The Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Award released its 15-coach watch list including first-year Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell.
Caldwell is one of six SEC coaches on the 15 coach watch list including Kentucky’s Kenny Brooks, LSU’s Kim Mulkey, South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, Texas’ Vic Schaefer and Vanderbilt’s Shea Ralph. Both Brooks and Caldwell are first-year coaches.
The Masterminds Behind The Game
Introducing the Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Watch List, presented by @AxiaTimeLLC
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Tennessee is 19-6 (6-6 SEC) in Caldwell’s first season as head coach and ended a four-game losing streak to rival UConn by defeating the Huskies, 80-76, in Knoxville earlier this month. Between UConn and Iowa, the Lady Vols have defeated two of the teams in last season’s Final Four.
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The Lady Vols have lost a number of close games in SEC play including losses by less than five points against Vanderbilt, No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 6 LSU and No. 4 Texas.
Caldwell’s first Tennessee team has four regular season games remaining. They host No. 18 Alabama on Thursday night, travel to Florida on Sunday and then have a road game against No. 14 Kentucky and a home game against Georgia in the final week of regular season.
Tennessee has five players averaging double-digit points per game including Talayshia Cooper with 17 points per game as well as Jewel Spear, Ruby Whitehorn, Zee Spearman and Samara Spencer.
On top of Tennessee’s success on the court this season, Kim Caldwell gave birth to her first child last month. Caldwell missed just one game, the Lady Vols’ loss at Texas, before returning to the sidelines a week after she gave birth.
