Thoughts on the hire of Kim Caldwell

[turbovol]

To me it looks like he was dead set on moving on from Harper, point blank period. He knew he needed a new coach and probably put feelers out and saw that his pool wouldn’t be that large. He made his best educated guess on who was left would be the most successful.

I think to hire an established coach, an AD has to have good relationships with various agents and probably some established coaches around the country. And you have to have the rocks to go for it--go for it in terms of pitching the program (which doesn't need pitching) and the opportunity, and be ready to spend money. Ask yourself if White would do this for the men's program. If he did, there'd be the same uproar, because nobody does it.

Sometimes, for sure, you can hit it with a hire like this--we did with Bruce Pearl on the men's side. But this: Pearl had been an assistant coach at both Stanford and Iowa, then was a mid-major head coach for 14 years (Southern Indiana and Milwaukee) before UT hired him. Big difference.

 

[VOL720]

When is the last time that a major program in need of a coach, men or women, said: "Huh, I wonder if there are any good coaches
in Div. II?" USC just hired a new men's coach--nabbed him from Arkansas. Arkansas, now needing a coach, tried to hire the well-respected coach
at Ole Miss and then the coach at Kansas State. They declined, so Arkansas pitched Calipari at Kentucky--and got him! Their ADs didn't say, "Ah, to hell with established winners, lemme see if there are any good coaches with 1 year of mid-major experience." Nobody does that. It is virtually unprecedented.

If Barnes retired tomorrow, would White say: "Hmmm, I've got my eye on this guy who killed it in Div. II and just had a super year at Appalachian State. He could be the answer." Would he? Would the men's fan base be happy with that? No, they would not. And I doubt White would do it--but knowing him, I wouldn't rule it out.

As soon as we realize that Tennessee is not the destination it once was, the complaining will stop. If the AD had coaches declining Interviews and saying no, he had no choice but to go in a different direction. The time to get a big name coach was went Pat retired or definitely when Holly was fired. Now the job is no longer as appealing. Maybe she can change things. I don't understand what the AD could do when coaches are saying no.

 

[brittannica]

I know this is a popular take especially with the SEC taking the last three but the truth is this is a now a bi-polar world--SEC and Big Ten. That will become clearer in the next 2-3 years.

The incentives for coaches to go from USC (Lindsey Gottleib) or Indiana (Teri Moren) that existed 10-20 years ago are not there now. There is so much money floating around with $50M+ tv distributions.

Home run hires for SEC and Big Ten schools will increasingly be Big 12-ACC hires.

Also wonder how competitive our NIL is compared to USC. USC paid off the student loans of one of their Ivy League grad transfers and is rumored to offer 50K a year to each player. That’s some serious money in the WBB world to recruit with.

 

[WVU05UT09]

Also wonder how competitive our NIL is compared to USC. USC paid off the student loans of one of their Ivy League grad transfers and is rumored to offer 50K a year to each player. That’s some serious money in the WBB world to recruit with.

Great question. I don't know to be honest but in general USC isn't at a loss for money.

They call it University of Spoiled Children for a reason.

 

[Bigorangefaninga]

You should also post the video of Marshall beating the Gators. But only if you're interested in a fair assessment

or one of her team beating Chattanooga which had Poppie as their coach who went to Clemson and I think will be a very good coach going forward. Poppie in year 2 at Chatt and Caldwell in year 1 at Marshall.

 

[VolBall09]

I don’t know how much interest there was last time bc I think Fulmer had his eyes set firmly on who we wanted. Obviously, it doesn’t sell itself anymore, or we would have had players lined up since no one but UConn can match our history. I don’t know what factors went into our transfers, and I’m ready to move on from Kellie’s failures here. I want to remember her as a great player and person. I thought for sure someone like Moren would be interested since she would have so much more support than Indiana does for women’s basketball. I was dead wrong.

Idk IU is a pretty historical basketball school. Indiana in general is like the Mecca of basketball in the Midwest.

 

[spojo13]

Idk IU is a pretty historical basketball school. Indiana in general is like the Mecca of basketball in the Midwest.

For the men’s side for sure but the women weren’t even playing in Assembly Hall until some years ago. They didn’t have much support until Miller showed up.

 

[turbovol]

The men's team has been dealing with mid major coaches for decades. He also hired one for the most important coaching job on campus. Will he do it when Barnes retires? Maybe not but there's no way of knowing. If you check his history he's definitely had success with it before

Most of White's hires have not done well at the major-college level, Oates being the big exception. Hurley has done very badly, Dawkins got fired from Stanford and has not done well at UCF, the women's coach at Georgia came in next to last this season. The Syracuse women's coach just had a good year--but she's 57 and at Syracuse. The bottom line is that White is rolling dice--and that is not something that major programs do to this extent. Mid-major coaches do get commonly hired by programs, but often by programs with somewhat lower success profiles, and the coaches certainly have a lot larger mid-major track record than one year--see Pearl.

Of course she could succeed. It's the lack of ambition that is annoying--and it IS a lack of ambition because anybody could have hired Caldwell. To be sure, coaching hires are always a roll of the dice, no matter who one hires, but this is especially so and it feels to me that the program deserves better. The one thing that could help/save her is money. If our bribery war chest is big enough, then you can buy good prospects (sad to say) and that, of course, makes the coaching a lot easier. For reasons unclear, Harper struggled to recruit. And I'm not someone upset that Harper was let go; quite the opposite. We need someone who can make us a national contender again.

 

[Bigorangefaninga]

I think to hire an established coach, an AD has to have good relationships with various agents and probably some established coaches around the country. And you have to have the rocks to go for it--go for it in terms of pitching the program (which doesn't need pitching) and the opportunity, and be ready to spend money. Ask yourself if White would do this for the men's program. If he did, there'd be the same uproar, because nobody does it.

Sometimes, for sure, you can hit it with a hire like this--we did with Bruce Pearl on the men's side. But this: Pearl had been an assistant coach at both Stanford and Iowa, then was a mid-major head coach for 14 years (Southern Indiana and Milwaukee) before UT hired him. Big difference.

to also respond to another of your comments. Yeah USC hired Musselman from Arky who had an absolutely TERRIBLE year this past season and he was only hired because USC literally lost their coach to SMU, yes Southern Methodist University! So did USC upgrade or did they actually downgrade and what reason would a coach leave USC to go to SMU even with SMU who hasnt been good in basketball for a long time?


As far as DW not having good relationships with coaches is hilarious! You do know he was the one that hired Nate Oats at Buffalo and now Oats is the head coach at Bama who is coming off a FF appearance something that NO coach before had done at Bama and hasnt been done at UT? Also NONE of us have any idea who all he asked about the vacancy, we have no idea what all coaches showed interest in the position. We have heard he wanted Gottleib and she wanted to stay out west. Some of us think he talked to Indiana coach, but none of us really have any idea what interest was shown in this job. As much as we want to all think this job is one of if not the best job in WBB it just isnt anymore. It's like with football, the shine has worn off and its not a powerhouse anymore! IF we had made the Wes Moore hire instead of allowing the hire to be dictated to Fulmer that it be a female AND a former LV we wouldnt be in the position we are in right now. Instead Fulmer was made to hire who the LV WBB people wanted and we got stuck with a coach that failed and got fired at NC State. I am underwhelmed on the hire right now, but at this point it might have been the best DW had with the choices he was facing and I'm just glad he went outside the family, took a swing and I just hope it leads the LV back to at least competing for FF and NC instead of the usual beating they take when they play teams that ARE competing for those.

 

[Lucy]

My biggest concern ..The SEC is still a big girl league. Got to have some bigs!!
Can she run her offense and still have the
bigs involved? Overall we got a fresh young
Face. Hopefully, exciting times ahead!! Still loved Kellie tho.

This!!

 

[EcRoberts]

interesting stat to look at

 

[DarkPhoenix]

interesting stat to look at

They was 149th in strength of schedule.

 

[LUVMESUMVOL]

As soon as we realize that Tennessee is not the destination it once was, the complaining will stop. If the AD had coaches declining Interviews and saying no, he had no choice but to go in a different direction. The time to get a big name coach was went Pat retired or definitely when Holly was fired. Now the job is no longer as appealing. Maybe she can change things. I don't understand what the AD could do when coaches are saying no.

It’s a shame our fans are blinded to the fact that no one of a namesake wanted to come here.This coach wasn’t his first choice I’m willing to bet he reached out to all the coaches the fans were wanting but they said NO and he settled on Coach Caldwell and she could be just who we need

 

[VolFuture]

She is interesting for sure. I’m wondering what they liked about her to hire her over some of the other mid major choices like Molly Miller?

Winning

 

[spojo13]

It’s a shame our fans are blinded to the fact that no one of a namesake wanted to come here.This coach wasn’t his first choice I’m willing to bet he reached out to all the coaches the fans were wanting but they said NO and he settled on Coach Caldwell and she could be just who we need

Honestly to me, it does make me feel better that he at least tried to go after some other names. Knowing that Caldwell was where we ended up and not where we started at least gives me a better idea of where we stand

 

[Lucy]

interesting stat to look at

Not great percentages (I think, little blurry). Especially FT. Depends on having more possessions or opponents shot worse(good defense) I guess?

 

[lvocd]

X

 

[Berry4Heisman14]

i think more would be less wary if she had a little more D1 experience. her one year at marshall was really good, but it was just one year so there’s not much to go off when it comes to her coaching D1 basketball.

I get that but Marshall was awful before she arrived and that says something

 

[Peas29]

Not good enough. It’s Alasia and Aislynn I believe, and neither got many minutes at MSST. They won’t come over even if asked.

Aislynn had to get minutes at Marshall averaging almost 14.5 pts and 4.6 rbs

 

[VolBall09]

interesting stat to look at

14 steals a game is a number I can get behind. That’s crazy. She obviously understands how to apply a pressure defense and turn that into offense.

 

[Amb3096]

As soon as we realize that Tennessee is not the destination it once was, the complaining will stop. If the AD had coaches declining Interviews and saying no, he had no choice but to go in a different direction. The time to get a big name coach was went Pat retired or definitely when Holly was fired. Now the job is no longer as appealing. Maybe she can change things. I don't understand what the AD could do when coaches are saying no.

Agree. Holly took the brunt of following the legend, but the time to make a big move was after she was fired. That's why Kellie's hiring was such a tough pill to swallow; they could have made some big moves, but basically just hired Holly 2.0 minus recruiting proficiency and now here we are. That's why I'm happy to have a breakaway from the LVFL tradition and hoping Kim can move the program forward instead of living in the past.

 

[Amb3096]

Aislynn had to get minutes at Marshall averaging almost 14.5 pts and 4.6 rbs

She got minutes at MTSU and Marshall, but she was buried at the end of the bench (along with Alasia) at MSST when Annie and Co. all transferred over

 

[lvocd]

I’m very glad we moved away from the husband and wife coaching set up for women’s basketball.

Would rather see an all female staff (and this is coming from a man). For as long as the men’s game is gatekept from female coaches the ladies should do the same. I’d tell them fellas to take a hike.

Ummm, I wouldn’t be so sure we have. Her new husband, Justin, is an assistant coach for Marshall who came to Marshall last year after leaving Granville, where he’d been head coach for several years.

I am not saying he’ll be an assistant to her, but I won’t be surprised if he is. And after having been a head coach of his own program, my concern would be if he could resist the urge to try to be the behind-the-scenes head coach of his wife’s team.

I haven’t heard anything one way or another, but him being in coaching for years himself, and a head coach at that … along with the fact that they’re still basically newlyweds, I can’t see him either deciding to stay at Marshall OR come to Knoxville and not coach somewhere. They don’t have children yet, so they do have a bit more freedom, but still …

You know I’m with you on the married couples coaching thing, so I hope if he joins her in Knoxville he’ll be taking some other position instead of one on Kim’s staff.

But if he does, he does, and I’ll hope for the best.

 

[swampfoxfan]

How does any of the posters on this thread know who Danny White contacted and offered the job? Maybe Caldwell was his choice all along.

 

[brittannica]

Ummm, I wouldn’t be so sure we have. Her new husband, Justin, is an assistant coach for Marshall who came to Marshall last year after leaving Granville, where he’d been head coach for several years.

I am not saying he’ll be an assistant to her, but I won’t be surprised if he is. And after having been a head coach of his own program, my concern would be if he could resist the urge to try to be the behind-the-scenes head coach of his wife’s team.

I haven’t heard anything one way or another, but him being in coaching for years himself, and a head coach at that … along with the fact that they’re still basically newlyweds, I can’t see him either deciding to stay at Marshall OR come to Knoxville and not coach somewhere. They don’t have children yet, so they do have a bit more freedom, but still …

You know I’m with you on the married couples coaching thing, so I hope if he joins her in Knoxville he’ll be taking some other position instead of one on Kim’s staff.

But if he does, he does, and I’ll hope for the best.

If he is on the staff…. that might be the thing that gets us to consider canceling our season tickets. I will support this hire with a strong support system. He is not that.