Louisiana Tech’s Tyler Summitt Out: Famous Coaching Son Abruptly Resigns Amidst Scandal
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Louisiana Tech women’s basketball coach, Tyler Summitt, has abruptly resigned following accusations that he followed through with an inappropriate relationship, presumably with a student at the school.
According to USA Today, the 25-year-old Summitt — who is also the son of legendary former University of Tennessee women’s, and all-time winningest NCAA coach, Pat Summitt — abruptly resigned from his position after confirming that he had a sexual relationship with an unnamed student on his team.In fact, it is rumored that he actually impregnated this student.
When you up in the club and you want everyone to stop yelling at you for impregnating a player. #TylerSummitt pic.twitter.com/14udDsK1Ok
— Kevin Sciretta (@kevinsciretta) April 8, 2016
Per Swish Appeal, “multiple sources close to the situation” claim that Summitt’s secret relationship resulted in her getting abruptly pregnant. To respect the parties’ privacy, Swiss Appeal noted that it would not release the rumored woman’s name.
This decision to abruptly resign, Louisiana Tech noted, is “effective immediately and for personal reasons.”
“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,” said Summitt, who actually married his high school girlfriend, AnDe Ragsdale, in 2013. “My hope, plans and prayers are to repair those relationships… 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.”
Summitt — who was previously an assistant coach with Marquette — was hired by Louisiana Tech in April, 2014. After two seasons, his record was just 30-31.
Summitt also noted, when he abruptly resigned, that he found himself to be “heartbroken that my time has ended in Ruston, [Louisiana]” but that “out of… respect for the institution, it is best that I resign.”
Louisiana Tech, meanwhile, issued the following statement regarding Summitt’s decision to abruptly resign.
“The university has accepted [Summitt’s] 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 — who did not respond so abruptly to requests for comment by various media outlets — is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he played for two seasons for the men’s basketball team. He is also, as USA Today noted, a former student assistant coach for his mother’s Lady Vols, as well as a coach for the Tennessee Fury team at the AAU level, a position wherein which he led the them to the state’s championship.
Summitt is also famously the co-founder and a board member of the Pat Summitt Foundation, which is named for his famous head coach mother.
His mom, coaching legend Pat Summitt, was the 11th — and the only woman — ranked as one of the 50 greatest coaches in all of sports, according to a 2009 Sporting News list, as well as the first NCAA coach in history to reach 1,000 career wins among both men’s and women’s teams. She is one of just four coaches to have reached that distinction.Sadly, a bout with early onset dementia led to her own abrupt resignation as Lady Vols coach in 2002.
[Image by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]