End of the line

Lady Vols bid adieu to long-time assistant DeMoss

By Richard Deitsch, Sports Illustrated

Together they sat through six national championships, four presidential elections and 555 wins. Pat Summitt, Mickie DeMoss and Holly Warlick began their 629-game coaching run on Nov. 24, 1985, with a 74-56 win over East Carolina and ended it 18 years later with a loss Tuesday night to Connecticut in the NCAA championship game.

Throughout Tennessee's run during the tournament Summitt had referred to DeMoss as "one of our three seniors" along with Gwen Jackson and Kara Lawson; DeMoss had agreed in March to take over the women's basketball job at Kentucky. "Think about it. We never won a championship until [Warlick and DeMoss] got here," Summitt said. "Our staff has been a part of six titles. Can you imagine if you kept a team together for that long, if players could play together for 18 years? You would expect them to win a lot."

Which the Lady Vols did. DeMoss said the trio clicked immediately. There was the hard-driving Summitt, the lighthearted DeMoss, and Warlick, the former Tennessee star guard who tended to be as intense as her coach. "I think I was a buffer between the two of them," DeMoss said. "Of course, Holly would say she was the buffer between me and Pat."

The women bonded on the road, eating together at their favorite restaurants in stops like Oxford and Fayetteville, and talking X's and O's deep into the night. Both DeMoss and Warlick said the trio's best coaching job came during the1996-97 season, when Tennessee (led by a still-wet-behind-the-ears Chamique Holdsclaw) suffered 10 losses in the regular season, including a 15-pointer to then No. 1 Connecticut in January, before coming together to win the program's fifth national title. "I don't think it's quite hit that she's not going to be around," said Warlick. "It's like graduating from college. We knew we couldn't stay together forever, but it was a good run while it lasted."

DeMoss said telling the Tennessee players that she was leaving was the toughest thing she ever had to do as a coach. She called the team together on March 19 to deliver the news one day before her introductory press conference in Lexington. "They thought I was joking because I'm always teasing them," DeMoss said. "They sat in the locker room in shock. I said, 'Ladies, this is just a great opportunity for me.'" With the room in stunned silence, Summitt jumped in: "And y'all need to be excited for her." The team then stood up to offer DeMoss congratulations. "It came time for me to stretch myself a little bit," DeMoss said. "Kentucky came along at the right time."

DeMoss had been intrigued by the Texas A&M job five years ago and was a finalist last year for the Ohio State opening that went to Jim Foster. Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart had called Summitt in early March to inquire about DeMoss' interest. Summitt then called DeMoss -- who was recruiting in San Diego -- to ask her if she would be interested. She said she would be. So Barnhart called DeMoss. "I really think the last three years Mickie has been ready and almost wanting something to open up where she could make that step," Summitt said. "I told Mitch, 'I think you can get Mickie DeMoss if you really want her.' He said, 'I want her.' Then they met and everything happened. I definitely had to set aside the friendship."

Warlick says that she, too, envisions becoming a head coach one day, though as a Knoxville native it would be much harder for her to leave. "This is my hometown, so I have a special place here," Warlick said. "I think it would blow everybody's mind if I ever did leave. But if the right opportunity comes around -- just like Mickie, it had to be the right opportunity for her or she wouldn't have stayed here 18 years -- yes, I'd love to be a head coach."

Both Barnhart and Summitt agreed they wanted DeMoss to finish the tournament with Tennessee, and during the NCAAs DeMoss juggled two cell phones, one for Kentucky business and the other for Tennessee business. On the eve of the Final Four she reported with great laughter that she had lost her Tennessee phone.

"I got really choked up about it after we cut down the nets after Villanova," Summitt said. "I just know what she's meant to this program, day in and day out. She's like a part of my family. We're really going to miss her."

 

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