01/15/25 09:02:00
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01/15 05:30 CST Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell about to experience another 1st
with her baby due any day
Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell about to experience another 1st with her baby due
any day
By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer
Being a private person from a small town, Kim Caldwell keeps her business to
herself.
That's why she ducked and dodged questions for months about her first pregnancy.
Then the woman who announced "Baby Caldwell" was on the way with a social media
post Sept. 3 realized being the first-year coach of the historic Tennessee Lady
Vols' women's basketball program allows her to help other working mothers not
stress out or feel alone.
"I have an opportunity here to help the next person that is going to get
pregnant during basketball season or anyone that's going to get pregnant during
a time of their life that's stressful," Caldwell told The Associated Press on
Tuesday. "And for most women, that's all the time."
Caldwell also is dealing with plenty of stress herself. The coach who turned 36
in November is due to give birth any day now with the 15th-ranked Lady Vols
(14-2) in the meat of the Southeastern Conference schedule.
It doesn't help Caldwell that those two losses came by a combined three points
to teams ranked ins the Top 10 at tipoff.
"Those three points haunt me every day," Caldwell said. "They haunt me in
practice. They hopefully haunt our players of just how can we get those back?
How can we improve? So we've tried to tighten things up on them a little bit
and learn from these losses."
Athletic director Danny White went outside the Lady Vols' pipeline when hiring
Caldwell last April as the third coach since Pat Summitt retired from the
program she built along with barnstorming for women's basketball.
Tennessee has yet to miss the NCAA Tournament that Summitt won eight times, and
those banners hang above the court named for her with Summitt's statue across
the street from the arena. Neither Holly Warlick nor Kellie Harper, who played
for Summitt, could get the Lady Vols back to the Final Four.
Caldwell took Marshall to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997
last season. She arrived at Tennessee with a 217-31 career record with NCAA
Tournament berths --- seven at her alma mater Division II Glenville State where
she won the 2022 national championship with two Final Four berths.
Coaching at Tennessee? Not something Caldwell ever imagined.
That's not stopping her from trying to win like she did in her previous stops
while getting Tennessee back to where Lady Vols' fans expect.
She's running the same style that worked at Glenville State and Marshall. That
makes the Lady Vols tough to scout with their discombobulated, frantic attack
up and down the court. Her players had to work hard once she arrived to be in
condition ready to run for 40 minutes and more if needed.
That tenacity helped Tennessee rally from 19 down in the third quarter before
losing 87-86 to then-No. 9 Oklahoma on Jan. 5. A few days later the Lady Vols
were down 18 to LSU before the Tigers had a last-second layup for an 89-87 win.
Before the game, LSU coach Kim Mulkey gave Caldwell a gift bag filled with baby
towels, lotion and a onesie following a tradition that the she has been doing
since she was at Baylor because women's basketball needs more women coaching
and being parents.
Mulkey credited Summitt's own example as a mentor to her when Mulkey was an
assistant coach still at Louisiana Tech. Summitt's son Tyler was born in
September 1990.
"(She) basically mentored me and said, ?You can do this. Don't you get out of
the business. You can have a baby and you can raise a child and you can be a
great coach,'" Mulkey said of Summitt.
The Lady Vols host Mississippi State (15-3) on Thursday night as part of the
13th annual "We Back Pat" fundraiser in conjunction with the Pat Summitt
Foundation and the Southeastern Conference. This game has a personal tie for
Caldwell whose grandmother had Alzheimer's.
Actually being mom and coach is still to come for Caldwell who has worn an
oversized shirt, along with her assistants, all season to keep the attention
focused on the Lady Vols. Whether Caldwell is having a boy or a girl remains
private as well for now.
She told reporters in Knoxville there is a plan in place for the Lady Vols when
the baby arrives.
Caldwell said only God knows when she gives birth or how quickly she is able to
rejoin the Lady Vols this season. The SEC Tournament starts March 5 with the
NCAA Tournament starting March 21 and 22 with Tennessee a possible host for the
first weekend.
"God willing ... I definitely have plans to return sooner than later," Caldwell
said. "But you just never know what is going to happen. And everyone has a
different birth story. And so, again, you're kind of all prepared for
everything."
___
AP Freelance Writer Al Lesar contributed to this report.
___
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