Lady Vols' hire of Kim Caldwell is a big gamble. Sounds like a Danny White move | Toppmeyer
Blake Toppmeyer- The Lady Vols hired a Kim Caldwell who isn't even the most well-known Kim Caldwell. Could it work? Sure. But it's a risk. A big risk.
- Say this for Kim Caldwell: She wins big at places where that doesn't come easily.
- Danny White hiring an outside-the-box candidate fits Tennessee AD's hiring strategy.
Kentucky women's basketball hired a more proven coach than the Lady Vols.
Whatever else I might think about Tennessee's hire of Kim Caldwell of Marshall, this is indisputable: Kentucky, a program that's never reached a Final Four, hired a coach, Kenny Brooks, who reached the Final Four a year ago.
Tennessee, a blueblood, hired a coach with one year of Division I experience.
Tennessee athletic director Danny White boasts an impressive hiring record. He's known to anoint outside-the-box candidates. This, though, ranks as his riskiest hire ever.
Google Kim Caldwell, and you'll see a bunch of photos of a former American Idol contestant. That's right. The Lady Vols hired a Kim Caldwell who isn't even the most well-known Kim Caldwell.
Hiring Caldwell is reminiscent of White promoting Nate Oats to coach Buffalo's men's basketball. Oats had no college head coaching experience. He became a smashing success. He's now one of the hottest coaches in the country at Alabama.
White also unearthed Lance Leipold from Division III to coach Buffalo football. Leipold, like Oats, is now a household name.
The Lady Vols aren't Buffalo, though. White gambled with a program that, I thought, deserved a safe bet.
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Hiring Kim Caldwell fits Danny White's track record
White acted boldly in firing Kellie Harper rather than delaying that move for a year.
Harper established a defined floor and ceiling, and although it wasn't that bad, it wasn't the level to which the program aspires. Harper's program had no momentum. Recruiting had bottomed out, and I don't buy the excuse that trickled out near the end of Harper's tenure that NIL was to blame. Maybe the Lady Vols can't match the NIL riches Kim Mulkey inspires at LSU, but they're not paupers. This remains a good job with enviable resources. Talented recruits should want to play for Tennessee.
White smartly opened this job to candidates who didn't hail from the Lady Vols tree, but I never thought he'd turn in Marshall's direction.
That's White for you. Shortly after UT hired White in 2021, he pointedly said he's hired coaches throughout his career who weren't on media lists of possible candidates. Well, mission accomplished there.
A lot rides on this. The Lady Vols have been spinning their tires for years. If Caldwell rejuvenates the program, White will be cast as the AD who acted fearlessly to restore the brand. If Caldwell flops, White becomes the AD who foolishly trusted this task to a young coach from Marshall after firing an affable Pat Summitt disciple.
Tennessee interviewed multiple candidates for the job, a source with knowledge of the search confirmed.
I'd rather gamble on Caldwell's upside than stick with Harper, who had peaked. Better yet, though, would've been hiring a coach like Kentucky's Brooks, who's proven himself on the sport's big stage.
Kim Caldwell on the rise, but I'd be more comfortable with someone more proven for Lady Vols
Say this for Caldwell: She won big at places where winning doesn't come easily. She took Marshall to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time ever. That came after she won a Division II national championship at Glenville State. Never heard of Glenville State? I'm not surprised. It's not exactly the UConn of D-II women's basketball.
I don't doubt Caldwell's X's and O's. Her up-tempo, high-scoring style should galvanize fans. Marshall led all midmajors in scoring average this season.
But, Caldwell has no experience recruiting the types of athletes she'll need to succeed at Tennessee. She accepted a job where Final Fours are the expectation, even though Tennessee hasn't advanced that far since 2008.
I thought the Lady Vols' brand wielded enough appeal to attract accomplished Power Five coaches. Either I was wrong, or White preferred a coach with an undefined floor and ceiling to a veteran with an established track record.
In the SEC, she'll battle some of the nation's best coaches. Facing Mulkey, Dawn Staley and Vic Schaefer is a monumental challenge for anyone, let alone someone who graduated from college in 2011.
There are countless men's basketball examples of a power-conference school striking it big after hiring a young midmajor coach. Florida's hire of Billy Donovan became a case study. Donovan had just two years of experience – at Marshall – when Florida made the best SEC men's basketball hire in the past 30 years.
In women's basketball, though, an old guard dominates. The average age of the coaches at the Women's Final Four was 63 years old.
Tennessee's hire tells me that either the candidate pool wasn't as strong as I expected, the Vols wanted to hire cheap – that would fit UT's hiring reputation – or White trusts his instincts above all else.
I'd like to know whether White interviewed any men or limited the search to women. I would've felt more confident in someone like Louisville's Jeff Walz, who previously expressed interest in Tennessee, or Oregon State's Scott Rueck. And I'd feel more comfortable being in Kentucky's position, with Brooks.
Kentucky made the safe hire. I expect that will pay off. There's nothing safe about the Lady Vols' hire, but that's never been White's style.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.
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