The N.C.A.A. began sponsoring a postseason tournament for women in 1982. Tennessee played in that inaugural Final Four, and Summitt won her first national title in 1987. The Lady Vols won again in 1989 and 1991, then produced three consecutive championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998, led by Chamique Holdsclaw.

The Tennessee-UConn rivalry brought widespread attention and respect to women’s basketball. But Summitt ended the regular-season series in 2007, concerned about how UConn had recruited Maya Moore. The Huskies received a slap on the wrist from the N.C.A.A. after arranging for Moore a tour of ESPN’s studios in Bristol, Conn.

“We don’t play by the same rules,” Summitt said in a 2011 interview.

Even some of her former players urged Summitt to renew the rivalry, but she stood her ground, saying in the 2011 interview: “I am who I am. I will not compromise. No one is going to talk me into doing something I don’t want to do, when I know what I have been doing is by the book.”

As it turned out, those consecutive titles in 2007 and 2008 would be Summitt’s last. In 2009, the Lady Vols lost for the first time in the opening round of the N.C.A.A. tournament. Incensed and dejected, Summitt said she had stayed up all night in her hotel room in Bowling Green, Ky., and “threw things at the TV, yelled, screamed, cried.” When the Lady Vols returned to campus in Knoxville, Tenn., Summitt made her team practice, even though the season was over.

After retiring in 2012, Summitt said in an affidavit that she felt she had been forced to quit her job by Tennessee’s athletic director, Dave Hart, adding, “This was very surprising to me and very hurtful.” Summitt also said that Hart contended that she had misunderstood him.

The athletic department has since found itself facing turbulence on several fronts. Six female former students recently filed a lawsuit, accusing Tennessee officials of fostering a campus culture that enabled sexual assaults and harassment by male athletes.