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Evina Westbrook: “Steps Need to be Taken” with Lady Vols’ Coaching Staff

(Photo via Tennessee Athletics)

The Lady Vols’ season didn’t go as planned, and one of their players didn’t hold back after Tennessee’s first round exit in the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

Sophomore guard Evina Westbrook spoke to reporters after the Lady Vols’ 89-77 loss to UCLA in the first round of the tournament, and she was candid with her responses. When asked if there are steps that need to be taken this offseason to help improve the team, she said there were and got specific.

“Most definitely. I just think off the court stuff. Steps need to be taken with our staff,” Westbrook responded. “Just overall, it’s off the court with this team.”

When pressed about what the off the court issues are, Westbrook declined to explain, stating instead, “I don’t want to say.”

Westbrook joined the Lady Vols’ roster prior to the 2017-18 season, and she was considered one of the top recruits in the country. She was the consensus No. 1 guard in the 2017 class and was a top-five overall prospect. She won multiple Player of the Year awards as a senior in high school.

It’s safe to say that when Westbrook signed on with Tennessee, she saw her career going in a very different direction than it has so far.

The Lady Vols have gone 44-21 in her two years at UT, and they’ve failed to make it beyond the second round of the NCAA Tournament. And Westbrook’s head coach has drawn a lot of ire from Vol fans because of that.

Lady Vols head coach Holly Warlick has been the focal point of a lot of contention this season, as many fans believe it’s time for Tennessee to move on from the seven-year head coach. Warlick took over the Lady Vols program after legendary head coach Pat Summitt stepped down amidst her battle with early onset dementia and has been the head coach ever since.

At first, Warlick picked up right where Summitt left off. The Lady Vols got to the Elite Eight in Warlick’s first season, made it to the Sweet Sixteen the next, then the Elite Eight again the following year. Warlick was 86-20 as the head coach and had won either the SEC regular season or SEC Tournament title in all three of those seasons.

Then, things took a downward turn.

In Warlicks’ fourth season, the Lady Vols struggled uncharacteristically in SEC play and finished with an 8-8 conference record. That marked the first time since the 1984-85 season that the Lady Vols had finished with a .500 record in conference play. Luckily for Warlick and her team, they rallied in the NCAA Tournament and made it to the Elite Eight for the second-straight year.

Warlick’s team again floundered in SEC play over the next two seasons, going 10-6 in the conference in the 2016-17 season and 11-5 in the 2017-18 season. What was even more discouraging, however, was the Lady Vols’ results in the postseason. Tennessee was eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament both years, marking just the second and third time in program history they failed to make it to at least the Sweet Sixteen.

Not only that, but there were some concerns off the court as well.

Star guard Diamond DeShields announced prior to the 2017-18 season that should would be transferring off the Lady Vols’ roster. Not even an hour after DeShields made that announcement, Warlick sent out a tweet with a smiley face emoji.

Warlick would eventually delete her Twitter account not long after the incident.

The two had reportedly had issues behind the scenes, and that came to the forefront during the 2015-16 season when Diamond’s father, Delino DeShields, publicly bashed Warlick on Twitter.

This most recent season, however, saw the Lady Vols sink to historic lows.

While there weren’t any public off-court issues, the on-court results for this year’s Lady Vols team were enough to raise concerns across the entire fan base. Tennessee went 7-9 in SEC play this season, including a loss to a Vanderbilt squad that finished 2-14 in SEC play in the second-to-last game of the season. This season marked the first time in program history the Lady Vols finished with a record below .500 in conference play.

The Lady Vols won a game in the SEC Tournament and barely snuck into the NCAA Tournament. They earned a bid as an 11-seed, the worst seeding in program history. But they were bounced by six-seed UCLA in the first round, and UT finished 19-13 on the year. This year marked the first time since Pat Summitt’s second year as head coach back in 1975-76 that the Lady Vols failed to win 20 games in a season, and their 13 losses were the second-most in a single season in program history.

Plus, the Lady Vols’ exit in the first round of the NCAA Tournament was only the second time ever that UT failed to win at least one game in the tournament.

When Westbrook was asked whether or not she believed Warlick would return next season as her head coach, her answer was simple.

“I don’t know. I don’t know.”



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Comments

5 Responses

  1. You may think it is easy to fire a coach…but then what ?
    Who would be the replacement ? Would the coach we
    want come here ? When someone is fired, you have to
    think & plan for the next step. It has to be an immediate
    hire…you cannot waste time…There must be a plan in
    place moving forward. It’s possible Fulmer will go another
    year or more with Holly. Evina Westbrook let the info out
    that there are off the court issues. This cannot be allowed
    to go on an entire season. Who allowed that ? Answer that
    question, address it then move forward. My uneducated guess
    is there are also locker room issues. If Evina leaked info to
    cover herself from off the court issues, remember she was
    suspended a game this year for violation of team rules. Pat
    Summit, sadly is gone. This is Holly’s team now. You have to admit she has guts to take this job…who in the world would
    want to follow Pat. It is an insurmountable task. The assistant
    coaches maybe need to look at themselves, too. I feel the
    correct action will be taken, but be careful what you wish
    for, you may not be happy.

  2. Holy Warwick the lady vols coach needs to be let go she hasn’t won a game in NCAA tournament over past 4years

  3. Sounds like more of an attitude of ‘entitlement’. You can see it when they’re on the floor, no chemistry, no desire, no guts on this team. These kids need an attitude adjustment!

  4. Niele Ivey, Notre Dame Asst Coach, 2017 National Asst Coach of the Year and Recruiting Coordinator and Assistant that works with the guards for Notre Dame would be the perfect candidate to install some fire and attitude to the UT Women’s Basketball program, and knows all things that need to be addressed in running a Major Top 5 Women’s program.

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