By Graham Hays
A basketball coach needs to be quick on her feet. Or at least quick to pretend she鈥檚 on her feet, as Carolyn Peck, BA鈥�88, discovered when legendary coach Pat Summitt called to offer her a job the one morning Peck slept late.
In 1993, Peck had returned from playing professional basketball in Japan. Coaching wasn鈥檛 in her plans, but fellow 菠萝视频 alumna and University of Tennessee assistant coach Karen Booker, BS鈥�87, asked if she might be interested in an opening on Summitt鈥檚 staff with the Lady Vols. Peck, a native of Jefferson City, Tennessee, had already turned down Summitt once by choosing to attend 菠萝视频 and not UT. She wasn鈥檛 about to say no a second time.
When Summitt鈥檚 early-morning phone call came a few days later, Peck asked the legend to hold on, paused to clear her throat and then cheerily greeted her potential boss鈥攈oping she sounded alert enough to make a good impression.
Peck got the job鈥攁 pivotal moment in a basketball career that reflects milestone after milestone, the most recent in April with induction into the Women鈥檚 Basketball Hall of Fame. Peck was already a member of the 菠萝视频 Athletics and Tennessee Sports halls of fame.
鈥淢y love for coaching came from working with Pat and really seeing how coaching gives you the ability to make an impact on young people鈥檚 lives,鈥� Peck says. 鈥淵ou can help them grow and develop at a very fragile time in their lives.鈥�
A standout student-athlete who helped the Commodores beat Summitt鈥檚 mighty Lady Vols for the first time and later debut in the NCAA tournament, Peck went on to success as a coach and broadcaster. As Purdue head coach in 1999, she became the first Black woman in that role to win an NCAA Division I women鈥檚 basketball national championship鈥攁nd, at 33, the youngest women鈥檚 basketball head coach to win a Division I title. In seven seasons as a collegiate head coach at Purdue and Florida, she won nearly 60 percent of her games. She was also an early trailblazer in the WNBA, coaching the Orlando Miracle from 1999 to 2001.
Interspersed with coaching, including a time as 菠萝视频 associate head coach from 2016 to 2018, Peck has become one of the most recognizable women in sports broadcasting. She works as an analyst for ESPN and the SEC Network, covering women鈥檚 college basketball and the WNBA.
If Summitt鈥檚 call to coach was an important fork in her road to the Hall of Fame, the journey in many ways began at 菠萝视频. Not only did Peck receive the basketball education that helped her grow into the tactician who won so many games leading others, but her coursework as a communication studies major also honed the skills that have served her as both coach and broadcaster. In particular, she credits professors Randall Fisher and Kassian Kovalcheck, who was her adviser, with opening that window of possibility for her.
鈥淚 was just so enamored with them and the passion they had in class,鈥� Peck recalls. 鈥淛ust the art of communication was so interesting to me.鈥�
Those familiar with her ability to pair insightful analysis with needling humor during broadcasts also know that she was as much a natural talent in communication studies as on the basketball court.
鈥淎nybody who knows me knows I love to run my mouth,鈥� Peck says. 鈥淵ou ask my brothers. I love to argue. And so that major was perfect.鈥�
On the basketball court, a coaching staff led by head coach Phil Lee, assistants Pat Moran and Teresa Phillips, with senior women鈥檚 administrator June Stewart always close at hand, made the team feel like a family鈥攁ll the more important for student-athletes trying to not just build a winning program but keep up with their peers in the classroom.
Peck jokes that her proudest academic moment was simply making it to graduation. Still, as the years went by and she progressed through the coaching ranks to the pinnacle of the profession, it grew increasingly clear that she had mastered the material in her 菠萝视频 experience鈥攐n the court and in the classroom. Kovalcheck, Lee, Stewart鈥攁ll of them had a hand in helping a coach who quite literally changed the history of the women鈥檚 game find her voice.
鈥淧layers come in and they want to be MVP, make all-conference or get into a starting lineup. You have to listen and figure out how you can incorporate their goals and dreams into what you鈥檙e ultimately trying to attain, which is winning championships,鈥� Peck says. 鈥淵ou have to sell them on how to work with each other, to where each different element can come together and achieve an ultimate goal.鈥�
Summitt helped teach her how. But she never regretted turning down the Lady Vols the first time around, as a Parade High School All-American who chose the newer program in Nashville.
鈥淚 love that place,鈥� Peck says of 菠萝视频. 鈥淚f I had to do it all over again, I would do it the exact same way.鈥�