B.O. Caravan interview: CKC talks about changes she has made since last season

[glv98]

I can guarantee that.

How so? You have inside knowledge of the new players?

 

[greenwolfe@gmail.com Ran]

How so? You have inside knowledge of the new players?

No. but I have knowledge of CALDWELL and the only kind of players she will select and recruit as HER PLAYERS. And according to her they have all pledged to be HER PLAYERS.

 

[glv98]

No. but I have knowledge of CALDWELL and the only kind of players she will select and recruit as HER PLAYERS. And according to her they have all pledged to be HER PLAYERS.

Did you have knowledge of Caldwell last year? Only three players on last year's team were not directly recruited under CKC and all three had played for her the year before. They were not mysteries she inherited or were stuck with, they were HER PLAYERS.. Both departed coaches were hired directly by her, and she had full firing and removal power over every single player and coach in the program as events unfolded.

The ongoing myth of Caldwell as a young inexperienced victim of everything and everyone last year is so incredibly cringe, and so incredibly insulting to her. As CEO, if she was merely a bystander to the destruction she should have been let go immediately after the season.

Its OK to say, as she has, that she made massive mistakes in judgment last year, both of commission and omission, but has been given a fresh slate and another chance this year. Continuing to paint her as the damsel in distress tied to the railroad track is completely diminishing to her and also not close to the truth. As if that matters anymore

 

[greenwolfe@gmail.com Ran]

Did you have knowledge of Caldwell last year? Only three players on last year's team were not directly recruited under CKC and all three had played for her the year before. They were not mysteries she inherited or were stuck with, they were HER PLAYERS.. Both departed coaches were hired directly by her, and she had full firing and removal power over every single player and coach in the program as events unfolded.

The ongoing myth of Caldwell as a young inexperienced victim of everything and everyone last year is so incredibly cringe, and so incredibly insulting to her. As CEO, if she was merely a bystander to the destruction she should have been let go immediately after the season.

Its OK to say, as she has, that she made massive mistakes in judgment last year, both of commission and omission, but has been given a fresh slate and another chance this year. Continuing to paint her as the damsel in distress tied to the railroad track is completely diminishing to her and also not close to the truth. As if that matters anymore

Caldwell, was not totally involved in selecting "her players" last year. And she hired two SEC coaches to do a lot of the selecting of her new players. She decided to totally revamp the way she would select and recruit the "PORTAL CLASS" this year. She admitted and has corrected the several mistakes she made. It was her admission of these mistakes that DANNY has pointed to as his reason for keeping her as coach. Caldwell knows exactly what mistakes she made and everyone has seen the difference.

 

[glv98]

Caldwell, was not totally involved in selecting "her players" last year. And she hired two SEC coaches to do a lot of the selecting of her new players. She decided to totally revamp the way she would select and recruit the "PORTAL CLASS" this year. She admitted and has corrected the several mistakes she made. It was her admission of these mistakes that DANNY has pointed to as his reason for keeping her as coach. Caldwell knows exactly what mistakes she made and everyone has seen the difference.

What difference has everyone seen just by having visuals of the new players?

 

[volbeast33]

Caldwell, was not totally involved in selecting "her players" last year. And she hired two SEC coaches to do a lot of the selecting of her new players. She decided to totally revamp the way she would select and recruit the "PORTAL CLASS" this year. She admitted and has corrected the several mistakes she made. It was her admission of these mistakes that DANNY has pointed to as his reason for keeping her as coach. Caldwell knows exactly what mistakes she made and everyone has seen the difference.

No excuses… She is still responsible for the coaches and players selected.

 

[greenwolfe@gmail.com Ran]

What difference has everyone seen just by having visuals of the new players?

Everyone has listened to what CALDWELL has said and they have seen how she has responded to the players and team she has recruited this year. It is a total and complete change from last year. And simply by looking at basic videos of these players, the change is obvious. The change has been so dramatic and CALDWELL is so excited by these players so far, that you don't have to be a psychologist to see the change.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

No excuses… She is still responsible for the coaches and players selected.

If you read her interview on the caravan she did not make any excuses for last season. She used the word 'I' for every reason she said went wrong last season and what she did differently this time. Did not say any blame on asst. coaches. Don't disagree with your comment but I believe she did take responsibility.

 

[volbeast33]

If you read her interview on the caravan she did not make any excuses for last season. She used the word 'I' for every reason she said went wrong last season and what she did differently this time. Did not say any blame on asst. coaches. Don't disagree with your comment but I believe she did take responsibility.

I agree Kim takes responsibility. Our fans, however, love making excuses. I think Kim deserved a reset but she needs to have us headed in the right direction. I am excited to watch them. I live in NC and plan on bringing my daughter to a few games this year.

 

[1reVOLver]

Everyone has listened to what CALDWELL has said and they have seen how she has responded to the players and team she has recruited this year. It is a total and complete change from last year. And simply by looking at basic videos of these players, the change is obvious. The change has been so dramatic and CALDWELL is so excited by these players so far, that you don't have to be a psychologist to see the change.

That is a non-answer worthy of a slimey politician. The question was simple:

What difference has everyone seen just by having visuals of the new players?

Are you dodging the question because you don’t have an answer?

Coach's excitement? Pffft!

I am glad she’s excited. What specific differences in players are you jabbering on about?

 

[volfan102455]

Everyone has listened to what CALDWELL has said and they have seen how she has responded to the players and team she has recruited this year. It is a total and complete change from last year. And simply by looking at basic videos of these players, the change is obvious. The change has been so dramatic and CALDWELL is so excited by these players so far, that you don't have to be a psychologist to see the change.

She was excited last year and the year before. Coaches are always excited after one season ends and the next one begins.

There was excitement last season at the start when the wins were happening, but that excitement dwindled very fast when the losses to the top teams started happening and folks realized the coaches and players were not going to succeed. We may not really know much about this group of coaches / players until the back-end grind of the SEC.

Now if the team were to falter in the front end with the lesser opponents and cupcakes, we would know very early that we are moving on to the next coach.

I suspect part of the excitement from CKC is around still coaching at Tennessee and being given another chance. But I'm pretty sure she realizes that this is it - another season like last year and she should be looking for somewhere else to coach - because she would have failed with highly recruited players and she would have failed with lessor recruited players. The excuses need to stop with the coming season - it is time for her to show she can consistently beat the BEST teams, or it is time to find a coach that can.

 

[volfan102455]

And some have short memories - Dooley, Jones and Pruitt were always excited about the coming season. It is coach speak.

 

[RetroVol]

My question is how much further Kim Caldwell,soon to turn 38, is going to be able to ride this “young and inexperienced” pony. Over a decade as a head coach, three full seasons and over 100 games in D1 and we’re still thinking of her as inexperienced?

This actually seems not only laughably inaccurate, but also a bit diminishing and infantilizing of Caldwell.

I get what you are saying, and yet there have been new experiences for CKC. The new experiences Kim has had and from which we can hope she learns in the two yeas are:

-- Recruiting at P4 level with FF goals at Tennessee matched up with what she needs for her system. Unfortunately, she took a detour on that, as she now admits, that put her in a hole. May not have been entirely avoidable. She had virtually no contacts at that level and had to rely on her assistant coaches. But, it was on her to communicate and, if she didn't see what she wanted, wait. Looking back, five freshmen were a lot to bring in, but not signing them and trusting to the portal in the spring on 25 would have been bold, and even there, the fit for her system wasn't great. Don't know what she's learned from all of that, but I hope it was a lot because the price was way high.

-- Talent at the P4, FF level. We've talked about this. Is the spread between the very best players at this level and all the rest much greater than at D2 or even lower D1 like Marshall? I lean toward "yes" and think that has an impact on her approach to basketball ("the system"). Specifically, she has said she has always been able to stack talent and that she needs equal to better talent, but what does that mean in this environment? Has she met those goals for next year? If not, what would she be hoping to progress toward in future years if she does well enough to keep her job? We don't know, and of course she is never going to say any of that publicly, but I suspect this is an area where she was VERY inexperienced, but now is not. Again, hope she is learning and adapting.

-- Team chemistry. Something went bad wrong last year, but this doesn't seem to have been typical of her career, nor does it seem to be an area where she doubts her abilities. But, she still needs to look pretty hard at that and make sure what worked for her earlier is still there, that she can get back to it, or that she has some other plan. She's said she was happy at GS because she was close to the basketball and the players and thought that moving up would take her away from that. On the other hand, she'd pretty much done everything she could there and was lured to Marshall -- same state, and not that big of a step up. Then Tennessee surprised her by being interested and apparently really shocked her by offering, and she couldn't turn it down. But -- what about being close to the basketball and the players? That sounds like Rick Barnes to me a little bit -- a gym rat -- and he's made it work, so maybe she can also. But she needs to be monitoring her "close to the players" temperature really closely.

 

[greenwolfe@gmail.com Ran]

That is a non-answer worthy of a slimey politician. The question was simple:


Are you dodging the question because you don’t have an answer?

Coach's excitement? Pffft!

I am glad she’s excited. What specific differences in players are you jabbering on about?

Even people who aren't coaches can just watch a player playing and see whether they are displaying the competitive qualities necesary in a competition. It is not rocket science.

 

[glv98]

I get what you are saying, and yet there have been new experiences for CKC. The new experiences Kim has had and from which we can hope she learns in the two yeas are:

-- Recruiting at P4 level with FF goals at Tennessee matched up with what she needs for her system. Unfortunately, she took a detour on that, as she now admits, that put her in a hole. May not have been entirely avoidable. She had virtually no contacts at that level and had to rely on her assistant coaches. But, it was on her to communicate and, if she didn't see what she wanted, wait. Looking back, five freshmen were a lot to bring in, but not signing them and trusting to the portal in the spring on 25 would have been bold, and even there, the fit for her system wasn't great. Don't know what she's learned from all of that, but I hope it was a lot because the price was way high.

-- Talent at the P4, FF level. We've talked about this. Is the spread between the very best players at this level and all the rest much greater than at D2 or even lower D1 like Marshall? I lean toward "yes" and think that has an impact on her approach to basketball ("the system"). Specifically, she has said she has always been able to stack talent and that she needs equal to better talent, but what does that mean in this environment? Has she met those goals for next year? If not, what would she be hoping to progress toward in future years if she does well enough to keep her job? We don't know, and of course she is never going to say any of that publicly, but I suspect this is an area where she was VERY inexperienced, but now is not. Again, hope she is learning and adapting.

-- Team chemistry. Something went bad wrong last year, but this doesn't seem to have been typical of her career, nor does it seem to be an area where she doubts her abilities. But, she still needs to look pretty hard at that and make sure what worked for her earlier is still there, that she can get back to it, or that she has some other plan. She's said she was happy at GS because she was close to the basketball and the players and thought that moving up would take her away from that. On the other hand, she'd pretty much done everything she could there and was lured to Marshall -- same state, and not that big of a step up. Then Tennessee surprised her by being interested and apparently really shocked her by offering, and she couldn't turn it down. But -- what about being close to the basketball and the players? That sounds like Rick Barnes to me a little bit -- a gym rat -- and he's made it work, so maybe she can also. But she needs to be monitoring her "close to the players" temperature really closely.

Dude, its been 100 D1 games.

Please untie her from the train track

 

[volbeast33]

Dude, its been 100 D1 games.

Please untie her from the train track

Every step has an adjustment: Division two to D1 mid major and Mid Major to D1. It’s been about 60 games at this level. Many coaches make those kind of mistakes early in their P4. She needs to have it figured out and going full steam ahead this year.

 

[volfan102455]

Every step has an adjustment: Division two to D1 mid major and Mid Major to D1. It’s been about 60 games at this level. Many coaches make those kind of mistakes early in their P4. She needs to have it figured out and going full steam ahead this year.

The problem is that typically Tennessee is not the school that hires a coach that "needs to figure it out". And in my opinion, Tennessee should hire proven coaches with existing relationships to the players that must be recruited, not someone that needs to be trained and build those relationships. That is typically what happens with the mid-majors or lower echelon part of the major conferences.

We need to stop making excuses for her - she took the job, she knew what it was going to take - it is all on her to learn that, learn it quickly or fail back to a mid-major or DII job.

 

[volfan102455]

Also, if the ones she pulled quickly from the transfer portal is representative of the talent she thinks will be able to compete with South Carolina, UCONN, LSU, etc. we are doomed.

I'm inclined more to believe that the failure of last year put a damper on how she is viewed by players and she did not have a good level of interest from players that would have been better aligned to what is needed to compete with those level of schools.

 

[volbeast33]

The problem is that typically Tennessee is not the school that hires a coach that "needs to figure it out". And in my opinion, Tennessee should hire proven coaches with existing relationships to the players that must be recruited, not someone that needs to be trained and build those relationships. That is typically what happens with the mid-majors or lower echelon part of the major conferences.

We need to stop making excuses for her - she took the job, she knew what it was going to take - it is all on her to learn that, learn it quickly or fail back to a mid-major or DII job.

Sure we are. Every single coach we have hired has had to learn to some extent. Pat hardly had any experience, Holly was a life long assistant and had to try and learn to run her own program. Kellie was the closest to being an established coach but she was a failed P4 coach.

With the money being paid in today’s game, it is extremely unlikely that proven coaches like Kim Mulkey is going to switch schools. I don’t believe in excuses but I also understand that you don’t judge a coach by year two.

 

[VolTenn25]

My question is how much further Kim Caldwell,soon to turn 38, is going to be able to ride this “young and inexperienced” pony. Over a decade as a head coach, three full seasons and over 100 games in D1 and we’re still thinking of her as inexperienced?

This actually seems not only laughably inaccurate, but also a bit diminishing and infantilizing of Caldwell.

Hey genius, you can coach an abundance of games & still be inexperienced in some situations…. D2 to D1 mid major to D1 power 4… each area has something to adjust to. If you’ve never had a culture problem or attitude issues to deal with with players then that takes some adjusting to. Now she’s experienced that type of fiasco, it can’t be used an an “excuse” anymore. What’s your problem with people defending her? Did yall really expect her to come in here with one yr D1 experience & have ALL the answers? That shows how smart yall are… did you show up to your job with all the answers on the first day?

 

[volfan102455]

Sure we are. Every single coach we have hired has had to learn to some extent. Pat hardly had any experience, Holly was a life long assistant and had to try and learn to run her own program. Kellie was the closest to being an established coach but she was a failed P4 coach.

With the money being paid in today’s game, it is extremely unlikely that proven coaches like Kim Mulkey is going to switch schools. I don’t believe in excuses but I also understand that you don’t judge a coach by year two.

You know that is not what I meant - but continue with the excuses. CKC should not have been hired. It would have been best for her career to have spent a few years at a team like Marshall where she could have built up her skills and relationships at the D1 level. It was way too early for her to make that leap.

 

[volfan102455]

And for those who put Pat in your list of trying to make excuses for CKC - Pat did not make excuses and would not have allowed for the excuses we are allowing for CKC.

 

[lvocd]

The mother of all bottom lines: All of the questions anyone has had about our head coach, her system, and her eye for choosing the best players to execute it, will be answered this upcoming season.

All we have to do is watch the answers be revealed as we go through the schedule. I am confident that our team will do their best, same as I was last season. Results will tell the tale.

 

[volbeast33]

You know that is not what I meant - but continue with the excuses. CKC should not have been hired. It would have been best for her career to have spent a few years at a team like Marshall where she could have built up her skills and relationships at the D1 level. It was way too early for her to make that leap.

she could have spent ten years at marshall and would still have the same learning curve. I don’t think you know what excuses are. I don’t think there are any excuses. You either win or you don’t but I believe each coach should get a minimum of three years. I understand that mistakes will be made as you grow into the position.

 

[volbeast33]

And for those who put Pat in your list of trying to make excuses for CKC - Pat did not make excuses and would not have allowed for the excuses we are allowing for CKC.

We are fans discussing the game. CKC is taking responsibility for her teams failures.