April 18, 2012 -- Updated 1956 GMT (0356 HKT) Pat Summitt won 1,098 games as Tennessee's head coach, the most in major-college basketball. NEW: Athletic director: "She is an icon who does not view herself in that light" Summitt said in August that her pre-diagnosis symptoms included asking her son the same question repeatedly, but said that she intended to keep coaching. As she headed into her 38th season with the team last November, she said she'd scaled back some of her workload, allowing assistant coaches to handle e-mails and other tasks. "I wake up and I go and drink my coffee, and I do about 12 puzzles before I ever go into the office," Summitt said at the time. When I get there, my mind is sharp. And that's important -- very important. Summitt, long revered for her success, was widely praised for continuing to work. SI.com's Kelli Anderson wrote that Summitt could add to her legacy by bringing attention to Alzheimer's in the way other sports figures -- Jim Valvano, Kay Yow and Lance Armstrong for cancer; Arthur Ashe and Magic Johnson for HIV/AIDS -- have done. School officials and longtime rivals alike praised Summitt on Wednesday. "It is extremely difficult to adequately express what Pat Summitt has meant to the University of Tennessee, the sport of basketball, and the growth of women's athletics nationally," University of Tennessee Athletic Director Dave Hart said. She is an icon who does not view herself in that light, and her legacy is well-defined and everlasting. Just like there will never be another (UCLA men's basketball coach) John Wooden, there will never be another Pat Summitt. I look forward to continuing to work with her in her new role. She is an inspiration to everyone. Geno Auriemma, coach of the University of Connecticut's women's basketball team, said Summitt would "continue to make significant impacts" in her new role. "Pat's vision for the game of women's basketball and her relentless drive pushed the game to a new level and made it possible for the rest of us to accomplish what we did," Auriemma said in a statement. CNN's Jason Hanna contributed to this report.