)that then and only then will progress be made. It may also take until Geno has retired since I beleive much of the problem has always been the egos of the two coaches.
FREDDYKOOL: WELL DONE JOHN, ROCKYFLOP WAS GOOD LAST CENTURY AND IT HAS BEEN ALL UCONN THIS NEW CENTURY, WHO DA THUNK IT?