The Kim Caldwell System

#1,051
#1,051
Max Roguespierre said:
I will say one thing, regardless of the level of talent that coach Caldwell is able to attract to Rocky Top, if she can coach Tennessee to a winning record in the SEC and get the Lady Vols into the NCAA Tournament she will deserve coach of the year consideration.
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Surely you jest about the winning record? I think you need to qualify that a little more. I mean a victory over Miss State or A&M which were expected to be wins and she would have been 9-8 with a winning record and if the rest of the season went as it did, that is 17-13 instead of 16-14. Surely you don't think that is worth coach of the year consideration??

Maybe you meant to say SEC championship because that is the only way she would be considered for coach of the year.
 
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#1,052
#1,052
VintageFan said:
So all she'd have to do is win one more SEC game than last year and get anther 10 seed in the Tourney and she'd deserve COY? I think she'll have to do a lot better than that just to keep her job.
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LOL I was pointing out the same thing as you were.

The spin right now to attempt to make folks forget how bad this year really was is just insane. Spin doctors working overtime.
 
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#1,055
#1,055
chuckiepoo said:
Conference only stats are page two of the above link. Isn’t anything more restrictive than that unnecessary cherry picking?
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Ultimately CKC's success is going to depend upon beating the top teams with the better coaches. I think those games are where some of the 'must haves' with the system breaks down and doesn't happen. If you look at say the UCONN stats, the LV's controlled none of the stats that must be controlled to win. Same is true for LSU and USC.

The interesting games were KY and Texas which is supposedly where CKC was not following the system - key stats were close in those games which is why LV beat KY and played Texas close.

She did not and may never get the shot margin, steals, turnovers, etc. necessary against the top teams or against the SEC to do anything but break even. And the system depends upon that type of chaos.
 
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Its way too early to talk about retaining her job and coach of the year. Wait until the roster is filled and see what type player she actually lands. If she puts together a complete team of what's normal for SEC teams that's having guards and bigs . She needs to finish top 6 if she can't because of all the stench and don't fall lower than 8-8 she'll probably get another year. That's going be tough to overcome it's a deep whole she is responsible for. IF she doesn't make some adjustments the haters will probably be very happy. Got to remember top 6 SEC is close to top 10 out of deep sinkhole and would be most impressive.
 
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#1,058
#1,058
VintageFan said:
So all she'd have to do is win one more SEC game than last year and get anther 10 seed in the Tourney and she'd deserve COY? I think she'll have to do a lot better than that just to keep her job.
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The difficulty of starting out from ground zero with a team of players who have never taken the floor together prior to first practice cannot be overestimated. Of course it's possible to win with portal players - the Michigan men just won the NCAA Tournament - but given how many things have to go right and fall into place, it is definitely against the odds. So yeah, if Caldwell can coach a Lady Vols team entirely assembled on the fly to a winning record in the SEC (which by implication will also earn a reasonably high seed in the NCAA Tournament) then she will have earned serious consideration for conference COY. I am not predicting whether she will accomplish the feat or not. Rather, I am saying that given the difficulty of the task at hand if she manages to accomplish it then she will have earned commensurate recognition.
 
#1,068
#1,068
brittannica said:
Another reason it might be useful to roll Danny or Kim out to try to establish a narrative rather than letting others set the narrative.
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Totally agree. The bar that Pat set was not just about winning on the field - but winning off the field, ensuring her players graduated and were set up to be successful after basketball.

While the transfer portal makes it difficult to keep all the players - losing the entire team is a sign of an issue, especially when NIL $$s probably were not the concern.
 
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#1,069
Max Roguespierre said:
The difficulty of starting out from ground zero with a team of players who have never taken the floor together prior to first practice cannot be overestimated. Of course it's possible to win with portal players - the Michigan men just won the NCAA Tournament - but given how many things have to go right and fall into place, it is definitely against the odds. So yeah, if Caldwell can coach a Lady Vols team entirely assembled on the fly to a winning record in the SEC (which by implication will also earn a reasonably high seed in the NCAA Tournament) then she will have earned serious consideration for conference COY. I am not predicting whether she will accomplish the feat or not. Rather, I am saying that given the difficulty of the task at hand if she manages to accomplish it then she will have earned commensurate recognition.
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This is her mess and we should never be satisfied with a break-even record. That is not the expectations.

It is like you are saying she sabotaged all this with the idea of losing all the players so when she just breaks even next year, she can say "look what I did". Unreal.
 
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Let’s have a one minute end of the year conference where I basically say it’s my way or the highway, you are either in or out…

Let’s not talk about your development through the season, your and our team strengths and weaknesses, future goals etc
 
#1,071
#1,071
Chipperbones said:
Let’s not talk about your development through the season, your and our team strengths and weaknesses, future goals etc
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Yeah, no. Kim's talked about discussions she's had with players. From an Emilie Cochrane (Channel 10) interview 2025.11.03:

Question: I know specifically for Zee, she mentioned not too long ago that her mindset has completely flipped the script from last year and she said it's mainly because of the conversations she has one on one with you. Can you talk about what those conversations are like and how important it is for you to have those connections with your players?

Kim Caldwell: Yeah, and that's something that took time. I don't think that I had that relationship with her last year, and so now I can really just be honest with her and tell her exactly what it is, uh, one on one. This is what it is, and if you continue to do this, you're not going to have the season that you want. But if you play like you can play, you're going to be very highly drafted, and those two things are very far apart for her. And just being very honest with her, and she knows 100% it's coming from a place of love. It's not coming from anything else. And her and I have that relationship, so I can coach her differently this year than I did last year. And then she also has matured, she's grown, she went to represent USA, she's done so much. She is probably one of the best stories in college basketball, of just her growth of the game, of being at Miami and averaging six points a game to being one of the best players in the country. And she has to be reminded of that sometimes, but she has just grown and matured and gained confidence over last year.
 
#1,072
#1,072
@Summitt Soul put a GREAT post in another thread that, at the risk of encouraging those who virulently believe Kim is a horrible coach in every way, I'm going to mention and respond to here because it is hugely applicable. The post deals with the need for great players to win national championships. On the other hand, some have been suggesting Kim's system is designed to let less-talented players beat teams with more talent. And maybe some of that's been said for some of the inspirations of Kim's system such as the Grinnell System. But I've been gathering a repository of exact quotes from Kim (and some from players), and I ran across this from a November 6, 2024 ESPN story entitled, Will Caldwell return Tennessee women to winning tradition?:

"A lot of what we do, we need equal or better talent, so we're going to have to grow it," Caldwell said.
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That's it. Nothing else, at least not about that. LOTS of other good stuff in that article about both Kim and her system. But, yeah. Assuming she still thinks that, we can understand why she went after the players she did last year, and should expect that, even if she isn't getting that level of player this year, she intends to get back there. Again, unless she's now convinced she can beat the top teams with lesser talent. And I doubt that -- that she believes it or that she can, for reasons we've all discussed.
 
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#1,073
#1,073
Talking about the 45 second-1 minute END of the season conferences this year. Basically "the my way or the highway" message without any analysis of the player's development etc. You know the "you ran through the brick wall but next time you have to run harder or leave... " And maybe she wanted them all to leave, who knows? So basically, the "I'm not here to have a conversation with you" vibe, which apparently was the way she was most of the season.

I've been thinking about the assistant coach undermining rumor and honestly, if I am a player and my head coach really won't foster much of a relationship with me or allow me to discuss my concerns, who am I going to? An assistant of course, and not Jenna who will just run to Kim. So maybe Gabe who had a recruiting relationship happened to be their shoulder to listen etc. Haven't they said Holly Warlick was always the nice guy for Pat and she served that purpose with the players (and perhaps that made being the head coach more difficult for her)?
 
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#1,074
#1,074
Chipperbones said:
Talking about the 45 second-1 minute END of the season conferences this year. Basically "the my way or the highway" message without any analysis of the player's development etc. You know the "you ran through the brick wall but next time you have to run harder or leave... " And maybe she wanted them all to leave, who knows? So basically, the "I'm not here to have a conversation with you" vibe, which apparently was the way she was most of the season.
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Okay. Perfectly willing to take this into account if these judgements and characteristics are accurate. But what is the evidence we can rely on that this was the way things were?
 
#1,075
#1,075
Well I typed up a detailed post but my phone went crazy. Let’s leave it at this —a parent has no reason to lie. We had an enlightening conversation and my heart was aching for her. When you have dreamed of being a Lady Vol it hurts. But moving on to their next chapter I am hoping they thrive!

Hoping Kim has come to the realization that relationships matter. She needs to watch Breaking the Glass. Pat was tough but she loved those girls and they loved her. Actually she could check out Kellie’s relationships with players but we all know she couldn’t win enough so won’t go there. And no I don’t expect Kim to be Pat.

When your daughter goes off to college you hope they will have that bond. It lasts a whole lot longer and means so much more than your time on the court.
 
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