Lady Vols basketball gets official practices underway on Tuesday to kick off the 2025-26 preseason. Before Tennessee hit the practice floor, head coach Kim Caldwell met with the media for a press conference.
Caldwell touched on the status of Ruby Whitehorn, her relationship with Candace Parker, the defensive press and more.
Here’s everything she said.
More From RTI: Kim Caldwell Confirms Status of Lady Vols Basketball Guard Ruby Whitehorn
On the status of Ruby Whitehorn
“She is back with the team. She joined the team early September, I think September 8th, that week, after a lengthy suspension. It’s not an ideal situation. It’s not a situation that reflects our program the way we want it to. There’s a strong legacy here, and it did not withhold the name of the brand. It’s not something that helped us at all in recruiting. It’s something that we have addressed. We’ve addressed it seriously. And we’re hoping that we can now move on and put our next foot forward.
On if Ruby Whitehorn has any limitations going forward
“Right now, she’s full go. She’s kind of served that time. So today, she’ll be full go.”
On where she is most pleased from last year’s team, where she wants to improve
“I think we shot the ball pretty well last year. And we need to get better at that. We don’t necessarily have a Jewel Spear or a Tess Darby, and we’re still looking for players to fill that role. We need some knockdown 3-point shooters. We really like threes. That’s really what our offense is predicated around. So, we need some people that will step up and do that. I think we’re a little more athletic this year than last year. I love the players we have on the team. They had great buy-in. They played hard. They were competitors. Now, I just hope that we can build upon that.”
On how well she wants the team to shoot the three
“We want to be around 34(%). We just want to make sure that we’re taking good shots.
On what she thinks is resonating with top recruits to commit
“I think we’re getting recruits that see what we’re building and want to be a part of what we’re building. It’s a great opportunity to be a part of a class that helps a program get back on the national scene. And that’s really what we’re selling, is maybe I don’t have the tenure that some of the other SEC coaches or some of the other coaches that they’re going on these visits have. But if they want to be a great player on a team that is still establishing theirselves and we’re still establishing what we are trying to do, they could go… We’re recruiting the top kids in the country. And so, they could go to another program and be another good player on a great team. Or they could come here, and they could be the face of something, the start of something. And that’s really our pitch. I think if you get recruits here on a football game day or a weekend, I think that kind of sells itself. I think anytime we walk around and families see that Knoxville bleeds orange, there’s a lot here that speaks for itself on our visits.”
On if she’d rather get high school or transfers in the offseason
“I see a combination of the two. We had a significant loss last year. I think it was around eight. I don’t know the exact number. Around eight, maybe it was seven. And then, we’ll be around the same big classes that are leaving. And so, you can’t do that with all freshmen. And you certainly can’t do that with all the transfer portal. I’ve loved the freshmen that we have. I’ve really enjoyed coaching them. So, I think you get a mix. And what we try to do is we don’t recruit backups that are freshmen. We recruit freshmen to come and help us play right away. And we have those conversations of, ‘If we sign you, we expect for you to be on the floor and be ready to go.’ And if we miss on those, then we’ll try to fill those spots in the transfer portal.
On what she wants to see to start practice this week
“You know, it’s interesting because we’ve been practicing. It’s just a heavier load, longer practices. So, I really want to see us attack every single day with a sense of urgency. I know our practices will be not… We’ll lose a little bit of our endurance and focus, probably the extra hour and 15 that we’re going now. But just making sure that they have a sense of urgency that they are coming in every day ready to practice. They are taking minutes or time during practice to regroup, stay focused and not just trying to get through practice.
On what she’s seen from the point guards
“Mia’s (Pauldo) doing a great job. I think Kaniya (Boyd) and Nya (Robertson) are doing okay. But Mia has really stepped up and kind of separated herself by leading the team. She needs to be more vocal. Sam(ara Spencer) was really vocal for us. Any point guard in my system probably has the hardest life of everything goes for them. I expect them to score. Everything’s at tempo. I don’t call a lot. I don’t control a lot. So, they’re having to do that and she’s picked up on it really well.
On Mia Pauldo’s ability to play in transition
“She’s made to play this way. That definitely helps. She passes the ball well. She’s leading us in the assist-to-turnover ratio, so she’s finding the right people. People like to play with her. She’s shooting really high percentage shots, so she’s not taking bad shots. It’s just gonna be a grind for a season for our freshmen.
On avoiding outside noise
“We don’t really pay much attention to any of that. We’re gonna stay humble. We’re going to remember the predictions when I first got here. We’re gonna talk about that, and we’re gonna keep that same energy.”
On what she learned last year
“There’s a lot. I think the length of the season, the grind of the season, is one that we’ve tried to tailor to. I think I talked about that last time, of just making sure that we don’t burn out too soon. I think making sure that you can keep your buy-in all season long, educating. There’s a lot. I learned more last year as a human being than I’ve ever learned in my entire life. And so, it was such a learning curve. So, it feels so much better going into year two than it did year one.”
On what she learned off the floor
“Well, I had a baby, so I learned a lot about childbirth and a lot about keeping a human being alive. And the jump, I’ve said it multiple times, the jump from division two to division one is big, but the jump from mid-major to high major is huge. And just learning so much more about the recruiting aspects of this level and how to handle players of this caliber. All of that was just such a learning curve. And that’s why I will always be so appreciative of last year’s team, that they really just bought in and we all did it together.”
On what the win over UConn did for the program
“It was great for us. I felt like we were having so many close losses, close losses, close losses, and that was our signature win. And as a coach, it’s twofold. You’re frustrated because we played really well. We were the better team that night. There was no question about it. And that team won a national championship. And that set the directory of their season, where they didn’t lose and they started playing better basketball. And quite frankly, I thought we started playing worse basketball. And that’s hard to live with as a coach. Yes, the win was great. It was great to give our fan base something. Our fan base had watched us lose by one point, two point, three point, four point. They had been in the seats, they had been cheering for us, and to give them that moment, I think, was such a great thing. That, and making it to the Sweet 16, was great to do for our fan base. But as a coach, you’re just a little bit frustrated because you know we had it.
On having good athletes that can press well
“Our press, they’re picking it up way easier. We’re having to repeat ourselves less or understanding things. Last year, we had to tell our team to ‘ Go, go. Do more, do more.’ This team is already aggressive, this team already flies around. They already have that athleticism to put them in spots just more naturally. But we’re still not right now getting steals that I would like to get steals.”
On players carving out roles
“We’re really working on that. We’re getting ready to watch film right after this of shot selection and playing to your strengths, and we have it all documented. So we’re getting there. We’re getting to the point of games are around the corner. They’re gonna be here before we know it. And making sure that people don’t, when that jump ball goes up and the popcorn is popping, that people don’t try to play outside of their role.
On her decision to reinstate Ruby Whitehorn
“Yeah, it was a difficult process. I think as a coach, you have to… and it’s really hard. And I’m gonna be really transparent here. You have to look at the scope of the team. And that’s my job as a head coach, is to protect the Lady Vol brand. You have to look at that. But it’s also my job to coach my players. My players are young people and they make mistakes. And she made mistakes that did not reflect well on this program. So, we talked about it at length. We, I don’t want to say punished, but we gave her a penalty that was pretty severe. And if she batted an eye to that or didn’t want to do that or wasn’t gonna bend over backwards to make up for what she did to the brand of this program and by failing to meet the standard, then we were gonna move on. And she really wanted to be a part of this program. And she understands the severity of what she did. And so those conversations led to where we are now.”
On if she thinks the offense will click sooner this year
“No, I don’t think it’ll click in sooner. And I was having that thought to myself yesterday on the baseline of, hoo-wee, it takes time to figure this out. I think it will be probably the same trajectory of maybe around January we’ll start to peak, which is unfortunate because we have really scheduled very difficult. So, we’re gonna have to get through some bumps in our non-conference schedule.”
On Alyssa Latham’s progression
“I think Alyssa has worked harder than anyone over the summer. She had gained muscle. She was in the weight room. She came back focused. She was better on the track, better in every aspect. Alyssa just needs to be consistent. And she wants to average a double-double, I’d love it if she could do that. She very much knows her role. She’s shooting the ball better. She’s just got to stack days and put them together.
On how beneficial the press will be if the offense takes time to click
“It helps that we have people that have done it and that know what it is and know the game is gonna come in runs. I think last year, it took us a long time to figure that out. And we were unfortunately figuring it out in SEC play where we came back against LSU, we came back against South Carolina. We just did it too late. And so now that we have players that know that it’s going to be up and down and we have to try to stay consistent and levelheaded, part of that is the pressing mindset and playing fast and that will help.”
On bringing in players that want to be aggressive, like Mia and Mya Pauldo
“Yeah, Jaida Civil is another great one of the players that just like to go. You don’t have to speed them up. Now, we are really trying to slow this team down. On this team, sometimes I look at practice and we’re playing hard and we’re flying around and we’re playing at pace, but we’re doing nothing that looks right. And so just really slowing them down, which I would much rather slow people down than speed them up.”
On her relationship with Candace Parker
“She’s an amazing person, regardless of what she has done for this university, but she’s done so much for this university. She really is a true ambassador for women’s sports, for women’s basketball and for Tennessee, and she does a great job. She bleeds… I don’t think I’ve ever seen her not in orange. And she bleeds Tennessee. And so anytime I can ever help her in any way, I would love to do that, just because what she’s done for this program and, again, this university.”
On her offseason, the well-being of her child
“Baby Conor is great. We’re just at eight months, which is kind of crazy to wrap your head around. Offseason was great. Again, I’ve said it time and time again, I will always say I’m so thankful that I was able to take my maternity leave after the fact. So once we finished the Big Orange Caravan, we finished recruiting, I got to take six weeks off and spend that with my son, which healed me a little bit because it was very hard to leave him so early. And so to be able to spend that time with him healed me, and I didn’t even know I needed to be healed, to be honest. And then I could come back 100% ready when the girls return in June.”
On reloading compared to rebuilding
“It is, it is. Everyone’s ready. Everyone, again, we recruit for players that want to play right away. There’s some freshmen that want to come and sit and develop and sit behind somebody for two years, and we don’t recruit players that want that. And those are conversations that we have, making sure that they know that they don’t get to be a freshman for very long. So everyone that came in was expecting that. Now we’re just competing for who’s going to be on the floor.”
