From Kim Caldwell’s first press conference, Jillian Hollingshead knew the new Lady Vols basketball head coach would be a good fit.
Caldwell’s last question back in April asked if she could take her play style and win at a higher level, and she responded emphatically.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we could do it here,” Caldwell said.
From that first moment, Hollingshead bought in. If her coach was at ease, she was going to be at ease as well.
“She just stood up there with a lot of confidence and just meant what she said,” Hollingshead said at a local media day. “A lot of coaches that would take a job like Tennessee I think would be a little bit nervous.”
When it came time for Caldwell to share her system with the team, the Lady Vols were sold. Karoline Striplin was the only Tennessee player to transfer despite many players considering doing so.
Caldwell’s system was at its best when her Marshall team won the Sun Belt against James Madison in overtime. The Thundering Herd forced James Madison into 39 turnovers in the contest. Although it shot only 30% from the field, Marshall took 46 more field goals to win the conference.
Entering her redshirt sophomore season, Talaysia Cooper will return to competitive basketball for the first time since the 2022-23 season with South Carolina. She has seen Tennessee’s whole team fit into Caldwell’s system through preseason practice.
“I feel like it’s going to be great because all of us like to play fast,” Cooper said. “We’re learning how to play fast. We’re learning how to play defense, running things on the defensive end.”
Caldwell’s system takes time to find its effect. The Lady Vols don’t expect to be in full form until December or January due to the complexities of how they will play.
The conditioning required was only the first step to playing for Caldwell, but it was a significant one. For Tess Darby, it’s jarring because of how her first four years with Tennessee played out.
“It’s been a big adjustment, especially being a fifth year,” Darby said. “I think we average close to five miles or so a day, so that’s been a big adjustment. But the work that we’ve all put in, you can truly see that it’s paying off.”
With the initial physical investment starting to prove impactful, Tennessee still has to take on the full mental aspect of constant running and pressing in games. That starts Oct. 31 against Carson-Newman.
The long-term effects of Caldwell’s first season aren’t lost on senior forward Sara Puckett. With one of the goals of this year being to set up a long-term successful tenure, momentum is vital.
“We’re the first team, and so we’re doing it for her,” Puckett said. “We’re just going to go out there and give it our all.”
In the long term, Caldwell’s main goal is to bring the Lady Vols back to the national championship picture. Her first season is vital to that goal, and she has made sure her players understand that.
Puckett — alongside the rest of Tennessee’s senior class — is ready to prove Caldwell’s system can win at the highest level of the sport.
“It is a big year, and we’ve had many, many talks about our goals for the season,” Puckett said. “To reach those, we have got to be great and we have got to put ourselves in a position to beat teams by a lot of points.”
