Kim Caldwell (Rookie Coach of the Year-WBCA) is named Head Coach of Iconic Lady Vols WBB

#4,802
#4,802
turbovol said:
Yes, we get that football is king. But you forget the PR value that our women's basketball program brought to UT for a long time. It would be hard to overstate it. The men's team had floundered for years. The women's team won 8 national titles and Pat Summitt was one of the most recognized and admired coaches in the country. So we're not talking East Carolina or Mississippi State women's basketball here. It's a program with a massive pedigree and massive relationship to the growth of women's sports in general. And you'll notice that women's sports have grown tremendously at every level over the last 20 years--and women's basketball has a much higher profile than even a decade ago. Did you catch the ratings for the Iowa vs. LSU game? It was big. People pay attention to it.

So this notion that it's all about football and nobody cares about women's sports or women's basketball is completely off the mark.
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Pat Summitt brought the good PR. Her value as an ambassador of the university was incalculable. But there is no other Pat Summitt.
 
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#4,803
#4,803
plumbervol said:
My newsfeed linked a WV newspaper Metro News that is legit reporting that Caldwell has resigned at Marshall and has accepted the UT job. Apparently this is legit. A couple of UT themed web services are also running with this story. I wish her well. I suppose it is fair to say DW got practice hiring a bb coach before next year when I think Barnes retires after his upcoming
sr class has finished up at UT.
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It's on UTSports.com. . .

utsports.com

Tennessee Selects Caldwell To Lead Storied Lady Vol Basketball Program - University of Tennessee Athletics

University of Tennessee Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White announced Sunday that Kim Caldwell, the 2024 Spalding Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie
utsports.com utsports.com
 
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#4,808
#4,808
Volstylexx said:
Doesn't even look like he tried for a P5 coach at this point.
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On the phone with my friend now. Sounds like Gottlieb was the only reach. She wasn’t going to leave. USC was prepared to match any offer. Her agent basically said she’s committed to her recruits and there isn’t a number that would undo that. No offer was made. After that, Kim was his plan. This is what White does. He can pick a ten dollar stock that will be worth 200 later. I realize people will be bothered by the hire, but it’s not possible to dismiss given White’s past success. He had an authorized big number to get Gottlieb, but it wasn’t going to get her here. White typically believes coaches are ascending, plateauing, or declining. Hes a big believer that you only hire ascending coaches. It’s early in her career, but she is ascending. I’d give it time, with a strong chance that White was right.
 
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#4,809
#4,809
madtownvol said:
So we have gone from White is a can’t fail genius who demands every sport be great to he can survive so long as football is okay. Times change fast.
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I've always said DW is fallible. Guy is human after all. But we don't know he's made a mistake. You're assuming failure before it's happened.

But yes, as long as football is good, he'll be protected. I literally heard Doug Dickey give a speech where he said all that mattered was football winning. And if you look at his tenure, you'll see it's true.
 
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#4,810
#4,810
turbovol said:
What we REALLY want to know is this: How many mid-major or major coaches were interested in the job? How many did
White approach--and, more important, interview? That's really the info that would put the hire into context.

Did he in fact cast a wide net? My guess
is that the net was small. There wasn't any word from any other program fan base or paper about the coach being interviewed or approached
by UT. Nothing. Of course most of it is done via agents--and so a 'no' from an agent will not be noticed by anybody--but it would be fascinating to know how many coaches he actually interviewed--and who. My sense--could be wrong--is that he was never interested in hiring away the coach from Gonzaga, Baylor, Oklahoma, Maryland, Princeton--in the way that Kentucky hired away Brooks from Va. Tech---and that none were interviewed. Might not have been interested...might not have been approached.
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You will never know what coaches were targeted with DW. And thats a good thing. Trust in the process. This is a good hire.
 
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#4,813
#4,813
I'm just so happy right now. I've not watched the Lady Vols in several years and I feel like Kim Caldwell is exactly what UT needed. I can't wait to see a well coached, disciplined LV basketball team again. I'm going to support Coach Kim and enjoy the ride.


GO VOLS
 
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#4,814
#4,814
Weezer said:
People don't understand that. And it's not just women's basketball. It's every other sport that's not football, regardless of gender. Doug Dickey's entire tenure as AD was all about football. I mean, the man hired Wade Houston and survived. Not saying it's right or wrong, but football is the bell cow. As long as it's succeeding, DW is safe.
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You are right in most circumstances. But presume the worst case for a second. Jewel Spear hits the portal, strikeout in portal, no high school recruits, wins less than 10 games next year.

Then yes he's going to come under significant fire.
 
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#4,815
#4,815
Max Roguespierre said:
If Caldwell is hired you may want to put your money somewhere else. I would recommend the Lady Vols NIL collective because they will need to spend big to make up for the lack of name recognition by recruits and portal players.

In addition, Caldwell will have an uphill fight on her hands convincing Cooper and Spear, et al. to stay. With Spear in her COVID year, would she really want to stay for a rebuild with an unknown head coach and a questionable roster?
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Stop being a negative nancy. Caldwell is a damn good coach.
 
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#4,816
#4,816
Weezer said:
I've always said DW is fallible. Guy is human after all. But we don't know he's made a mistake. You're assuming failure before it's happened.

But yes, as long as football is good, he'll be protected. I literally heard Doug Dickey give a speech where he said all that mattered was football winning. And if you look at his tenure, you'll see it's true.
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Not debating you. I was just having a little fun with many other posters who were guaranteeing that Danny effin’ White was bringing in the biggest of the big fish and he would never settle for a mid major type.
 
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#4,821
#4,821
WVU05UT09 said:
You are right in most circumstances. But presume the worst case for a second. Jewel Spear hits the portal, strikeout in portal, no high school recruits, wins less than 10 games next year.

Then yes he's going to come under significant fire.
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He'll face heavy criticism, but if football makes the playoffs, he'll easily survive.
 
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