There are only two SEC teams in the women's college basketball top 25 — the South Carolina Gamecocks and the LSU Tigers. 

South Carolina is undefeated and is on a collision course for their second national championship in three seasons. 

The Tigers, meanwhile, are the defending national champions. 

Those two programs are the most-talked about programs in women's college basketball these days. While the Lady Vols are an afterthought nationally. 

Tennessee hasn't been at the forefront of the sport that the legendary Pat Summitt turned into one of the most recognizable brands in sports since the early 2010s. 

And it's far past time for that to change. 

The Lady Vols have had two coaches since Summitt stepped down in 2012. Both of those coaches, Holly Warlick and UT's current head coach, Kellie Harper, both played for Summitt. And neither have come close to recreating the magic that Summitt brought to Knoxville. 

At this point, it feels like Tennessee knows what's it going to get with Harper, who is in her fifth season leading the program. Harper has been a head coach at four different programs since 2004 and she's never advanced past the Sweet 16. She's a good coach, but she's not the coach that's going to bring the Lady Vols brand back to an elite level. 

After two attempts to keep the Lady Vols' head coaching job "in the family", it feels like it's time to go outside the family to bring a new coach in to lead the program. 

This is where Vols athletic director Danny White should follow the lead of LSU athletic director Scott Woodward. 

Three years ago, Woodward had an opportunity to hire a new head coach after then LSU head coach Nikki Fargas resigned after 10 seasons leading the program (Fargas was coming off a 9-13 season…it's debatable how that all went down). 

Fargas, a former Lady Vol who played under Summitt from 1990-1994, led the Tigers to two Sweet 16 appearances within her first three seasons at LSU. But that was as good as things got under Fargas during her decade in Baton Rouge. 

Woodward, determined to make LSU one of the top programs in the nation, went out and made one of the biggest hires in the history of women's college basketball by stealing Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey from Baylor. 

Mulkey, who won two national championships and made Baylor a regular participant in the Elite Eight, was a fixture in Waco for 21 years. Her legacy was cemented as one of the best college basketball coaches of all time. But Woodward convinced her to come to LSU to take over a meddling program that hadn't gone to the NCAA Tournament in three seasons (it's worth noting that Mulkey played college basketball at Louisiana Tech and played high school basketball in Louisiana).

In Mulkey's second season at LSU, she led the Tigers to a national championship. Just like that, Woodward's vision of making LSU one of the best programs in the nation came to fruition because he was aggressive in going after one of the top coaches in the nation. 

And now White should do the same thing. 

White, who has settled in as Tennessee's athletic director after being hired three years ago, should go after the current top coach in the sport — South Carolina's Dawn Staley. 

Staley, who played college basketball at Virginia, is the one coach that could instantly bring the Lady Vols back to the top of the sport. Under her guidance, South Carolina has finished first in the SEC in seven of the last 10 seasons. They haven't finished lower than second in the conference since 2013. And the program has won two national championships in the last six years. 

Landing Staley wouldn't be easy. But a lucrative contract and the chance to coach one of the most iconic brands in college basketball — the Lady Vols name still means something nationally — would be incredibly tough to pass up. 

And we already know that Staley has a deep respect for Summitt and what she meant to college basketball. 

"If you've been in the game long enough, she's impacted you, whether that's losing to them or her just being around on the recruiting trail and imparting knowledge and information to grow the game," said Staley in early 2023. "We must continue to pay homage to the disease that took her life, and also just her legacy because she's meant so much to our game. There won't be another Pat Summitt, ever."

Football, men's basketball, baseball, and softball are firing on all cylinders at Tennessee right now. But it just doesn't feel right that the Lady Vols aren't even on the top 25 radar. It's long past time for that to change. And White can change it by making one of the biggest hires the sport has seen. 

Fans can appreciate Harper's contribution to Tennessee while demanding more from the program. 

It's time to restore the Lady Vols to greatness. And it feels like there's only one guaranteed way to make that happen. Make the call, Danny. 

There’s a harsh truth that Alabama fans and the national media needs to hear

Alabama fans and the national media need to listen up