CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Here’s how Miami women’s basketball coach Katie Meier plans to thank Pat Summitt: by beating Tennessee.
If that happens, maybe Summitt will regret that recommendation she made in 2001.
Meier was vying for her first head-coaching job at Charlotte a decade ago. Summitt, the legendary Tennessee coach, made a phone call on Meier’s behalf. Not long afterward, Meier got hired, the first step on a path that now brings her to Knoxville for tonight’s early-season showdown between the seventh-ranked Hurricanes (1-0) and the third-ranked Lady Vols (1-0).
“She’s done that for 1,000 people,” Meier said. “So it meant a lot just to schedule this game. And I know it’s going to be emotional and inspirational.”
For a whole bunch of reasons, that is.