Tennessee 2025, part 2 | Page 19 | The Boneyard

Tennessee 2025, part 2

JellyBean said:
The Lady Vols are going to be interesting to watch navigating the portal. So many players but will they fit? Will coach adjust her coaching style to accommodate the incoming players? This is going to be a fun off season!!
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How do you recruit the portal when you have no returning players to host potential incoming transfers on official visits? Not sure I recall a scenario like this. Transfers taking visits rely on their host players to inform them about the program, coaches, campus life, social life, college town, etc. Who will be hosting transfer visitors? I guess Jada Civil if she doesn't enter the portal on Monday.
 
I dont know if there is any interest now (for either her or UCONN) now that she is free of TN. For sure it looks on paper as though her size and athleticism are a perfect fit to help UCONN wage war in future clashes like what we saw the other night vs SC, which I dont think is going to change. But on paper is not what its about. Her ambitions, coachability, willingness to earn minutes, become part of the sisterhood and sacrifice for the greater good are also parts to be considered. Is it a fit for her... for what SHE wants. I have no idea. But just the thought of her suddenly becoming available lights a candle (what if)? That would help rebounding, protecting the rim, adding length for outside shooters to free up, and imagine partnering with Vukosa, Strong and the returning bigs. Everything has to align and I have not read of any interest from her nor UCONN reaching out. But she saw the clash the other night and many of us saw the same need show up. Just 2 cents of speculation...
 
At this point it’s lose/lose for UT.

I can’t imagine Kim piecing together a roster that is competitive into top half of the SEC with only portal players. But if she’s fired, would any new hire be able to do the same unless it’s an existing HC who transported a large amount of their current players?

Several things can be true: Kim is over her head and missed some hiring and recruiting decisions, that one ore more assistant coaches were undermining her and stirring the pot, while some of the players were also part of a mutiny.
 
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bballnut90 said:
I don’t know how they keep Kim on after this. The entire team quit.
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This is why this upcoming season is going to be so interesting because with all that has happened, Coach Caldwell is probably on the hotseat already. Her and her coaching staff are going to be under the microscope hard this off season. Every transfer add is going to be scrutinized. I can't even begin to imagine the type of pressure Coach Caldwell is going to be under. On top of the unrealistic pressure Lady Vols fans have already for her. The AD is going to add even more. Yikes!!
 
Rooster C. said:
Will Tennessee be MINUS one more player?
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I can't imagine she'd join at this juncture. I also don't know how the AD can keep Kim on for next year unless they're content with having the worst team in program history. The entire roster will be made up of portal players, and no decent player will want to join Tennessee (or Iowa State) next year unless they're paid a ridiculous sum of money and don't really care about winning.
 
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bballnut90 said:
I can't imagine she'd join at this juncture. I also don't know how the AD can keep Kim on for next year unless they're content with having the worst team in program history. The entire roster will be made up of portal players, and no decent player will want to join Tennessee (or Iowa State) next year unless they're paid a ridiculous sum of money and don't really care about winning.
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The timing here stinks. As there were rumblings about players leaving a few weeks ago, that's when TN should have made a coaching change, buyout or no buyout. In addition, with all the in-season rumblings, the AD should have had a succession plan and short list of coaches for a "what if" scenario, unless he's too proud to admit the KC era isn't working.

Now, if TN were to hire a home run coach, maybe the players would reconsider, as it's only the portal that's limited to two weeks. The AD is now b/w a rock and hard place, as if he fires KC today, it's a short runway to hire someone that can re-recruit the current players AND mine the portal.
 
BRS24 said:
The timing here stinks. As there were rumblings about players leaving a few weeks ago, that's when TN should have made a coaching change, buyout or no buyout. In addition, with all the in-season rumblings, the AD should have had a succession plan and short list of coaches for a "what if" scenario, unless he's too proud to admit the KC era isn't working.

Now, if TN were to hire a home run coach, maybe the players would reconsider, as it's only the portal that's limited to two weeks. The AD is now b/w a rock and hard place, as if he fires KC today, it's a short runway to hire someone that can re-recruit the current players AND mine the portal.
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With all those rumblings before the season ended, the AD came out backing her. Said she was doing a great job. The 2 assistant coaches were let go instead of her.
 
Since Pat Summit retired, Tennessee has recruited many talented athletes but not enough with high basketball IQs or team-first attitudes..........without the right mix of players aspiring to mesh into a single unit, they will never win another NC......
 
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I’m genuinely curious what a realistic outlook on next season would even be? Is Tennessee going to have to throw crazy money at players only interested in money? Will they end up with a collection of players who otherwise would have never had the talent to land at such a program? How do you even sell “join our team” when there isn’t a “team.”
 
Rb335 said:
I’m genuinely curious what a realistic outlook on next season would even be? Is Tennessee going to have to throw crazy money at players only interested in money? Will they end up with a collection of players who otherwise would have never had the talent to land at such a program? How do you even sell “join our team” when there isn’t a “team.”
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I consider it a learning opportunity for the rest of women's college basketball.....
 
In my opinion Tennessee needs to cut their losses and get rid of Caldwell. Who is going to want to come there and play next season? The best-case scenario would be that they get someone, and they bring a bunch of players with them from their former school, like Curt Cignetti did when he took over Indiana football.
 
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So I went back to look at when the buyout decreases and found this:


If contract is terminated on or before March 31, 2026: Caldwell receives 100% of the annual compensation she would have earned between the termination date and the end of her contract (March 31, 2030).​
​
If contract is terminated on or after April 1, 2026: Caldwell receives 50% of the annual compensation she would have earned between the termination date and end of her contract.​
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Essentially, if Tennessee were to fire Caldwell before April 1, it will be paying her $1 million per year through the 2029-30 season, which equals $4 million. If it fires her on or after April 1, it will pay her $500,000 per year through the end of her contract, which amounts to $2 million.​
 
In my opinion ( which may be garbage) Caldwell plans to sign about 12 players who are not or were not top 100 recruits. She will sign them from players who are transfers from unranked schools. They will be “nobodies” to Vol fans who will scream even more. I think she believes that top ranked transfers and recruits are a bunch of prima donas whose egos keep them from working in her “system.”

By the way, there are a lot of 3 point shooters over 40% who fit her bill. She wants skill players who will work for her rather than the great athletes noticed by the recruiting services.

Expect more screams from Vol Nation.
 
I don't think she will have a problem finding 12 players from the portal to come to TN, but they will not be the top end of the portal no matter what she offers in terms of NIL$. Can't offer enough more than they can get from a top program to destroy their credibility and future earning potential. So she will get some of the vast middle of the portal and some of the dregs, which will probably work out to the something a little better than her team at Marshall, but she will be taking that team and playing an SEC schedule with probably a decent OOC that includes Uconn at least.

If her NIL$ remains the same, TN will be bidding against air for a lot of the level of portal players that will come, so she could actually get 15 mediocre players, who will be happy to split those 200 minutes evenly - each getting 12-13 minutes every night. They may not shoot particularly well, or defend well 1 on 1, but they can run and trap all day long.
 
I think Caldwell's system works well at most levels of play - but not at the highest level. Once I saw her system in action at Tennessee I knew it was destined to fail. The powers that be in Tennessee should have done their due diligence and would have recognized that. Bringing in a first rate recruiter to assist Harper would have been a better use of funds imo
 
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