When the national anthem played Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena, Mike Sutton rose to his feet in front of the Tennessee Tech bench.

Believe me, he didn't take it for granted.

Standing, even with the support of a walker, is a joy considering the road Sutton has been down the past 21 months.

Being able to shout instructions to his players is a victory, jawing at the officials a pleasure.

Tennessee ran away from the Golden Eagles from Cookeville, 101-77. Nothing remarkable about that.

What is remarkable is the story of persistence of a 50-year-old coach, his family and his staff.

What Tennessee fans saw was a glimpse of a guy who looked and behaved normally for a basketball coach, aside from the fact that he entered and exited the court in a motorized wheelchair and leaned on a metal walker to support himself when he left his seat.

"I can get by without this (wheelchair),'' Sutton said, "but it helps the fatigue factor getting back and forth to the locker room.

"I could use the walker but they might not start the game on time.''

What the public didn't see was the horrible, frightening days nearly two years ago when Sutton was breathing on a ventilator in a Virginia hospital and could communicate only by blinking his eyes.

Sutton had never heard of the disease called Guillain-Barre syndrome until it struck him down without warning on April 10, 2005, in Portsmouth, Va.

His third season at Tech in the books, he was attending an NBA tryout event with one of his players when some mild symptoms escalated in a hurry to a life-threatening drama.

Guillain-Barre is a disorder of the immune system in which the nerve transmissions to the muscles are interrupted. The cause is unknown.

Sutton's attack was severe. He would have died had a friend not gotten him to an emergency room promptly. Most survivors eventually recover but there's no predicting how long the process will take.

Sutton could have called it a career. He already had a national championship ring, earned as an assistant at Kentucky in 1998.

"Really, the best therapy for him was getting him back with the guys,'' said his wife, Karen Sutton, who sat behind the bench Thursday night.

He got back with the guys early in the 2005-06 season, but in a limited capacity.

Associate head coach Steve Payne assumed much of the day-to-day direction of the team, which managed to finish 19-12.

Payne was named Ohio Valley Conference coach of the year by two organizations.

"It's never been a deal where he's not in charge,'' Payne said. "He had his vision of the program and we just carried that on while he was not able to do it.''

Sutton received the Most Courageous Award from the U.S. Basketball Writers of America and made an emotional acceptance speech at the Final Four in Indianapolis.

"I've come a long way since then,'' Sutton said with a grin Thursday night.

He undergoes intense physical therapy and is gradually regaining strength in his arms and legs.

"I can hold a water bottle now and fumble my way around things,'' he said. "I still can't do things I'd like to do, but as long as I can make progress and continue to improve, that progress excites me.''

One of the things he can't do as well as he'd like is work the officials.

"We didn't get (draw) any charging fouls tonight,'' he said. "I thought we had two on Chris (Lofton) but they both went the other way.''

Sutton gets assists every night, though. Without his wife and staff, little of his progress would be possible.

He says Karen hasn't had a day off since April 11, 2005. They haven't been apart more than eight hours at a stretch.

She even went on the recruiting circuit with him last summer.

"I'm hoping not to do it again next summer,'' she said with a laugh. "Las Vegas was miserable. It was so hot.

"We just decided to have as normal a life for him as possible.''

They're getting there. And it's remarkable.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.