Tenn. has hired....

[stwainfan]

Danny White likes up-tempo offense. Like the football team. I like the hire. Caldwell already has a more talented roster than in her previous stops. Cooper and Boyd haven't played at Tennessee yet. This will be a different style.

 

[CAbballfan2]

Poor lady looked so nervous and overwhelmed in those videos. Her body language gave that way.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

Now that I've had time to process, sleep on it and read some comments, I guess I'm confused about this hire more and more.

1. Harper was given five years and while she got the program stable it was clear things weren't going to progress any further. Her recruiting was terrible and were it not for Rickea from the portal the LVs would likely have been much worse the past two years.
2. That being said things weren't bad. She had two S16, a SEC tourney runner up, and pushed the eventual champs to the brink. In all but maybe 8 programs in America that's success but obviously the UT faithful expect much more given their history and overall investment in the sport.
3. Michael Voepel wrote a piece after Harper's termination this just shows that championships are what matter at UT. I tended to agree and was in the camp Harper had reached her ceiling so may as well do it now verses next year.

While I knew the big names weren't coming to save the LVs despite the big dreams on VN, I assumed the AD had a candidate in mind already who would be a more or less splash hire that showed the LVs were planning to get back in the true national conversation. Most fans speculated he already had a fish on the hook and was just waiting until after the NC to make the move.

Now Caldwell is the choice and while there could be upside but I can't shake the fact the school chose to move from one mid major coach to another, especially when her resume consists of one season of D1 coaching. If the bottom had trully fallen out on UT with missing the tournament and being a 9th-14th place SEC team I would get the scrap and rebuild but I don't get this at all.

Maybe I'm reading too much into things but I wonder if something went down between Harper and White that caused a rift. I told a friend yesterday Harper is possibly humiliated that she was cast aside with this as the candidate of choice.

I said it yesterday this could work out extremely well and is a high risk, high reward type hire but it also makes me wonder if UT cares about the sport much at all anymore or even aspires to get back to the level Voepel referenced just a week ago.

 

[southie]

I definitely appreciate the risk taking by the Tennessee AD. This will either be a great hire or an absolute dumpster fire.

I mean, it's easier to appreciate this type of hire when it's not done by the school/program you root for.

Does this compare to when South Carolina hired Dawn Staley from Temple? I forget Dawn's coaching history prior to SC hiring her. If similar, the main difference was the history of success between Tennessee and Sout Carolina.

When Texas hired Karen Aston (after short stints at UNC-Charolotte and North Texas), Texas fans were definitely on the fence. She had been an assistant coach at Texas under Jody Contadt and revived recruiting enough to make a Final Four in 2023; she then left for Baylor for the same position. She definitely recruited well and reached an Elite 8 and couple of Sweet 16's, but she just couldn't maintain things as her x's and o's weren't evolving.

 

[JellyBean]

I agree with those saying that this hire came with tremendous risk. However, UConn once hired a coach with zero head coaching experience and we know how that turned out. My concern is that the Vols won’t have the patience to see this through. She might need a couple of years and the fans want perfection now.

Solid comments. I do hope that Vols Nation is patient with Coach Caldwell. They should know that they ran off a decent coach in Holly Warlick after seven seasons. They ran off coach Kellie Harper after five seasons. Now, if the Lady Vols fans base know basketball outside of the SEC and Lady Vols basketball, they will know that The Thundering Herd of Marshall is not a basketball powerhouse. What coach Caldwell did in her first and only season at Marshall, is pretty impressive. It is worth a chance and patience.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I agree with those saying that this hire came with tremendous risk. However, UConn once hired a coach with zero head coaching experience and we know how that turned out. My concern is that the Vols won’t have the patience to see this through. She might need a couple of years and the fans want perfection now.

The difference is that UCONN had hardly any WBB fans at the time of the hire.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I mean, it's easier to appreciate this type of hire when it's not done by the school/program you root for.

Does this compare to when South Carolina hired Dawn Staley from Temple? I forget Dawn's coaching history prior to SC hiring her. If similar, the main difference was the history of success between Tennessee and Sout Carolina.

When Texas hired Karen Aston (after short stints at UNC-Charolotte and North Texas), Texas fans were definitely on the fence. She had been an assistant coach at Texas under Jody Contadt and revived recruiting enough to make a Final Four in 2023; she then left for Baylor for the same position. She definitely recruited well and reached an Elite 8 and couple of Sweet 16's, but she just couldn't maintain things as her x's and o's weren't evolving.

It does not; Gamecock fans were overjoyed with the Staley hire and knew she would win big with our resources and fan base compared to Temple.

 

[southie]

It does not; Gamecock fans were overjoyed with the Staley hire and knew she would win big with our resources and fan base compared to Temple.

LOL. Then why didn't any head coaches at SC before Staley win with all those resources and fan base?

 

[stwainfan]

 

[stwainfan]

She’s got to coach and recruit against Dawn Staley, Kim Mulkey, Vic Schaefer, Coach Yo, Kenny Brooks…. Whew! Good luck.

She is a young coach. If this hire works out . She will be at Tennessee after most of those coaches retire.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

LOL. Then why didn't any head coaches at SC before Staley win with all those resources and fan base?

They didn't have her pedigree.

 

[wvu8888]

Im pretty sure it came down to her and mark kellog for the wvu head job last year. I think wvu got the better of the 2 but who knows. Shes a wv girl

 

[WLT1717]

Debacle.

 

[Ladeeeeda]

I'm interested to see how LV alums are brought into the fold at this point. Two of their own were fired. It is very clear Tenn is not going to invest heavily in the program to quickly return to greatness. I wonder how they feel about that. The new coach needs them for recruiting at this point. Will or have the big names jumped on board?

 

[stwainfan]

Some one asked coach. If her style can translate into the SEC. Answer I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it could.

 

[GamecockFam]

Some one asked coach. If her style can translate into the SEC. Answer I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it could.

From a bird's-eye view, her type of offense tend to have more success at lower levels of play. I think it is a legitimate question and I guess only time will tell.

 

[stwainfan]

From a bird's-eye view, her type of offense tend to have more success at lower levels of play. I think it is a legitimate question and I guess only time will tell.

It's not just the offense. It's a attacking style defense that causes turnovers. Yes time will tell.

 

[LETTERL]

What does Margo say?

 

[GamecockFam]

It's not just the offense. It's a attacking style defense that causes turnovers. Yes time will tell.

I am not familiar with her work, so I don't have much to offer but those full court press styles of defense also tend to inflate numbers at the lower levels as well and not translate into the same success at higher levels.

 

[stwainfan]

I am not familiar with her work, so I don't have much to offer but those full court press styles of defense also tend to inflate numbers at the lower levels as well and not translate into the same success at higher levels.

We will see how it looks when the season starts.

 

[Vowelguy]

The difference is that UCONN had hardly any WBB fans at the time of the hire.

How dare you disrespect the 7 people who were watching the game while using the indoor track that surrounded the court.

 

[JellyBean]

From a bird's-eye view, her type of offense tend to have more success at lower levels of play. I think it is a legitimate question and I guess only time will tell.

Time will tell but I am loving this hire. Like I have said before, this is a low risk, high reward hire for the Lady Vols.

 

[visitingcock]

Losing to SC by 2 is not a bad result, wonder why they need to fire her. The new coach will not bring in new recruits more effectively. Even if she does, it will take more years to reestablish the program than the time they have to Kelly, and to get win over dawn/sc and Mulkey/LSU will be tall tale for the new coach. Also the coaching psychology for elite players really need complete skill sets at different level.

Add Texas

 

[southie]

Time will tell but I am loving this hire. Like I have said before, this is a low risk, high reward hire for the Lady Vols.

I understand your point of view. But, I see it as a very high-risk hire because everyone knows she is inexperienced and is being hired with the goal of restoring the Lady Vols program to a level of competing for championships. Odds are she gets at least 3 years to try to turn things around (which won't really even be with a roster full of players she recruited). If it doesn't pan out, that sets the program back another few steps as they fall further behind South Carolina and LSU and other programs (like Kentucky and Ole Miss) who might surge during those initial 3 years of her tenure.

 

[Vowelguy]

Time will tell but I am loving this hire. Like I have said before, this is a low risk, high reward hire for the Lady Vols.

Not sure what you mean by “low risk.” It’s been 7 years since TN made an E8 game. HS kids weren’t even in kindergarten when they last made a F4. If this hire doesn’t succeed, Vols will be irrelevant on a national stage.