Update: SBN’s Swish Appeal has reported the following development. While not confirmed, this certainly would explain the sudden departure and likely cause quite an uproar for Summitt and and Louisiana Tech.
BREAKING: Tyler Summitt impregnates player, multiple sources tell @SwishAppeal #ncaaW https://t.co/qZ9RniimGi
— Swish Appeal (@SwishAppeal) April 8, 2016
The end of a college basketball season means the door is open for a few rounds on the coaching carousel for men’s and women’s basketball programs. One particular coaching change may have caught some by surprise, and that would be the news that Tyler Summitt has resigned as head coach of the women’s basketball program at Louisiana Tech.
Summitt, the son of legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt, admitted to “engaging in a relationship that has negatively affected the people” he loves and respects. According to The Tennessean, Tyler Summitt married his high school girlfriend in 2013, a year before being hired by Louisiana Tech at the young age of 22 years old. Louisiana Tech accepted his resignation, effective immediately.
“My hope, plans and prayers are to repair those relationships,” Summitt said in a released statement. “I am appreciative of the opportunity I was given to coach at Louisiana Tech. I am heartbroken that my time has ended in Ruston, [Louisiana], 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.”
It would be unwise and unfair at this point to offer any criticism or reaction to Summitt’s situation without the necessary information on hand. However, Summitt did say this was a situation he created on his own doing, and it would suggest he is making an effort to make things right with his wife given he admitted to “a relationship that has negatively affected” the people he loves. There are many unknown details regarding this situation, for now. It may not be too long before somebody digs up more details of the circumstances that led to this decision to resign.
Among the questions that should be addressed and answered are whether not Louisiana Tech knew about this supposed relationship before Summitt decided to resign, who this inappropriate relationship was with (staff, player, university employee, assistant, etc?) and what does this mean for Summitt’s future. Have we seen the last of the young basketball coach on the sidelines of a basketball arena? Or will he need to take some time off before making a return to the sport in some capacity?
Those are questions nobody knows the answer to right now, and it may take some time for Summitt to be able to answer that last one.
