The Lady Vols’ roster will look completely different next season.

Every player from last year’s team is gone after either exhausting eligibility or entering the NCAA transfer portal.

Tennessee was expecting some turnover after one of the worst seasons in the last four decades, but no one was expecting a completely new roster in 2026-27.

Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell, however, is working hard this offseason to rebuild the roster. Caldwell, in fact, has already landed five transfer additions.

Tennessee athletic director Danny White addresses the Lady Vols’ roster changes

Tennessee athletic director Danny White joined WNML’s SportsTalk on Wednesday and he addressed the state of the Lady Vols for the first time since publicly endorsing Caldwell in early March.

White admitted that the mass portal departures didn’t surprise him after the Lady Vols experienced a tough season.

“No, not after the season that we had,” said White when asked if the departures surprised him. “And knowing that’s not our expectation as a program, and it’s not Kim’s expectation as a coach. And there’s a lot of things missing in terms of the way we want to play. And it becomes not the best experience, certainly for our coaches and our fans, but also from a player perspective. We’re in this era where it’s free agency after every season, and so all parties involved can make decisions that are in their best interest. And when you have kind of a frustrating season, it didn’t surprise me that there’s that much turnover.”

White added that he’s proud of Caldwell as a leader and he thinks the Lady Vols are in a “great place”.

“I’m proud of Kim as a leader,” said White. “Coaching is a complex profession. Talented coaches tend to excel early in their career — this is all different coaches in all different sports — in their ability to connect with athletes, and know the game, motivate, and all of those things.

“But as you rise in the profession — and in this instance, take over bigger organizations — management and being a CEO is really important, too. And I admire how Kim, coming off of a disappointing year two, after a really exciting year one, evaluated changes that needed to be made in our program and made them pretty decisively and aggressively. And I think we’re in a great place now.”

Last season ended on a sour note for the Lady Vols (eight straight losses and a first round exit in the NCAA Tournament), but next season will provide a fresh start for Caldwell with a new-look roster and some new assistant coaches.