Avery Mills Joins Lady Vols

#26
#26
It's a good start. I really hope she's able to get players not to just fill the bench seats but those who are willing to buy in to her system. I'm not convinced that this is really going to accomplish what she thinks it will but given what we're learning about what was going on behind the scenes, I think it's only fair to have her really get the players she needs (or thinks she needs) and give it one more chance.
 
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#27
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#31
#31
AllVols3 said:
We don't even know who we will have and you're saying we will ,Definitely take a step back. Nobody knows what we will do, you dont even know who will be wearing the orange.
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Not saying we will take a step back at all. Really think we cannot get much worse than we were at all. Very hopeful to get players that take pride in their game and give a much better effort than last years group. Also praying for a group of players with a good basketball IQ which last years group was lacking.
 
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#34
#34
NOLACHUCKEYTOM said:
Not saying we will take a step back at all. Really think we cannot get much worse than we were at all. Very hopeful to get players that take pride in their game and give a much better effort than last years group. Also praying for a group of players with a good basketball IQ which last years group was lacking.
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You nailed it!! Nice job!
 
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#38
#38
Agree with @GameTime Mills is a shooter that should translate, I have no idea what her defense is. But she looks like a real shooter. She will be a nice piece. Build around her now. Regardless of the system, it’s the SEC, you need some muscle on the boards and some strong defenders to be top third. I feel CKC knows this now.
 
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#39
#39
livefaith said:
If CKC comes back from the dead and resurrects the LVs it will be one of the most shocking scenarios in sports history.
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It certainly would! My goodness. I'd say if she can push her portal roster even into the S16 next season she should get at least a polite mention or two when the talking heads are discussing coach of the year candidates.

Yes, I know that's pure crazy talk. But it's nice to have crazy wish-thoughts in the middle of a crisis now and then. 🥹
 
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#40
#40
lvocd said:
It certainly would! My goodness. I'd say if she can push her portal roster even into the S16 next season she should get at least a polite mention or two when the talking heads are discussing coach of the year candidates.

Yes, I know that's pure crazy talk. But it's nice to have crazy wish-thoughts in the middle of a crisis now and then. 🥹
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I’m torn. While I don’t think CKC should be the coach for us, I would also love for her to surprise everyone and do awesome next year. Like Elite 8 or better. Basically just to rub it in everyone’s face after they’ve laughed at our downfall. And hoping our attendance is still good, or at least way better than the schools all of our transfers end up at 😂 Don’t think any of this will happen, but like you said, it is nice to have some big wishes. Hey, you never know!
 
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#41
#41
LV’s will likely always be top 1-3 in attendance. That won’t change anytime soon.
vols90 said:
I’m torn. While I don’t think CKC should be the coach for us, I would also love for her to surprise everyone and do awesome next year. Like Elite 8 or better. Basically just to rub it in everyone’s face after they’ve laughed at our downfall. And hoping our attendance is still good, or at least way better than the schools all of our transfers end up at 😂 Don’t think any of this will happen, but like you said, it is nice to have some big wishes. Hey, you never know!
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#42
#42
vols90 said:
I’m torn. While I don’t think CKC should be the coach for us, I would also love for her to surprise everyone and do awesome next year. Like Elite 8 or better. Basically just to rub it in everyone’s face after they’ve laughed at our downfall. And hoping our attendance is still good, or at least way better than the schools all of our transfers end up at 😂 Don’t think any of this will happen, but like you said, it is nice to have some big wishes. Hey, you never know!
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Same. I definitely want her to succeed. Nothing would please me more than for her crazy idea that she can win championships in D1 with her system to actually end up being not crazy at all. I can't imagine any real LV fans not wanting her to shock the world and shut all us skeptics up. We can hope!
 
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#44
#44
Rooster1 said:
I feel CKC knows this now.
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Yup. Some have suggested it's time to stop calling Kim "inexperienced," and after this year, I agree. But before this? Not so much. Pretty inexperienced. Consider her background:

* Played at Glenville State, including two years playing "the system" under Bunky Harkleroad. Hated it. Wanted to go home. then felt team drawing closer, saw it start to work.
* 3 years as an assistant under Harkleroad at Sacramento State.
* Hired as head coach back at Glenville State in2016, age 26. Brought her dad (her high school coach in for maturity, and her mom was "Team Mom"). 7 years, 6 conference championships (all except Covid year, 2020-21, the same year her father died), NCAA D2 Champ in 6th, Final 4 again in 7th.
* Went to Marshall, where she installed her system and won the conferencce chanpionship, taking the Thundering Herd to the NCAA for the first time since 1997.
* Recruited to Tennessee -- first year was surprisingly good, and she had a baby. Then, this year was a disaster. Admits she lost both players and coaches -- something that had never happened in her career.

Now, despite the "takes a long time to learn this system" talk -- that seems to be more Kim's critical, analytical approach. Look at her records in November and December. Her teams were winning. And they did that from YEAR ONE AT GLENVILLE STATE. What I'm saying here is that, in some ways, though I expect she learned things, her 7 years at Glenville State could be seen as much the same year, over and over. She ran her system (and it is hers -- she modified it from what Harkleroad ran), won lots of games, usually by big margins, and was phenomenally successful. Then she got one year at a mid-major D1, and, boom! Tennessee.

And she knew, even when she interviewed, that she had lots to learn. And said so. From the SI article about her from last fall:

She was honest about everything that she did not know. Caldwell had never enjoyed access to a large staff. Never handled national media. Never interfaced with donors who had millions of dollars or with alumni who had starred as Hall of Famers. Never interviewed with a program that apologized for not flying her on a university jet because it would have been tracked by fans—although, really, that sounded a bit like coaching in small-town West Virginia, where she couldn’t go to the grocery store without being recognized by someone who wanted to talk about the team. She had so little relevant personal experience for so many of these questions.
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And how did she recruit players? With that same honesty. From the same SI article:

Among those Caldwell reached out to in the transfer portal was 6' 4" forward Zee Spearman. She had played two seasons at Miami and did not believe she had any interest in Tennessee. But she was fascinated by how Caldwell sold her once she got her on the phone. The coach told her that she would have to run more than she had ever run in her life and that she would have to play a style that would feel totally unfamiliar. Then she told her why she believed that would be worth it for Spearman. “I’m so used to coaches telling me different things,” Spearman says. “But she wasn’t trying to tell me what I wanted to hear. She just told me straight-up.” The player was surprised to realize that she agreed. And versions of that conversation played out up and down the roster.
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I got to admit, I was a little surprise how much Kim stuck by Zee this year, but maybe that's a hint. Repaying loyalty with loyalty, even when Zee was having trouble living up to her end of the bargain. And, on senior night, Zee's mother told Kim, "She made it!" That says something to me.

But today's a different day. Kim's got experience with a larger staff, and may have learned some very hard lessons. The overall format of a tough, demanding head coach and softer, more supportive assistant coaches generally works. It worked for Pat, and when Holly tried to take the "player-friend" role to the head coach position, not so much. Despite her comments early on about the possibility she would recruit players who might not be highly rated but would fit her system, it sure looks like she let herself deviate from that path. She mentioned how she'd never coached such tall, athletic players -- and that was with the 24-25 team. It sure looks like she may have fallen into recruiting highly-ranked players rather than the ones she needed. Lesson learned.

So, no longer inexperienced.

How's she going to go forward? I suspect she'll go back to basics. She's already said that about "the system." And the players she's going after in the portal so far seem to suggest that. Given what we know of her, I can't imagine that she's going to go away from the brutal honesty approach when she talks with players. In fact, she can now say, "You want to know what happens when everybody on the team doesn't commit to playing together and playing hard? It looks like last year. If you want to play the way my teams have played and earn what they earned, be ready to pay the price. You're going to run. You'll get less minutes, but plenty of possessions. And if you're subbed out after a couple of minutes and you're not tired, you should be asking yourself why, because you can sure I will be. I can tolerate mistakes. I can't and won't tolerate lack of effort."

I know this doesn't answer all the criticisms of "the system." Not trying to. I don't have that kind of expertise and don't know if they even have answers. Though the SI article does say she describes her offensive system as one "that actually has much of the pace and spacing of any savvy, modern team." What I am saying is that it seems a sure bet Kim Caldwell learned a lot about what she has to do to coach at Tennessee this year, maybe more than in the rest of her career combined. Sometimes, we learn more from failure than success.
 
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#45
#45
RetroVol said:
Yup. Some have suggested it's time to stop calling Kim "inexperienced," and after this year, I agree. But before this? Not so much. Pretty inexperienced. Consider her background:

* Played at Glenville State, including two years playing "the system" under Bunky Harkleroad. Hated it. Wanted to go home. then felt team drawing closer, saw it start to work.
* 3 years as an assistant under Harkleroad at Sacramento State.
* Hired as head coach back at Glenville State in2016, age 26. Brought her dad (her high school coach in for maturity, and her mom was "Team Mom"). 7 years, 6 conference championships (all except Covid year, 2020-21, the same year her father died), NCAA D2 Champ in 6th, Final 4 again in 7th.
* Went to Marshall, where she installed her system and won the conferencce chanpionship, taking the Thundering Herd to the NCAA for the first time since 1997.
* Recruited to Tennessee -- first year was surprisingly good, and she had a baby. Then, this year was a disaster. Admits she lost both players and coaches -- something that had never happened in her career.

Now, despite the "takes a long time to learn this system" talk -- that seems to be more Kim's critical, analytical approach. Look at her records in November and December. Her teams were winning. And they did that from YEAR ONE AT GLENVILLE STATE. What I'm saying here is that, in some ways, though I expect she learned things, her 7 years at Glenville State could be seen as much the same year, over and over. She ran her system (and it is hers -- she modified it from what Harkleroad ran), won lots of games, usually by big margins, and was phenomenally successful. Then she got one year at a mid-major D1, and, boom! Tennessee.

And she knew, even when she interviewed, that she had lots to learn. And said so. From the SI article about her from last fall:



And how did she recruit players? With that same honesty. From the same SI article:



I got to admit, I was a little surprise how much Kim stuck by Zee this year, but maybe that's a hint. Repaying loyalty with loyalty, even when Zee was having trouble living up to her end of the bargain. And, on senior night, Zee's mother told Kim, "She made it!" That says something to me.

But today's a different day. Kim's got experience with a larger staff, and may have learned some very hard lessons. The overall format of a tough, demanding head coach and softer, more supportive assistant coaches generally works. It worked for Pat, and when Holly tried to take the "player-friend" role to the head coach position, not so much. Despite her comments early on about the possibility she would recruit players who might not be highly rated but would fit her system, it sure looks like she let herself deviate from that path. She mentioned how she'd never coached such tall, athletic players -- and that was with the 24-25 team. It sure looks like she may have fallen into recruiting highly-ranked players rather than the ones she needed. Lesson learned.

So, no longer inexperienced.

How's she going to go forward? I suspect she'll go back to basics. She's already said that about "the system." And the players she's going after in the portal so far seem to suggest that. Given what we know of her, I can't imagine that she's going to go away from the brutal honesty approach when she talks with players. In fact, she can now say, "You want to know what happens when everybody on the team doesn't commit to playing together and playing hard? It looks like last year. If you want to play the way my teams have played and earn what they earned, be ready to pay the price. You're going to run. You'll get less minutes, but plenty of possessions. And if you're subbed out after a couple of minutes and you're not tired, you should be asking yourself why, because you can sure I will be. I can tolerate mistakes. I can't and won't tolerate lack of effort."

I know this doesn't answer all the criticisms of "the system." Not trying to. I don't have that kind of expertise and don't know if they even have answers. Though the SI article does say she describes her offensive system as one "that actually ha much of the pace and spacing of any savvy, modern team." What I am saying is that it seems a sure bet Kim Caldwell learned a lot about what she has to do to coach at Tennessee this year, maybe more than in the rest of her career combined. Sometimes, we learn more from failure than success.
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It’s a War and Peace novel again, sorry, too much to digest, less is more tbh. Pretty simple, coach a style that can win in your conference or it cannot. Let’s give it one more look shall we? Seems like a hard path to traverse. I’m open to anything.
 
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