Tennessee hiring Marshall’s Kim Caldwell as women’s basketball coach

Tennessee is hiring Kim Caldwell as its next women’s basketball coach, the school announced Sunday.

Caldwell spent the last year as the head coach at Marshall. The Thundering Herd went 17-1 in conference and 26-7 overall in Caldwell’s first year, a vast improvement from the team’s 9-9 conference and 17-14 overall record in 2022-23. Caldwell’s early success earned her the 2024 Spalding Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year honor.

She also was named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year after capturing the conference title in a 95-92 overtime win over James Madison and leading the Thundering Herd to the school’s second-ever NCAA Tournament berth and first since 1997.

“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,” athletic director Danny White said in a statement. “Kim has a winning formula that she has successfully implemented everywhere she has coached, with a fast-paced, high-octane offense and pressure defense that has led to remarkable results.”

Caldwell replaces Kellie Harper, who was fired this offseason, as women’s basketball’s winningest program looks to return to the top of the sport. In Harper’s five seasons leading the Lady Vols, Tennessee went 108-52 but never finished above third in the SEC. They had four postseason appearances but never made it past the Sweet 16.

“I am honored and humbled to accept the role as head coach of this historic program at the University of Tennessee,” Caldwell said in a statement. “I can’t help but reflect on accepting the Pat Summitt Trophy three seasons ago and be moved by the great responsibility and opportunity of now leading and building upon the incredible Lady Vol tradition she built.”

Caldwell was given the Pat Summitt Trophy — presented annually to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association National Coach of the Year in each of the five membership divisions (Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and two-year college) — following the 2021-22 season, when she led Glenville State to its first-ever Division II national championship.

Caldwell coached at Glenville State for seven years, nabbing a combined record of 191-24.

Caldwell will be introduced as the Tennessee coach Tuesday at a news conference on campus.

(Photo: Ryan Hunt / Getty Images)