Kim Caldwell met with reporters Wednesday for the first time since her pointed comments following Tennessee’s loss to South Carolina. The head coach acknowledged both her own shortcomings and the urgency facing the program as it looks to regroup.
Caldwell said the response has only just begun, with the Lady Vols completing one practice since the loss.
“So it’s a small body of work there to answer your question, but I’m hopeful we’ll respond,” she said. “I think they will respond. I have faith in them that they’ll do that.”
Much of the internal work, she indicated, centers on accountability and correcting habits that have surfaced in recent losses.
“The biggest failure that I had as a coach is we were playing really well,” Caldwell said. “And I sat here and I was talking about how proud I was of their mindsets and I felt like we checked a box and moved on. And I know better than that as a coach. They’re young people. You never check a box and move on.”
She added, “I think I’m a better coach for you guys when I’m just mad all the time. And that’s the version that we’re going to get.”
Caldwell did not shy away from revisiting her public criticism after the South Carolina loss, calling it “not a flattering moment” for the program.
“It’s not a flattering moment for our program,” she said. “It’s not a flattering moment for me. It’s not a comfortable situation for me to be here in this seat and have drawn attention to a failure and made it more public by my comments. But I hope that it’s a turning point.”
Players, she said, took the message personally.
“I think that it’s not acceptable in this program to lose the way we lost,” Caldwell said.
The 93-50 loss to South Carolina marked the worst in program history.
“Our fan base knows that. It’s not the standard here at Tennessee,” Caldwell said.
The emphasis now is urgency and consistency.
“We need to address some things. We need to fix it. We need to do it with a sense of urgency,” she said. “We have to just continue to fix some behaviors and change some things.”
Leadership remains a focal point, particularly with the regular season winding down.
“If you’re a senior, the clock is on,” Caldwell said. “You have three weeks left guaranteed. … Don’t have any regrets. Get in the gym. If you want to have something to say, say it. If it’s a work ethic thing, make sure you do it because the clock is on.”
She said the team has discussed the need for a “refresh” in leadership, adding that “everyone can lead in their own way,” whether vocally or by example.
Caldwell also clarified what she meant when she said after the loss that some players “get it.”
“That we play an effort-based system and it doesn’t work if you don’t play hard,” she said.
As Tennessee prepares for Missouri, Caldwell said the response she wants is clear.
“The biggest thing for us is play with some passion, play with some fire, do it as a team, do it consistently. Be the hardest playing team on the floor.”
Ultimately, Caldwell believes the path back on track may begin on the defensive end.
“I think that in our past four games I think our defense, especially our halfcourt defense, has taken a step backwards,” she said. “I think that that is really the best part about this team is when they are playing like that. They are getting turnovers and they are chest bumping because they got a stop on the defensive end. And I think that fuels us and I think we’ve gotten away from that in our past four games and we need to get back to it.”
Tennessee and Missouri clash Thursday inside Food City Center at 6:30 p.m..
