Kim Caldwell's mission is clear in Year 2: 'Try to prove people wrong'
KNOXVILLE, TN — Kim Caldwell caused an uproar last season when she made her debut with the Lady Vols. Her hockey-style rotations (five in, five out) are inherently disruptive, making it nearly impossible for other teams to scout ahead of time when they don’t know who will be playing with whom.
The spirit of disruption will be carried in Caldwell’s second season in Knoxville, but this time around, things are a little different. Caldwell and her coaching staff inherited a team last year; the 2025-26 roster has six returning players and eight recruits. The returners have bought into Caldwell’s system completely; the newcomers were brought in because they already fit it so well. In short, Tennessee will be a threat — and that’s exactly what Caldwell wants.
The collegiate offseason is shorter than one might realize — teams essentially have May and most of June off before they’re called back to campus — and there’s a lot that happens off the court to cram into those few weeks. But the opportunity to reevaluate and reassess is omnipresent, and Caldwell knew she had changes to make.
Ahead of the season’s beginning, “I talked to every individual staff member, our ops, our trainer, our conditioning” about what shifts needed to take place for the Lady Vols to continue the winning trajectory the team established last season, Caldwell told reporters in Knoxville on Wednesday. “[I had] probably three pages of things that we knew we could alter, change, tweak — and we have really done that.”
https://www.thenexthoops.com/ncaaw/kim-caldwell-lady-vols-tennessee-second-season/