When Marquette coach Terri Mitchell picked up the phone to talk with Tyler Summitt about the opening on her staff, it figured to be little more than a courtesy call.

Mitchell knew his pedigree. He is the son of Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, who won eight national titles and more games than anyone else in NCAA college basketball in 38 years at Tennessee. But Tyler Summitt was just finishing his senior year at Tennessee and, now 22, was barely older than many of the Marquette players.

Forty-five minutes later, Mitchell had asked Summitt to come to Marquette for an interview. By the end of the interview, he had the job.

"From the second I started asking him questions, he was on it. Just his philosophy, his passion," Mitchell said.

Tyler Summitt was hired at Marquette in April, the very day his mother stepped down at Tennessee. She had been diagnosed with early onset dementia, Alzheimer's type, in May 2011, a month shy of her 59th birthday.

Marquette is hosting a "We Back Pat" night to raise Alzheimer's awareness Saturday, when it hosts Toledo. Pat Summitt plans to be there.

The Associated Press