Summit for hire? :: essays research papers

The day after Univ. of Tennessees Pat bakshis eclipsed North Carolinas Dean Smith for most career wins by a Division I Head Basketball Coach some suggested that she would be a good choice to lead the Vols mens squad. UT has since hired a male coach. Yet we are still left with the question of whether Summit should be considered for, or accept any such job.     The 800-pound gorilla in this argument is whether Summit deserves to lay claim to the title as "all-time winningest Division I basketball coach." In a purely statistical sense, she does. But canvass the womens and mens games is like comparing, well, women and men. Theyre completely opposite.      Sadaharu Oh hit more home runs than Hank Aaron, but nobody would say the two men are comparable, since Oh compete in Japan, and Aaron played in the U.S. John Gagliardi won more football games than Bobby Bowden. Again, a difference Gagliardi coached in Division III, while Bowden spent most of his time in the I-A rank. And Summit has more wins than Smith. But were talking about two different sports. Not better or worse, different. Smith is the mens wins champion, and Summit holds the womens title two different sports, two different leaders.     The reason Summit shouldnt consider taking the mens job is that she could end up damaging the womens game by doing so. She is a giant in her sport, the most successful coach ever and the builder of the program every other school wants to emulate. If she were to take over the UT mens aggroup and not win big, there would be joy among those who consider womens college basketball inferior.      Summit has never recruited mens players. She would have to build a new interlock of high school and AAU contacts to help funnel her players. She would have to deal with prep stars who believe their next dribble should be for NBA millions, not collegiate glory. That doesnt exist (yet) in the wom ens game. And she would face the challenge of convincing families and players that playing for a woman is no different than playing for a man. Fail to do any of that, and Summit wont stop the players to compete at the highest level. And if she doesnt win -- and win big -- she will be viewed by many as the queen of the minor leagues who failed at her shot in the bigs.