According to Tennessee Athletics, University of Tennessee Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White announced Sunday that Kim Caldwell, the 2024 Spalding Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year, has been chosen to lead the Lady Volunteers. She will be introduced Tuesday at a press conference on campus.
“From the beginning, our goal has been to find a dynamic head coach who can restore our women’s basketball program to national prominence. Kim Caldwell is the ideal person to lead us,” said Danny White.
Caldwell becomes the fourth head coach of the Lady Vols in the NCAA era of women’s basketball, which began with the late, legendary Pat Summitt at the helm. A rising star in the profession, Caldwell has quickly made an elite mark at two different levels of the game, earning eight NCAA berths and winning seven conference trophies in her eight seasons as a head coach. She led NCAA Division II Glenville State and DI Marshall to championship seasons with a high-octane attack on both ends of the floor and now takes the reins of the winningest program in women’s hoops history.
“I am honored and humbled to accept the role as head coach of this historic program at the University of Tennessee,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell earned the aforementioned national recognition from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association after guiding Marshall to a 26-7 overall record and 17-1 league mark in her first season there in 2023-24. She also was named Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year after directing the Thundering Herd to both the league’s regular season and tournament titles as well as the school’s second NCAA Tournament berth ever and first since 1997.
A native of Parkersburg, W.Va., Caldwell helped lead GSU to the 2010-11 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship as a player and earn an NCAA Division II Tournament berth. She was named the WVIAC Student-Athlete of the Year that season and academically made the WVIAC Commissioner’s Honor Roll as a junior and senior.
CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Record As Head Coach (8 Seasons)
- 217-31 (.875) overall
- 149-13 (.920) in conference games
National Coach of the Year (2)
- 2024 WBCA Spalding Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year
- 2022 WBCA NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year (Pat Summitt Trophy)
Conference Coach of the Year (5)
- Mountain East Conference: 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023
- Sun Belt Conference: 2024
NCAA Tournaments (8)
- NCAA DII: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
- NCAA DI: 2024
NCAA National Championships (1)
- NCAA DII: 2022
NCAA Final Fours (2)
- NCAA DII champions: 2022
- NCAA DII semifinalist: 2023
Conference Championships (7)
- Mountain East Conference: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023
- Sun Belt Conference: 2024
Conference Tournaments Championships (5)
- Mountain East Conference: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023
- Sun Belt Conference: 2024