Lady Vols Embarking on New Era
Thursday, Tennessee’s 19th-ranked Lady Vols were rude hosts to No. 5 Connecticut. For the first time since 2007, UT vanquished the Huskies, 80-76.
Tennessee maybe entering the burgeoning Kim Caldwell era. Caldwell came to UT after successful stints at Glenville State (W. Va.) and one season at Marshall, replacing former UT point guard-turned-coach Kellie Harper at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee athletics director Danny White rolled the dice on Caldwell and thus far it’s paying off.
But it’s early.
Caldwell has hit the ground running as the Lady Vols are now 17-5 overall and seem to have spirit, consistency and discipline that has been lacking since the late Pat Summitt stepped down in 2012. Tennessee fans remember Summitt’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2011. The legendary coach passed away in 2016.
Tennessee’s brass seemingly had a mindset that the women’s head coaching job must be kept in-house. When Summitt stepped down, former Lady Vols’ point guard and long-time Summitt assistant Holly Warlick guided the Lady Vols for seven seasons. She had some success, but the team never seemed to have the same intensity and focus that it had when Summitt was prowling the sideline. Warlick had early success, but too many inexplicable losses and the plummeting Big Orange stock earned her an exit visa.
From 2012 to 2019, the Lady Vols went from being first in the SEC to eighth with a 19-13 record. Holly had to go and the search was on for her replacement. Then-athletics director Phillip Fulmer ignored pleas to do a diligent search for a new coach and hired Harper to guide the Lady Vols. Keep in mind Harper had marginal success at North Carolina State and was shown the door there, then experienced tepid success at Missouri State when Fulmer summoned her.
My concern was why did Tennessee go for the feel-good hire with a coach who was hovering around the .500 mark when others might have entertained a phone call (people cringe when I say this, but Kim Mulkey at LSU came to mind, the same Mulkey that left Baylor with two national crowns on the hat rack and led LSU to a title in her second year at Baton Rouge).
As I predicted when Harper was hired, Tennessee had really improved that much from the Warlick era. Soon, the new AD Danny White dismissed Harper and rolled the dice.
I said all along, after Summitt stepped down, that Tennessee needed to go outside the bubble and hire a quality coach. Tennessee, because of its legacy, has earned that. But the Lady Vols went the sentimental route and found themselves mired in mediocrity. Perhaps that has ended now. Time will tell.
I’m reminded of what happened at Alabama football when Bear Bryant retired after the 1982 season. Ray Perkins was Bryant’s hand-picked successor, but Perkins didn’t care for being the guy who followed the guy. Soon, the Tide hired Bill Curry, who had mixed results, then turned to Gene Stallings. Stallings won a national title in 1992 and experienced success until new leadership arrived in Tuscaloosa. Stallings decided he’d had enough of Alabama.
A series of horrible hires ensued. Enter former Alabama star Mike Dubose, who had his team ranked in the top five only to watch the Tide plummet to a 3-8 record and parachute into the jungle of probation.
Then came Dennis Franchione, who arrived when Alabama was mired in NCAA probation. Franchione asked his team to “believe in those crimson jerseys,” only to leave them at the altar a year later. Mike Price was hired, had spring practice, then was fired after he was said to have improperly used UA credit cards at a Florida strip club. He never coached a regular-season game for the Crimson Tide.
Former Bama quarterback Mike Shula took over and had some success as the Tide coach, but the fans weren’t happy. Shula even led Alabama to a No. 8 ranking and a Sugar Bowl appearance before being fired by Alabama in 2006.
Alabama took a chance on a proven coach in Nick Saban and the rest is history.
Maybe it took Alabama a long time to arrive at the right place, but the brass in Tuscaloosa figured it out. Maybe that’s what’s happening in Knoxville right now with the women’s basketball program.
For Big Orange fans, taking a chance on Caldwell may possibly be the solution. Time will tell.
Jim Steele is a correspondent for Richardson Media Group and may be reached on X @steelesports or via email at pressbox1@gmail.com.
