Year two for Kim Caldwell and Lady Vols basketball didn’t go as planned. After a strong start to SEC play, Tennessee fell apart and finished on an eight-game losing streak, rounded out with a loss to NC State in the Round of 64.
After the season, every potential returner entered the transfer portal and found a new home at the Power Four level. There was some public pressure on Tennessee Athletic Director Danny White to make a change, but he stuck with his coach.
During the Big Orange Caravan stop in Nashville, White was asked about the decision to keep Caldwell. He again backed the Lady Vols head coach, noting that he doesn’t get too high or low off of one season and that he feels like she’s a better coach now than when he hired her.
“I think Kim learned a lot going through that experience,” White said. “She probably shared some of that with you guys here today. I evaluate coaches in long runs, I don’t get too emotional, even though I get mad when we lose, I don’t get too emotional about a single game, I don’t get too emotional about a single season. I think it’s really important to understand a lot more detail of what’s going on inside the program. She is the same or actually a better coach than the one I hired because she’s had these experiences over the last two seasons. And I think she’s a brilliant basketball mind and I’m extremely excited about the roster she’s built and the upcoming season.”
Tennessee AD Danny White at tonight’s Big Orange Caravan:
Disappointing year by UT standards, want to win championships every year
Still believes in Caldwell
Wants 24-team CFP
Doing everything to get Barnes, Vols to Final Four. @NC5 pic.twitter.com/A2WfZtRXg0
— Steve Layman (@SteveLayman) April 30, 2026
More From RTI: Pronunciation Guide: How to Say Every Name on the 2026-27 Lady Vols Basketball Roster
White was also asked about his confidence that whatever happened at the end of last season, which resulted in the collapse, is under control. He was extremely confident in his answer.
The UT AD noted that this was something that was talked about well before the season concluded, and he feels like Caldwell did a good job of identifying the issue and then swiftly taking care of it.
“No question,” White said. “Conversations even well before the season ended. Sometimes as a coach, as a leader you get stuck in a set of circumstances and it doesn’t change the fact that there’s another game coming up in two days. I think she’s known for quite some time the things that needed to be addressed and changed and very quickly — I’ve spoke on this before, leadership as a head coach, there’s probably not a more public forum to be a leader. But when you know things need to be addressed, you need to do it. She identified the issues and quickly took action and made some hard decisions and some pretty significant changes to get back on track.”
Since the conclusion of the season, Caldwell has rebuilt the entire roster. She has added 13 transfers and an additional class of 2026 signee to join four-star incoming freshman Gabby Minus.
She also made tweaks to her coaching staff. With Gabe Lazo resigning and taking a job at LSU as an assistant before leaving for UCF as the head coach, she hired former Florida State associate head coach Bill Ferrara. After parting ways with Roman Tubner, she added former Georgia assistant Isoken Uzamere.
One Response
We’ll see how his decision to keep Caldwell plays out. If it’s a mediocre or disastrous season, his head will be on the chopping block. Kind of a questionable decision to put his entire Tennessee AD career on the line for a coach who was inexperienced and unproven at the time of the hire and who has certainly not exhibited “a brilliant basketball mind” in her past 2 seasons.