Has Kim Caldwell lived up to her Lady Vols transition plan in first month?
It's been exactly a month since the Lady Vols basketball program introduced Kim Caldwell has Tennessee's next head coach at an introductory press conference.
During the event, she outlined the next steps she wanted to complete moving forward.
Here is how she's fared at those tasks after one month on the job.
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Staff has been hired
The first thing on the agenda was 'to get a great staff put in place.' Caldwell has hired four assistants and a director of sports performance. The assistants that Caldwell hired fall under two categories. First are the pair with SEC experience and the second are ones that followed her from Marshall.
From Alabama, Roman Tubner switches sides of the rivalry to join the Lady Vols. He's considered one of the better young coaches in the conference and is an effective recruiter. Out of Mississippi State, Gabe Lazo also boasts conference experience. He's known for his coaching on defense and has strong ties on the recruiting trail.
From Marshall, Jenna Burdette and Angel Rizor both are also making the move to Knoxville. Burdette joined Caldwell with the Herd after two years with her at Glenville State. Rizor had one year at Glenville State before joining the Marshall staff, as well.
Strength coach Nolan Harvath knows Caldwell from Glenville State before working at West Virginia.
Caldwell seems to have put together what should be a solid staff around her. She got coaches that have done it in the SEC and can help her transition to this next level. She also got coaches that she is very familiar with and know her unique system.
All but one current players returned
The next step Caldwell noted was 'to form relationships with current players that are here.' With only one player hitting the transfer portal in Karoline Striplin, it appears she's done a good job at this.
Perhaps the big land was Jewel Spear who previously announced she'd return for her final season before Kellie Harper was fired. When Caldwell was hired, Spear said she'd have to reconsider things. Ultimately, she decided to stay in Knoxville.
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Among the other notable names to return are Sara Puckett, Jillian Hollingshead, Kaiya Wynn and Tess Darby. With nearly the whole team back, it can be inferred that she's done a good job building these relationships and selling her system to players.
Three players landed out of the portal
The final step was 'to make some additions and get in the portal and start to recruit.' This has been accomplished with the announcement of three transfers choosing Tennessee so far.
First, Alyssa Latham out of Syracuse decided to join the Lady Vols. She has three years of eligibility remaining after playing just one with the Orange. She was named to the ACC All-Freshman team after averaging 8.6 points per game on 46% shooting.
Next was Lazaria Spearman from Miami picking Tennessee. She is a 6-foot-4 post player who played a pair of seasons with the Hurricanes. She averaged 6.3 points and six rebounds on 50% shooting from the field during her sophomore season.
Finally, Samara Spencer out of SEC foe Arkansas announced her decision. She will be playing in her final year after averaging 13.9 points per game as a junior with 4.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
There are other players still in the portal that Tennessee has its eye on but this is a solid trio to land for the first-year coach. If Caldwell can grab one more impactful player, it'll have a good chance to go down as a successful transfer class.
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