Tennessee's decision to hire Kim Caldwell to lead Lady Vols is a better move than Arkansas hiring John Calipari
Two major hires in college basketball went down over the weekend and one looks significantly better than the other. The Tennessee Vols hired Marshall head coach Kim Caldwell to replace Kellie Harper as the head coach of the Lady Vols. Arkansas, meanwhile, is reportedly hiring John Calipiari away from Kentucky to replace Eric Musselman as […]
Two major hires in college basketball went down over the weekend and one looks significantly better than the other.
The Tennessee Vols hired Marshall head coach Kim Caldwell to replace Kellie Harper as the head coach of the Lady Vols.
Arkansas, meanwhile, is reportedly hiring John Calipiari away from Kentucky to replace Eric Musselman as the Razorbacks' head coach.
At first glance, plenty of fans will likely view the Calipari hire as a "home run" and the Caldwell hire as "meh".
But it's quite the opposite.
Tennessee athletic director Danny White is somewhat of a coach-hiring savant. He gave Alabama head coach Nate Oats his first shot as a head coach at Buffalo. White also hired Lance Leipold as the head football coach at Buffalo (Leipold is a bit of a media darling). And there's of course the Josh Heupel hire at Tennessee that is working out better than anyone expected so far.
White is an expert at hiring head coaches because he doesn't just make a hire based off a Wikipedia page. He looks for the right person that will fit into the culture of the athletic department. He also looks for the coach that has winning traits. White seems to have a unique talent for identifying coaches that have what it takes to be successful.
The Caldwell hire might seem underwhelming for Tennessee because her Wikipedia page isn't full of national championships and Power-5 conference championships, but fans should feel extremely confident that the hire will work out because of White's past history when it comes to hiring coaches.
Essentially, White's reputation means he deserves some trust when it comes to hires.
Arkansas, on the other hand, took the easy way out to replace Musselman, who left for USC earlier this month.
The Razorbacks didn't go look for the best fit in Fayetteville. Instead, they hired the big name — a big name that was in danger of getting fired by Kentucky. Arkansas took the lazy approach by hiring a coach that's often in the spotlight because of where he coaches, even though he's mostly underperformed.
Calipari needed an exit strategy from Kentucky to save face after losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. And Arkansas provided him with that opportunity. Now it's the Razorbacks that will likely be faced with the decision on whether or not to fire Calipari in a few years.
Tennessee hired a rising star this week while the Razorbacks hired a fading star. Arkansas may win the headlines this week, but it was Tennessee that put in the work and made the better hire.
