When you talk about iconic women’s college basketball programs, two names always come up first: UConn and Tennessee. UConn is still very much the powerhouse it has always been, but Tennessee — once the gold standard under the legendary Pat Summitt — have slowly drifted into oblivion. Wanting to change that, the program took a bold step of hiring a coach with almost zero NCAA tournament experience: Kim Caldwell. But so far, that gamble hasn’t delivered.

The Lady Vols have dropped both of their ranked matchups under Kim Caldwell this season, and it’s starting to feel like they’re headed toward another rough conference run, just like her first year in charge. But if you ask the 37-year-old, this was all part of the plan.

In the postgame press conference after the 99–77 loss to UCLA, Caldwel

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