Thoughts on the hire of Kim Caldwell

[Vol4gzus]

Kim took a mid-major to the Sweet Sixteen after winning their conference tournament. Kim took her conference-winning team to Round 1 and got blasted.

Not sure how you concluded that Kim has already accomplished as much at the D-1 as Kellie.

I am supporting our new coach and hoping she succeeds. Even if her team kneels for an anthem.

Fine til your last un-American comment.

 

[lvocd]

X

 

[OrangeInKy]

She has a bumper sticker that says “I can’t recruit”. Seems odd to me, jmo.

 

[Unconditional Surrender]

This thread is going to be so much fun to revisit

 

[PineyBluff Vo]

So you obviously think KC was the best that could be found?

Name names or be silent.

 

[Unconditional Surrender]

Kellie had negatives galore on her resume. This coach otoh has championships galore. And my comment was not aimed at you....more towards Lucy, noted DW-hater.

If Kellie had this same resume she wouldn’t have gotten this flack. These midwits don’t like her because she is young and doesn’t have Lady Vol connections

 

[#1HomeGrownUTVOL]

Finally I will eagerly await the day when DW is no longer our AD.

You had me till this moronic statement.

 

[Mustng959]

She brings some impressive credentials with her to Lady Vols basketball. We'll see how it pans out at the SEC level. On the fence right now but looking at the poll, she trends positively.

 

[Amb3096]

I know nothing of this hire. Not my first pick, but I’m really happy at least they are moving away from the CPS tree. They really need an outsider perspective instead of another Pat cosplayer.

Offseason will be critical for setting the tone. She’ll need some big scalps claimed in the next month.

 

[spojo13]

I know nothing of this hire. Not my first pick, but I’m really happy at least they are moving away from the CPS tree. They really need an outsider perspective instead of another Pat cosplayer.

Offseason will be critical for setting the tone. She’ll need some big scalps claimed in the next month.

At least if the time comes if she is fired, we won’t have people upset about her being a former Lady Vol.

 

[Amb3096]

At least if the time comes if she is fired, we won’t have people upset about her being a former Lady Vol.

That too. I kind of like that the emotion is taken out of it.

 

[Voltopia]

If Kellie had this same resume she wouldn’t have gotten this flack. These midwits don’t like her because she is young and doesn’t have Lady Vol connections

They also don't like her because she's not Becky Hammon or Dawn Staley or whoever it was they thought they, by all rights, deserved.

 

[volnationnj]

I know nothing of this hire. Not my first pick, but I’m really happy at least they are moving away from the CPS tree. They really need an outsider perspective instead of another Pat cosplayer.

Offseason will be critical for setting the tone. She’ll need some big scalps claimed in the next month.

This is so true. She'll have to be successful in the portal, to come to with enough players, if she wants to coach as she did at Marshall.
While she was Marshall's head coach, she would press most of the game and sub in 5 at a time. She'll need a real upgrade in current personnel to do that at UT.

 

[LadyVol1908]

It’s been extremely hard to keep up with all the post this week, but I seem to remember someone mentioning a coach that does hockey style substitutions, is this the one?

 

[Vol_in_NC_1999]

I never heard of Josh Heupel until DW hired him. I'm very please with Heupel so we should at least give Caldwell a chance.

 

[therealitytheory]

Holly never had HC experience, and Kellie got fired from her only power 5 job before Foolmer hired her. There was plenty of risk in those hires.

There is some risk here also - but you can't point to a lack of success in any of the opportunities she's had. I trust DW's judgement, as UT is closing in on its 3rd straight SEC allsports trophy thanks to his leadership.

 

[rickyyrs]

Well from all I know KC can definitely coach, but can she recruit. I think if she can keep the players and keep the recruits, she will be in a good position to win with her formula. Saying all that it's hard to compete with teams like USCe with 9 deep 5 star & 4stars. Is Dawn Staley a great coach I'm not sure but she is a great recruiter and has a good feel for when to insert the right endless 5 star players in different parts of the game and the players play hard for her. Thats a combo that's hard to beat and UT had them beat in the SECT. So can KC take what Kellie had that had USC on the ropes and take it to another level, we shall see.

Yes i think Dawn Staley is a good coach. Look at Kentucky Cal is a great recruiter he has 4 and 5 star players. And he has only won one National Championship at Kentucky. Kim Caldwell, if she can recruit and get players in Transfer Portal i think she will be good for the Lady Vols. One thing she needs is to make the Lady Vols more athletic. Kim's first year probaly going to have to get players in Transfer Portal.

 

[creekdipper]

Fine til your last un-American comment.

Didn't say which anthem.

Nonetheless, I shall reveal all during the subcommittee investigation.

 

[Deebowbear]

“Recruiting is not my strength”

At the D1 level

 

[creekdipper]

That too. I kind of like that the emotion is taken out of it.

I turtles.

 

[volnationnj]

Yes i think Dawn Staley is a good coach. Look at Kentucky Cal is a great recruiter he has 4 and 5 star players. And he has only won one National Championship at Kentucky. Kim Caldwell, if she can recruit and get players in Transfer Portal i think she will be good for the Lady Vols. One thing she needs is to make the Lady Vols more athletic. Kim's first year probaly going to have to get players in Transfer Portal.

No probably about it. She HAS to get multiple, highly ranked players from the portal, or the 2024/25 season will be the first not to have the LV's in the NCAAT.

 

[#1HomeGrownUTVOL]

Well, here we are!
Kellie deserved at least one more season with increased NIL and decreased injuries. I will always wish her much success and appreciate everything she did for UT as a player and coach.

We have a new coach now and I will be 100% behind her. I hope she values and takes care of our current Lady Vol’s as they are a great group of young women. She will definitely need help recruiting at this level so I hope she retains Sam and Joy and I hope the reports of increased NIL are correct.

I know Coach Caldwell will give lip service to honoring Pat and the Lady Vol traditions and legacy. She really needs to understand our history and make sure the LVFLs are still active participants in the program. The support of Tamika, Candace, Draya, Jordan and even Rickea could really help her in the short and long term.

We as LV fans need to welcome our new coach and continue to support our program with dollars and attendance. I know I will do my best to get up to Knoxville for a couple of games this year.

Finally I will eagerly await the day when DW is no longer our AD.

Serious question do you only watch the Lady VOLS or do you watch the other sports associated with Tennessee?

 

[Deebowbear]

I think we should see who becomes her assistants before judging to much. Could be all-star for all we know

 

[creekdipper]

Serious question do you only watch the Lady VOLS or do you watch the other sports associated with Tennessee?

Enough with the trans talk!!!

Edit: You must have fixed the "lady balls" line about two seconds before I hit 'submit.' It was still showing at the time.

Another missed opportunity.

 

[turbovol]

I trust Danny White.

Maybe that's a cop-out, but he's shown repeatedly he knows what he's doing. Caldwell has a great record, but lacks D-1 experience, but White sees something in her that he didn't see in other candidates, and that's good enough for me.

The real question IMO is going to be whether she can recruit. Harper's biggest issue wasn't coaching, so much as it was recruiting

Let's correct this myth--which apparently emerged because Heupel has had one good season in three--that White is some sort
of hiring guru. He's not.

Johnny Dawkins, the current men's BB coach at Central Florida, hired by White, has a 500 conference record in, I think, 7 or so
seasons--72 and 72. In the last 4 years his teams have finished 6th twice, 7th once and 9th (this past season) in the conference. His
seat is surely getting warm. It's interesting that White hired Dawkins because he was not good at Stanford, his previous job--an under
.500 conference record and he was sacked.

Bobby Hurley, whom White hired at Buffalo, has been a complete flop at Arizona State. His conference win rate over his 8 seasons
is 46 percent--and that in a Pac12 conference that is WEAK in basketball. I have no idea why he hasn't yet been fired. Perhaps it's because
Arizona State has never been good in BB and because Hurley won two titles when he played at Duke and his brother (much better coach) is
about to win his 2nd-straight national title with UConn.

Abrahamson-Henderson, whom he hired as WBB coach at UCF, did well there, but has struggled in her two years at Georgia. She was 9-7 in the SEC in her first season--and last year was 3-13, the Bulldogs finishing next to last in the conference.

Nate Oats, whom he hired at Buffalo, has been successful at Bama.

I think this myth was also bolstered by the false idea that many had that White hired Vitello--the baseball coach. He didn't. Currie hired him. The best coaches at Tennessee--Barnes, Kredich, Woodruff and Vitello--were not hired by White. And neither was Pensky, the soccer coach who left and just won a national title at FSU. White did hire Pensky's replacement--and 20 wins completely dropped to 11 and then 9.

I've got nothing against White, I'm glad that our athletics overall have been strong, but all this slobbering over the guy is off the mark. Caldwell is a major roll of the dice, no question about it. Let's see how she does. Our last two WBB coaches were not proven winners at the major-college level and did not succeed, and that is why most everybody believed we needed an established coach to revive the program. White has done the opposite--made the same sort of hire that got the program in trouble. Third time a charm? I will say that personality is a factor in coaching success, and I don't think Warlick or Harper had it. Does Caldwell? We shall see.