Despite one of the worst seasons in Lady Vols history, Tennessee isn’t expected to move on from head coach Kim Caldwell this offseason.

The Lady Vols ended the season with eight straight losses, including one-and-done appearances in the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. Between the off-the-court drama and some historically bad blowout losses, it’s safe to say the program is at rock bottom.

Vols athletic director Danny White, though, seems confident that Caldwell can turn things around next season.

Vols insider shares the latest on Kim Caldwell and the Lady Vols

VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs joined 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will on Friday and he was asked about Caldwell’s future at Tennessee.

“She was pretty raw and transparent in her final press conference after the loss to NC State, in terms of some things that happened,” said Hubbs. “She didn’t want to get into how she’s [planning on] correcting a bunch of things, other than getting players in there that will play with the effort that she demands. But she’s got to grow as a coach and as a CEO. And I think if you’re Danny White, that’s the question you have — what’s your plan to be a better CEO in terms of managing the program?

“There’s been an expectation that there will be people transferring out of this program. I don’t know that anything’s been a shock to this point. Now, you’re sitting here and you’re looking at you basically have four players returning and two signees scheduled to come in. That’s six (players). But the portal is not open yet, so they may not be done. So the question then becomes, what does her staff look like? And how does this staff find maybe as many as 10 players in the portal to put a roster together? And that’s hard to manage.”

“Now, as of today, I don’t think Danny White has any thought process about making a change there,” continued Hubbs. “I think he has full intentions and plans to bring her back for a third year. I don’t think he’s going to make a big public statement or stance. He’s already done a radio interview in Knoxville three weeks ago where he gave her, quote, the vote of confidence. And I don’t think that he’s changing his stance on that at this point in time. Now, anything, I guess, is possible. But I think the plan that he has had with Kim Caldwell is how they’re going to attack this offseason, how they’re going to go about determining who are the best fits for them in the transfer portal. Because they’ve got to have greater success in the portal than they had this past year. Because the portal this past year was not very good to this team. I think it created locker room issues. I think it created a lack of production issues. They didn’t get the production out of them that they thought they were going to get. She’s going to have to establish her culture. And I think the scary part for fans is that you’re sitting here in year three and they’re still talking about establishing a culture.”

Four Lady Vols players, so far, have entered the transfer portal.

There’s not a lot of confidence in Caldwell right now. Ultimately, though, I think it’s fair that White is going to give her another season. But she’s going to have to turn things around quickly. If there isn’t dramatic improvement in year three, then White, at that point, will have to make a change. This can’t be a long-term rebuild. There are coaches in this sport who can turn the Lady Vols around overnight. If Caldwell can’t be that coach in 2026-27, then it’s on White to find that coach — the program deserves that much.

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