Tyler Summitt, son of legendary women’s college basketball coach Pat Summitt, resigned Thursday as the head women’s basketball coach at Louisiana Tech, referencing an "inappropriate relationship."
“It is with great regret that I resign from my position as head coach of the women’s basketball program at Louisiana Tech University,” Summitt, 25, said in a statement Thursday. “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. My hope, plans and prayers are to repair those relationships. I am appreciative of the opportunity I was given to coach at Louisiana Tech. I am heartbroken that my time has ended in Ruston, but because of my respect for the institution, it is best that I resign. I am hopeful the media and the public will respect the privacy of my family and me as we deal with this difficult situation I have caused.”
Some websites went into further details describing the nature of Summitt’s relationship, but most major media outlets have not reported on those allegations. Summitt, who has deactivated his Twitter and Facebook accounts, married his high school sweetheart in 2013.
Louisiana Tech has no mention of the resignation on its website, other than the page for the women’s basketball coaches listing the head coach as “TBA.” The university did not address the nature of the relationship in its statement Thursday.
“Effective immediately and for personal reasons, Tyler Summitt has stepped down as head coach of Louisiana Tech University’s women’s basketball program,” the university said in a statement. “The university has accepted his resignation and appreciates the contributions he has made to the growth and success of the Lady Techsters program during his tenure. Louisiana Tech will immediately begin the process of selecting a new head coach to lead the women’s basketball program and student-athletes forward. Louisiana Tech wishes Tyler and his family the best of luck in the future.”
Summitt went 16-15 and 14-16 in his two seasons at Louisiana Tech, one of the legendary programs in the women’s game with more than 1,000 wins, 13 Women’s Final Fours and three NCAA national championships. Summitt was hired as head coach at the ripe age of 23 after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Marquette. He played two seasons for the Tennessee men’s basketball team and also was a student assistant coach for his mom with the Lady Vols at Tennessee, where he grew up around the program, often helping his mom cut down the nets after winning a championship.
From 1974 to 2012, Pat Summitt won 1,098 games and eight NCAA championships at Tennessee, second only to Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma, who won his 11th national title this week. In 1984, Summitt coached the U.S. women’s team to the gold medal at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
