Coach Caldwell's 1st Season Grade Card

[Rickster]

Season 1 is over with a trip to the Sweet 16. How did Coach Caldwell do in year one? Why?

 

[Special Ed]

E. She busted my bracket.

 

[Voltopia]

B+. I award a B+. The UConn win, the win streak, and the OSU road win are the plusses, and the near misses, late season swoon, and the early SECT exit are the minuses. Altogether, a B+.

B+ vote gang, get in here.

 

[stllvf]

multiple response B & D.

 

[creekdipper]

Positives: Excellent recruiting. 24 wins. Beat Connecticut. Increased attendance and enthusiasm. Sweet Sixteen with road win over OSU. Competitive games against most ranked opponents. Top Twenty ranking.

Negatives: Finished middle of SEC even after adjusting for additions of Texas and Oklahoma. Lost to Vanderbilt (twice!). Lost to Georgia. Tired late in season despite supposed endurance superiority of system.

Solid B grade. Above average results; exceeded expectations much of the time while falling short at times. Upward trending but undetermined if improved incoming talent will prove the extremely-hyped system to be effective in consistently beating elite teams.

 

[Pride85]

Absolutely no one expected us to go dancing, little less the sweet sixteen. She even kept it going while patrolling the sidelines during the latter stages of a pregnancy. It is quite amazing that her style of play translated that well. We could be looking at something special.

1) Very competitive in year one in the SEC. Could have been a complete disaster with the radically different style of play.
2) 5th seed in the dance.

 

[Pride85]

multiple response B & D.

Your reasons for both would be appropriate. A 5th seed in the tourney and being amongst the front runners in the SEC are nothing to sneeze at.

 

[lvocd]

Absolutely no one expected us to go dancing, little less the sweet sixteen. She even kept it going while patrolling the sidelines during the latter stages of a pregnancy. It is quite amazing that her style of play translated that well. We could be looking at something special.

Your experience/perception is way different than mine, because of all the hundreds of LV fans and supporters I know, I only ever knew of a handful of people seriously predicting Tennessee wouldn't go dancing at all this season. It seemed more like most folks thought we'd win one game. My orange-tinted glasses may be clouding my perception, but since at least I'm 100% certain I predicted we'd make the tourney and likely the S16, it was definitely not "absolutely no one expected us to go dancing." I did, and many others on this board did.

 

[rickyyrs]

Your reasons for both would be appropriate. A 5th seed in the tourney and being amongst the front runners in the SEC are nothing to sneeze at.

You got to give her time to get her kind of players in here. Lot of the Lady Vols players were from Kellie Harper. They were recruited for a different style of play. What i seen this year was you need to be more athletic and be able to run. You can not be slow in coach Kim's style of play.

 

[stllvf]

Lets just reflect on her post-game comment "Texas took us out of our offense." something like 4 for 26 three-points made. Reviewing the box scores of the games they lost - similar comment , mixed with not playing four quarters. To be successful against quality teams in the SEC the offense needs to be more than hitting 33% of 30 shots and crashing the offensive glass.

 

[StorrsCentral]

If the run and gun isn't working, the half court game has to be practiced. If the 3 pointers aren't falling, the team can't continue to just hoist up the long shots. One good paint post player would help, along with mid-range shooters will open up the perimeter. One horse pony will not get you past the sweet 16, the teams are getting better and better.

 

[glv98]

Your experience/perception is way different than mine, because of all the hundreds of LV fans and supporters I know, I only ever knew of a handful of people seriously predicting Tennessee wouldn't go dancing at all this season. It seemed more like most folks thought we'd win one game. My orange-tinted glasses may be clouding my perception, but since at least I'm 100% certain I predicted we'd make the tourney and likely the S16, it was definitely not "absolutely no one expected us to go dancing." I did, and many others on this board did.

Yes that claim that no one expected to make the tourney is more of that strange revisionist history surrounding this season. In fact, what happened this yr (minus the recruiting class and the UConn win which are everything) was exactly what almost everyone predicted. Coaches poll, press, and fans around here overwhelmingly predicted a mid pack SEC finish and a second roundish NCAA finish at least. Virtually no one thought theyd miss the tourney w Coop and the portal haul.

To find someone who totally expected to make the tourney you could start with the AD who hired her. He said he expected competing for championships this yr at her introductory presser.

 

[glv98]

If the run and gun isn't working, the half court game has to be practiced. If the 3 pointers aren't falling, the team can't continue to just hoist up the long shots. One good paint post player would help, along with mid-range shooters will open up the perimeter. One horse pony will not get you past the sweet 16, the teams are getting better and better.

On the nose. I think CKC hoped no half courts - O or D would be necessary. Yet she said herself fm the first practices 3 pt shooting was going to be a problem, but she never seemed to plan for alternatives outside of one on one hero ball.

IMO the coaching staffs biggest areas of opportunity for the offseason are better physical management of wear and tear and better half court plan B on both ends. Plus finding a consistent 3 pt shooter to make the half court a bit less of a factor

 

[Volfan2012]

I went with meets expectations cause I fully expected to beat Oklahoma at home. I had us 23 and 6 regular season and 10 and 6 SEC. I would've went exceeded if we had beat Georgia and Vandy. The win over UConn and Ohio St made me almost go exceeded, but the losses were as bad as the wins were good. So meets is my grade.

 

[KTrain]

I picked exceeded because I thought UConn would give us a thrashing like they gave USC and I though USC would beat us by 20+ they are deep with 4 & 5 stars and could run Kim's full court D with ease they definitely have the 10 players.
The negative was the loss to UGA and not having that oomph to pull out some of a lot of single digit losses (9) especially the 1 possession games.

 

[th2421]

I went with exceeded, in part because of the non-conference wins (UConn, Ohio State, Florida State, Iowa), being competitive in almost every loss, and that #2 high school recruiting class, but more than anything, it's a vibes thing. The level of effort and energy the team plays with seems to have not only re-energized the fan base but also gotten the rest of the country to take notice. I have people in my life who before a few years ago didn't follow women's basketball at all who are messaging me about how fun it is to watch Tennessee. That far exceeds any expectations I had.

But also that UConn win was really sweet. I'm not local anymore so I've only made it to a couple of games a year since ~2009, but that UConn game was the best game I've been to in Knoxville since the UConn game in 2002.

 

[glv98]

I went with meets expectations cause I fully expected to beat Oklahoma at home. I had us 23 and 6 regular season and 10 and 6 SEC. I would've went exceeded if we had beat Georgia and Vandy. The win over UConn and Ohio St made me almost go exceeded, but the losses were as bad as the wins were good. So meets is my grade.

It’s a tough call. On court I definitely go with meets. Great wins over UConn and Ohio st negated by the late season swoon and disappointing SEC tourney. And her admitted mismanagement of wear and tear is a big minus.

But off court stuff pushes it to exceeds for me. The total buyin she got immediately from returning players is a huge plus. Perhaps the biggest plus was the hiring of Lazo/Tubner and the portal and recruiting class that resulted from that. More buyin and validity that was invaluable to a new coach on a new level.

Finally, her ability to reel the team back in and get them ready mentally for the NCAA tourney was really impressive. So I give her exceeds.

Going to really be interesting to see how many of her honeymoon guardrails come off next yr. She got lots of understandable free passes this yr.

 

[Lucy]

I would generally say exceeded expectations.
Expected to make the field for sure but six minutes from elite eight was a plus.
Beating UConn exceeded. Loved it!!
Great recruiting class exceeded. I think this shows kids like her system! High motor kids are always going to look at the LVs.
Until end of season was competitive in every loss. Exceeded.
Got out coached at times. Expected. Is anyone surprised that a cagey old guy like Vic took our team out of their offense and CKC couldn’t fix it in real time? I’m not. She is a young coach new to P4 D1. Remember she didn’t play D1 either! She has a great learning curve in front of her and I’m here for it!
Two losses to Vandy. Totally, absolutely unacceptable EVER!! No mercy, humiliation inducing beat downs of Vandy next year will slightly assuage these galling losses.
Overall great first year! Can’t wait for next season!

 

[Majors]

I would generally say exceeded expectations.
Expected to make the field for sure but six minutes from elite eight was a plus.
Beating UConn exceeded. Loved it!!
Great recruiting class exceeded. I think this shows kids like her system! High motor kids are always going to look at the LVs.
Until end of season was competitive in every loss. Exceeded.
Got out coached at times. Expected. Is anyone surprised that a cagey old guy like Vic took our team out of their offense and CKC couldn’t fix it in real time? I’m not. She is a young coach new to P4 D1. Remember she didn’t play D1 either! She has a great learning curve in front of her and I’m here for it!
Two losses to Vandy. Totally, absolutely unacceptable EVER!! No mercy, humiliation inducing beat downs of Vandy next year will slightly assuage these galling losses.
Overall great first year! Can’t wait for next season!

Sounds like an endorsement for Danny White.

 

[Flogballs]

I don’t think the letter grades jive with the descriptions. I’d definitely give her a B which exceeded my expectations. An A would greatly exceed which she was approaching. Commendable first year - optimism should be high!

 

[madtownvol]

I went with meets expectations cause I fully expected to beat Oklahoma at home. I had us 23 and 6 regular season and 10 and 6 SEC. I would've went exceeded if we had beat Georgia and Vandy. The win over UConn and Ohio St made me almost go exceeded, but the losses were as bad as the wins were good. So meets is my grade.

The tricky thing about this question is where to set expectations. One take is that this season was CKC first year coaching at this conference power level and she had a mix and match line-up.

However, coaching with scrambled line-ups is the new world of the transfer portal and NIL so that particular rationale does not carry much weight.

Per this line-up, she had a super talented, bordering on elite guard in Cooper, the best PG the team has had in a long while and a fair amount of athleticism at all positions. I expected the post to be a weak spot (and it was for a while) but Spearman and Hollingshead starting playing very well as the season progressed.

So, credit to CKC. She kept and/or recruited a quality set of players., They were missing a consistent go to player, like Rickea, but she had a good team. I feel that they underachieved in the conference schedule.

I think she had two great wins - OSU and UConn--something we had not had in several years. She had some good wins - Iowa and FLST but the conference record was not great. The squandered potential wins against LSU, TX, and OK tilted things negatively--"close but no cigar" are still losses. And then the losses against Vandy (twice counting the conference tournament!!), the blowout loss against KY and then the stinker game against GA make it hard to see this crucial part of the season as even being "at expectations". They did hold court against the other mid pack teams (and Bama and Ole Miss might even count as good wins) but overall disappointing. This season looks very different with wins against OK and LSU on the books--which would have probably given them a 4 seed as well.

But, getting to the S16 was huge for this team. I personally consider that to be at expectations for this program (and the current roster) and that was an important expectation to meet because it shows a high degree of national relevance.

With the S16, I think CKC gets a B-. Why not a "B'?" --the costly coaching errors against LSU in game one and the stretch run of the TX game.

 

[Rickster]

I went with meets expectations cause I fully expected to beat Oklahoma at home. I had us 23 and 6 regular season and 10 and 6 SEC. I would've went exceeded if we had beat Georgia and Vandy. The win over UConn and Ohio St made me almost go exceeded, but the losses were as bad as the wins were good. So meets is my grade.

When did you pick them 23-6 and 10-6 SEC??? Before the season started? Just after the hiring announcement? Nothing wrong…..just wondering.

 

[vols 30]

I'm pretty sure I know who selected should've hired someone else

 

[lvocd]

I came ohhh sooooo close to looking like a genius.

POLL: Expectations for 2024/2025

What are your reasonable expectations for the your first year coach? The Lady Volnation is not really known for reasonableness- but what fanbase is?

www.volnation.com

 

[Special Ed]

Absolutely no one expected us to go dancing, little less the sweet sixteen. She even kept it going while patrolling the sidelines during the latter stages of a pregnancy. It is quite amazing that her style of play translated that well. We could be looking at something special.

1) Very competitive in year one in the SEC. Could have been a complete disaster with the radically different style of play.
2) 5th seed in the dance.

I may be considered "no one", but I fully expected Kim to get us into the Big Dance from the get go.
She was the best candidate available at the time and I enthusiastically approved of her hire.