As only the team’s fourth head coach in the NCAA era, Tennessee athletic director Danny White moved swiftly and outside the storied Lady Vols program to appoint Marshall coach Kim Caldwell.
On Sunday, just a few hours before the women’s national championship game, White made the hiring announcement. The Lady Vols haven’t participated in this match since they won Pat Summitt’s eighth and final national championship in 2008.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Caldwell will be presented, bringing an end to the hunt that began on April 1 when White dismissed Kellie Harper following five seasons at her alma mater with a 108-52 record. After going 172-67 in seven seasons, she was fired, promoted to replace Summitt, and replaced Holly Warlick.
White released a statement, saying, “From the beginning, our goal has been to find a dynamic head coach who can restore our women’s basketball program to national prominence.” “Kim Caldwell would be a great leader for us.”
Caldwell will receive $750,000 in base pay annually from Tennessee through March 2029 as part of the memorandum of understanding that was signed this morning. A provision for a pay increase prior to May 1st of each season in which she wins a national championship is included in the agreement.
Caldwell’s work at Marshall, where she went 26-7 to secure the program’s second NCAA Tournament berth ever and first since 1997, earned her the 2024 Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year award. In her eight seasons as head coach, she is 217-31.
She earned seven NCAA Tournament berths and guided her alma mater Glenville State to the 2022 Division II national championship. As the WBCA’s NCAA Division II coach of the year for the 2021–2022 campaign, Caldwell was awarded the Pat Summitt Trophy.
In a statement, Caldwell expressed her humility at being hired for such a historic program.
Caldwell stated, “I am struck by the immense responsibility and opportunity of now leading and carrying on the amazing Lady Vol tradition she built. I can’t help but reflect on accepting the Pat Summitt Trophy three seasons ago.”
Caldwell went 17-1 in her lone season at Marshall, winning both the regular season and tournament titles in the Sun Belt Conference.
Within the top five nationally in seven statistical categories was Marshall. With over ten 3-pointers made per game, they ranked third nationally in 3-pointers attempted and first in 3-pointers made. The Herd averaged 85.3 points per game, good for fourth place in the country.
The Herd broke the program record for the most victories in a season and placed second in forcing 24.2 turnovers per game. Since 1990–91, Marshall had not won 20 games or more.
Caldwell, according to White, has a winning formula that combines pressure defense and a “high-octane offense” that yields results.
“We needed to find a creative head coach with a proven track record of winning titles in this new era of college sports,” White stated. “We are excited to take the Lady Vols back to a championship caliber, and we know that coach Kim Caldwell has what it takes to get us there.”
As a player, the Parkersburg, West Virginia, native assisted Glenville State in winning the 2011 Division II tournament. She started coaching as an assistant at Ohio Valley University later that year, spent a season back at Glenville State followed by three seasons as an assistant at Sacramento State.
Hired in 2016 as head coach, Caldwell led her alma mater to six Mountain East regular season titles and four conference tournament titles. The four-time Mountain East coach of the year was 191-24, including 132-12 in league play. She finished 35-1 and took home the national title in 2022. In 2023, she finished 33-3 and lost in the national semifinals.
This hiring caps White’s first high-profile coaching search at Tennessee since bringing football coach Josh Heupel from Central Florida only days after White was hired as AD in 2021.
While AD at Buffalo, White hired Bobby Hurley, now at Arizona State, and Nate Oats, whose Alabama Crimson Tide lost in the national semifinals Saturday, as men’s basketball coaches. White also hired Felisha Legette-Jack to coach Buffalo’s women’s program.
She went 199-115 with four NCAA Tournament berths before being hired to coach her alma mater Syracuse in 2022.
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