4/9/2024 basketball Edit

How Kim Caldwell plans on being competitive in year one with the Lady Vols

Kim Caldwell, the new head coach for Lady Vols, introduces herself at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. (Hannah Mattix/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Ryan Sylvia • VolReport

Assistant Managing Editor

Born in Knoxville, Tenn. and a graduate of the University of Tennesee, Knoxville. Covering football, basketball, baseball and recruiting for VolReport.

The expectation isn't to just win in the future, the Lady Vols want to win now.

This doesn't change with a new coach. As Tennessee introduced Kim Caldwell as the new head coach, Athletic Director Danny White quickly pointed out the timeline.

There is a goal of winning SEC and National Championships, and the will to be competitive in that goal starts in the upcoming 2024-25 season.

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Where does a coach who just arrived in Knoxville and has the task of leading a program with the proud history of the Lady Vols begin?

There are a number of steps to start a quick turnaround but Caldwell is ready to check them off.

"There's a lot to do," said Caldwell. "We need to get a great staff put in place. I need to form relationships with the current players that are here and then we need to make some additions and get in the portal and start to recruit. It's all hands on deck right now."

What makes these tasks easier to accomplish is the familiarity with the situation. Not only has Caldwell been tasked with the same goal prior in her career, it was only a year ago that she went through these steps.

While taking over Marshall, she turned the team from a 9-9 record in Sun Belt play and 17-14 overall into a well oiled machine that went 17-1 in the conference slate, swept Sun Belt titles and made the program's second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

"It's helpful," said Caldwell on doing the same task so recently. "It is helpful. It's nothing that I planned. I was planning to be at Marshall for quite some time. It was not something that we planned to do but it does help the fact that less than a year ago, I was doing a press conference. And less than a year ago, I was trying to recruit the roster that we had while recruiting on the team and putting the staff together. So, it's familiar in that sense."

Last year, Tennessee went 20-13 and earned a 5-seed in the SEC Tournament. The Lady Vols were ultimately bounced by eventual Final Four squad NC State in the Round of 32 to end the season.

The pieces are there to take a step in the right direction from a year ago. It was arguably a tougher situation with the Herd, but way more eyes will be on her this time.

These expectations aren't something she wanted to run from, though. She knew the lofty goals that would be set for her once arriving in Knoxville, but that made the opportunity even more intriguing.

With a large fan base and the expectations to win national titles, Caldwell accepts with the pressure with open arms.

"You want to be somewhere where the expectations are high," said Caldwell. "I've had a lot of opportunities in my career to look at jobs and I was never interested in a job that did not have high expectations, did not have a loyal fanbase, did not have a hungry crowd that wanted to pay attention to what was going on. So I think that's something that makes this program incredibly special and I'm going to work very, very hard to make sure we keep it there."

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