Official: UT hires Kim Caldwell as the new coach for Lady Vols basketball

[butchna]

I don’t think it’s hatred it’s disappointment and reality kicking in. We all wanted to return to the mountain top very soon but with this hire we know that won’t happen.

The only thing you KNOW is that you don’t.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Wynn has the tools to be a great role player. She’s athletic as heck, great defender, and has the speed. If the coaching staff would’ve actually taken the time to help develop her shot more, but what do you expect a lot of our girls were missing the fundamentals.

She can’t dribble, can’t shoot and can’t make layups. Maybe 5-8 mins to give a starter a rest. She looks exactly the same as she did in high school, she won’t be changing.

 

[VolArmy74]

why did they leave marshall? players leaving in the middle of the season for another school worries me.

Marshall started 2-4 with her there. She left and they went 24-3 the rest of the year.

 

[TrippieRedd]

She can’t dribble, can’t shoot and can’t make layups. Maybe 5-8 mins to give a starter a rest.

Stephens first calls need to be Scott, and Scherr

Get those two and I’ll start to believe

 

[Sudden Impact]

I am sure DW did his homework and made the right hire at this time. Why question the hire? DW has a lot more information than we do have on this board to make this decision. He has raised the level of UT sports and it continues to grow. Sometimes it is not all about the Coach but is more about how they are handled and supported behind the scenes. So roll with it. KH was not getting it done and there is probably more to the story than we know. DW made a decision, live with it and it is ok not to feel good about it, but trust that DW made a decision and he has done so with the information he had. She is not the only one he interviewed and if anybody knows how that went please share that information.

 

[Voltopia]

I don’t think it’s hatred it’s disappointment and reality kicking in. We all wanted to return to the mountain top very soon but with this hire we know that won’t happen.

You don't know. You think - but you don't know. No one knows. You've decided already for yourself, sure. But you don't know.

 

[Redleg68]

what the heck. this is seriously the best we could do? a coach with one year of D1 experience….

Well it will be a great insightful hire or what the H*** were you thinking. Only time will tell. The ship has sailed , so lets put our full support behind the new coach.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Stephens first calls need to be Scott, and Scherr

Get those two and I’ll start to believe

Rumors are Scheer might be staying, but those 2 would be nice pickups.

 

[igotworms]

She can’t dribble, can’t shoot and can’t make layups. Maybe 5-8 mins to give a starter a rest. She looks exactly the same as she did in high school, she won’t be changing.

Neither can that turd from Purdue but he's player of the year in mens

 

[turbovol]

You don't wait to establish your standard imo. I think as Dan White lost hope that Kellie would get there, he restarted the process. Other ADs have done the "give it another year" with someone they had no faith in and it NEVER paid off. For this program, (and I self-admittedly overuse the term) we've never beta tested the ole get the best established coach from another successful program...reason? Other than LSU moneywhipping Mulkey with $3 mil per...who has? You do your work, you want to reap the benefits. White recognizes that and went through his reads very quickly. Doubt this candidate was his fifth or sixth choice. Got the answers and sincerity he wanted in the first interview and either scheduled a follow-up or made her hubby cook his own dinner that night going late into the clincher.

I don't think White had much interest in hiring an established coach--as Kentucky WBB did by hiring Brooks. I don't know why....maybe he's just got a thing for "comers" or doesn't like to spend money. I suspect he could have hired an established major or mid-major coach if he was willing to spend the money, and I'd love to know how many interviews he actually had, and with who? I strongly suspect not many. But he didn't even go after an established mid-major coach. He's hired a one-year mid-major. He's basically given the keys to the BMW--albeit one with engine problems for several years--to the 15-year-old baby sitter who lives down the street.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

You don't know. You think - but you don't know. No one knows. You've decided already for yourself, sure. But you don't know.

Everything is opinion but I’m pretty confident in mine, I just can’t see her getting the top elite recruits to come here, maybe if Sam stays on she can get the players she has built a relationship with and get Brooks and Chastain back. If that happens I’ll have a lil more faith.

 

[Capt Straight]

I don’t think it’s hatred it’s disappointment and reality kicking in. We all wanted to return to the mountain top very soon but with this hire we know that won’t happen.

We know no such thing until we see the results. Other than that, all the speculation about a poor hire is total BS.

 

[cwbytruckers]

Against schools in the sister of the blind conference. Come on anybody can win there.

They didnt before her. Next argument.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

We know no such thing until we see the results. Other than that, all the speculation about a poor hire is total BS.

Good thing we won’t have to wait long, the 2025 class is right around the corner.

 

[turbovol]

I do chuckle at the posters who say, with great enthusiasm, "She's won everywhere she's been!!"

She's been to Glenville State College--located somewhere in the hollers of West Virginia, no one is sure where---and Marshall (also in WVA)
for a year. That's where she's been.

It IS a crazy hire.

 

[Orange007]

i do agree with posters who say we don't have all of the info here. DW does though. putting her coaching resume aside for a second, i do think her age and energy will give her the ability to connect with a whole different section of fans. i think she will do everything she can to get people in the seats and bring a completely different vibe to TBA. i say we give her a chance, support our team, and be honest about where we are right now. we are a top-half SEC team right now. we have been in neutral for years. change had to happen. something fresh and new could be exciting if you let it be. we should all breathe and see how the summer goes with recruiting...and watch for the assistant/associate coach hires.

lastly, i know i may be crucified for saying this by some, but having a coach who is not so closely connected to pat and her history will be healthy for the program. we can never, and should never, turn the page on pat, but we need to write a brand new chapter. all successful businesses have to change to succeed for the long term. this is no different.

 

[BallinVol]

Caldwell went to the same high school as my Dad. Something I learned today. I'm optimistic about the hire. She wins ... which is the ultimate goal.

 

[Dansky]

Call me unimpressed

I’m a little dissapointed but hope she ends up being a great hire and gets us back to the upper level of women’s college bb. I wonder if the money being offered was way too low to attract some of the bigger names. Hope everyone gives the new coach all of their support.

 

[MrBiggles]

I will suspend judgement for now, but all I have to say is she better win and take us to the sweet 16 at least because that was the standard that Kellie had us at. An elite 8 or especially a Final Four is what is needed to be an upgrade.

 

[Pennheel]

A young and proven coach. I'd be very happy with this hire if I was a Lady Vols fan.

 

[csprig9]

Call me unimpressed

Go cheer for another team
Support the new coach
She’s a winner and 100x better then the previous 2

 

[JacketVol]

First and foremost, welcome Coach Caldwell. I hope you are the “sleeper hire” of the century.

Stepping back, however, the timing of this "high risk-high reward" hire is, from an outside perspective, hard to understand. Why roll the dice now?

Coach Caldwell would have been an option next season and would have gained a 2nd year of D1 coaching experience and given the UTAD another data point to assess. But why should White have waited?

Okay, this roster desperately needs 2 to 3 quality players from the transfer portal. Kellie has an excellent record in the portal and likely had some connections in play. We are also seeing two big de-commits and there is now a risk of current players transferring which would further heighten the roster problem. Unlike Brooks at KY, Caldwell is not going to bring elite players with her. In the transfer window, a rookie coach from Marshal is going to be at a disadvantage there.

Also, it would have seemed only fair to assess how Kellie’s high school recruiting class would fare under an improved NIL program (which several have reported is now in place). At the end of next year, Kellie might have taken this team to the S16 (or maybe better) and had a strong 2025 class in place and suddenly, she looks really good. If the team did not hit those marks, then White could have assessed where Coach Caldwell, among other options who might have come on the radar screen are at.

Last thing, one conjecture on this board is that White had to sack Kellie in order to get a better NIL package in place because the big donors did not have faith in her. That argument would be credible if the hire had, indeed, been a “name” coach. But, it is very hard to believe that the same donors who presumably were financially strangling the program because they did not trust Kellie would now start writing big checks for a newbie coach from a lower tier of mid major. I am going with EarlVol's statement that the NIL was in place with Kellie.

The logical inference is that White wanted “his coach” at the helm and Kellie not making the S16 provided the justification for making a change (which would also help the new coach to look better since she no longer had the same NIL disadvantage where Kellie might have started killing it in recruiting).

I am open to the idea that Caldwell is just an inherently better coach than Kellie Harper (I really know little about her).

So, time will tell if White's move was brilliance or arrogance.

I really am hoping for the former (and am quite glad a woman coach got the job, flame me I don’t care). But Coach Caldwell’s first big challenge will be rebuilding a roster in challenging circumstances.

Maybe she will not leave a player wide open with a second left and a foul to give to lose to SC. Not hard to be a better coach than that fiasco.

 

[turbovol]

Pretty obvious that a first year coach from Marshall was the top choice all along. All the reports about other coaches declining are just lies….

Do you think this? I rather do. I don't think he had much interest in trying to hire an established coach, and while I doubt we'll ever know, I'd bet
heavily that if he interviewed coaches other than Caldwell, it was a /very/ small number.

While Caldwell's Div. II record gets played up a lot, I've done some research and there are quite a few coaches who have amazing records in Div. II and III. I've mentioned a couple in other posts--including the Ashland College coach who's won 90+% of her games over 10 years, plus 2 titles. The Lubbock Christian coach who's won three national titles in the last several years. Nobody has hired them away. Caldwell does have the good Marshall season--with a veteran team, I saw--but it's a very thin background and pretty crazy hire for this job, period.

 

[vols 30]

I will suspend judgement for now, but all I have to say is she better win and take us to the sweet 16 at least because that was the standard that Kellie had us at. An elite 8 or especially a Final Four is what is needed to be an upgrade.

Are you expecting that year 1?

 

[dalton_vol]

She's hot