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With the inexperienced coach in charge of resurrecting the ancient program as a title contender, Kim Caldwell and the Tennessee Lady Vols are making a very significant jump together.
In her eight years as a Division I head coach, Caldwell has only coached one game. She will be operating in the shadow of the late Pat Summitt, whose eight national championship banners hang in the rafters. When Caldwell was introduced on Tuesday, he talked about how Summitt transformed women’s basketball.
“I am not going to be Pat Summitt,” Caldwell declared. “It’s impossible for anyone to be someone she would be proud of, but I will try every day.”
Shortly before the women’s national championship game on Sunday, Tennessee announced the hiring of the fourth Lady Vols coach in fifty years. Danny White, the athletic director, stated that during the week-long search, Caldwell stood out in her interview.
“This legendary program needs to be restored to where it belongs, and we have a very competitive new coach who wasn’t afraid of the challenge,” White stated.
Caldwell will have to exude confidence beyond measure. She is switching conferences, going from the Sun Belt to the Southeastern, which has produced the last three national champions.
Additionally, she is the first non-Tennessean coach of the Lady Vols since Summitt took over in 1974 at the age of 22. In her illustrious career, Summitt went 1,098-208, and her Lady Vols placed fifth nationally five times.
Caldwell takes over for Kellie Harper, who played under Summitt in the 1990s and won three titles before being sacked on April 1st after five seasons with a 108-52 record. Her predecessor, Holly Warlick, a former player for the Lady Vols, led Tennessee to three Elite Eight appearances; the Volunteers last made it there in 2016.
2008 was Tennessee’s penultimate last Four appearance and the Lady Vols’ eighth and last national championship under Summitt, who left the team in 2012 following a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Eight teams from Tennessee’s former dominating SEC qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and the Lady Vols placed just outside of the final AP Top 25 that was announced on Monday. With the addition of No. 7 Texas and No. 21 Oklahoma to the league in July, the SEC will only grow harder the following season.
Caldwell, according to White, will create a team that can contend with the SEC’s “very formidable opponents” and “get back to competing for national championships.”
Her $750,000-per-season, five-year deal lays out exactly what is expected of her. If Caldwell wins a national championship, her salary will increase nearly instantly to equal the highest-paid women’s coach in Division I.
After finishing 26-7 at Marshall and securing the program’s second NCAA Tournament berth overall and first since 1997, Caldwell was named the 2024 Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year. In her eight seasons as head coach, she is 217-31 with NCAA Tournament berths in each of those seasons.
She guided Glenville State, her old mater, to the Division II national championship in 2022. As the WBCA’s NCAA Division II coach of the year for the 2021–2022 campaign, Caldwell was awarded the Pat Summitt Trophy. She has to maintain Tennessee’s status as the only program to never miss an NCAA Tournament with her fast-paced style of play.
Under Caldwell, the Herd at Marshall led the country in 3-pointers attempted and were third in 3-pointers made per game, averaging 10.6 per contest. The Herd’s average of 85.3 points per game also placed them fourth in the country. They ranked second in the US for defense in terms of forcing 24.2 turnovers per contest.
White likened her on-court approach to that of football coach Josh Heupel, whose Vols frequently run one of the fastest and most prolific offenses in the nation.
“I believe you’ll like what you see on the basketball floor if you like what you’re seeing in Neyland Stadium in terms of the amount of points we score,” stated White.
Caldwell stated that in order to get started right away, she will lean on her expertise of taking over a program at Marshall a year prior.
Caldwell declared, “We want to make people proud.” “We truly want to ensure that we regain the upper hand.”
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