On Tuesday, Lady Vols basketball fifth-year senior Kaiya Wynn announced that she would be stepping away from the program. She noted that there was a lot that went into the decision, but not starting on Senior Day and being offered to play with 15 seconds left and the game out of hand was the ‘breaking point’.
People outside the program quickly began to take sides on the situation. One X user in a now-deleted post mentioned Sara Puckett and Tess Darby as players who went through Senior Day last season, but didn’t start.
With her name thrown in the mix, Darby released a statement. She later clarified that her post was not directed at her former teammate, Wynn. Instead, she wanted to clear up comments on her experience with UT that were ‘far from the truth’.
“I usually don’t comment on things like this, but with my name being mentioned, I want to clear the air,” Darby wrote. “I was a fifth year and had two Senior Days and didn’t start either one under TWO DIFFERENT coaching staffs. In Coach Kim’s system, starting is earned off the previous game’s performance. Numbers don’t lie. I didn’t earn the right to start that game and that’s on me. Accountability isn’t disrespect, and standards aren’t mistreatment. I’ve always had and still have a great relationship with Coach Kim and the previous staff. Love and respect them all and I’m thankful for the opportunities they gave me.”
LVFL https://t.co/II9jbwMIBh pic.twitter.com/PDfwOvSChx
— Tess Darby (@tess_darby10) March 4, 2026
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Wynn was in her fifth season, all with the Lady Vols. She initially committed to Kellie Harper, but stuck through the coaching change to Kim Caldwell. In practice ahead of her true senior year, Wynn suffered a torn Achilles injury, which sidelined her for the 2024-25 season.
Wynn worked to recover and was cleared to play in the 2025-26 campaign. However, during her redshirt-senior season, she rarely saw action. She appeared in nine games while posting averages of 0.6 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.
“I haven’t really dove into the public conversation about it,” Caldwell said. “We’ll miss her. She was loved in this program. Again, we respect her decision, but we kind of have to turn the page and focus on the SEC Tournament.”
The Lady Vols will open their SEC Tournament run on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. ET in Greenville, S.C. Tennessee, the 6-seed, will play 11-seed Alabama after the Tide beat 14-seed Missouri on Wednesday.
