Tennessee hires Marshall’s Kim Caldwell as the Lady Vols’ 4th-ever coach

Tennessee has hired Marshall coach Kim Caldwell as only the fourth head coach in the history of the Lady Vols’ program.

Athletic director Danny White announced the hiring Sunday, within a couple of hours of the women’s national championship game. It’s a game the Lady Vols have not played in since 2008 when they won their eighth and last national title under Pat Summitt.

Caldwell will be introduced at a news conference Tuesday, wrapping up a coaching search that officially started April 1 when White fired Kellie Harper after five seasons at her alma mater and a 108-52 record.

“From the beginning, our goal has been to find a dynamic head coach who can restore our women’s basketball program to national prominence,” White said in a statement. “Kim Caldwell is the ideal person to lead us.”

Caldwell won the 2024 Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year award for her work at Marshall, going 26-7 to earn the program’s second NCAA Tournament berth ever and first since 1997. She is 217-31 in eight seasons as a head coach.

She led Glenville State to the 2022 Division II national title in her sixth season at the school with seven NCAA Tournament berths. Caldwell won the Pat Summitt Trophy for the 2021-22 season as the WBCA’s NCAA Division II coach of the year.’

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