[HalloHaleakala]

Sabreena Merchant has written an article in the Athletic about Tennessee women's basketball, its struggles this season and its downward trajectory since Pat Summitt retired. I read some paragraphs and thought you could replace "Tennessee" with "Stanford" and it would still be accurate. The story is a cautionary one for Stanford Athletics administrators and fans. 

This especially resonated.

There has yet to be a DI program in the modern era to maintain success after the retirement of a coaching legend. Stanford missed the tournament after Tara VanDerveer’s departure in 2024 and will likely do so again. Notre Dame has stalled in the Sweet 16 since Muffet McGraw left, as has Baylor after Kim Mulkey moved to LSU. Tennessee is in uncharted territory. Despite its self-perception as a power in women’s basketball, the market revealed last offseason that the Tennessee head coaching position was no longer a prestige job — because Tennessee was no longer a prestige program.

A perfunctory NCAA Tournament appearance is the likely endgame of the 2025-26 season. And it’s unclear what Tennessee can even do about it. The Lady Vols are chasing ghosts.

They have to retain Caldwell, despite an uninspiring basketball product and public comments that haven’t exactly earned her much goodwill from the alumnae. She’ll likely stay because she was the best coach who wanted to take this job, and it’s better to keep building than restart the clock.

And this.

But Tennessee can’t behave that way anymore, cutting coaches with the expectation a line of candidates will be waiting outside Thompson-Boling Arena. It doesn’t have the cache to draw the top options in the coaching carousel. The best coaches in the country seem more interested in building up new programs rather than resuscitating once-proud institutions. Even Kara Lawson, the Duke coach and a champion with the Volunteers who cites Summitt as her foremost coaching inspiration, reportedly turned down the job before Caldwell was hired.
 
This is what Tennessee is, a middle of the pack SEC team. Perhaps reinvestment in facilities, an increased NIL fund or higher coaching salaries will make it a more attractive destination. More likely, if the program takes a step forward, it is because Caldwell figures out how to navigate the SEC or lands a star recruit, not unlike how Mikayla Blakes gave life to Vanderbilt.
 
The expectations for Tennessee can’t be what they were. The athletic department signaled as much when it hired Caldwell. Whatever she does can’t be judged against Summitt. It’s a different era in college basketball, and a different era in Knoxville. It’s her task to prove she can build a competitive DI program regardless of what preceded her.

Link (which should be accessible to all). 
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7065182...l-share-ta

Interesting tidbit about Lawson. I believe, though, that she'll ultimately be Brenda Frese's successor at Maryland. She's from Greater Washington, DC and, as I understand, has always kind of kept tabs on the team and the area in general.

[HalloHaleakala]

Sabreena Merchant has written an article in the Athletic about Tennessee women's basketball, its struggles this season and its downward trajectory since Pat Summitt retired. I read some paragraphs and thought you could replace "Tennessee" with "Stanford" and it would still be accurate. The story is a cautionary one for Stanford Athletics administrators and fans. 

This especially resonated.

There has yet to be a DI program in the modern era to maintain success after the retirement of a coaching legend. Stanford missed the tournament after Tara VanDerveer’s departure in 2024 and will likely do so again. Notre Dame has stalled in the Sweet 16 since Muffet McGraw left, as has Baylor after Kim Mulkey moved to LSU. Tennessee is in uncharted territory. Despite its self-perception as a power in women’s basketball, the market revealed last offseason that the Tennessee head coaching position was no longer a prestige job — because Tennessee was no longer a prestige program.

A perfunctory NCAA Tournament appearance is the likely endgame of the 2025-26 season. And it’s unclear what Tennessee can even do about it. The Lady Vols are chasing ghosts.

They have to retain Caldwell, despite an uninspiring basketball product and public comments that haven’t exactly earned her much goodwill from the alumnae. She’ll likely stay because she was the best coach who wanted to take this job, and it’s better to keep building than restart the clock.

And this.

But Tennessee can’t behave that way anymore, cutting coaches with the expectation a line of candidates will be waiting outside Thompson-Boling Arena. It doesn’t have the cache to draw the top options in the coaching carousel. The best coaches in the country seem more interested in building up new programs rather than resuscitating once-proud institutions. Even Kara Lawson, the Duke coach and a champion with the Volunteers who cites Summitt as her foremost coaching inspiration, reportedly turned down the job before Caldwell was hired.
 
This is what Tennessee is, a middle of the pack SEC team. Perhaps reinvestment in facilities, an increased NIL fund or higher coaching salaries will make it a more attractive destination. More likely, if the program takes a step forward, it is because Caldwell figures out how to navigate the SEC or lands a star recruit, not unlike how Mikayla Blakes gave life to Vanderbilt.
 
The expectations for Tennessee can’t be what they were. The athletic department signaled as much when it hired Caldwell. Whatever she does can’t be judged against Summitt. It’s a different era in college basketball, and a different era in Knoxville. It’s her task to prove she can build a competitive DI program regardless of what preceded her.

Link (which should be accessible to all). 
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7065182...l-share-ta

Interesting tidbit about Lawson. I believe, though, that she'll ultimately be Brenda Frese's successor at Maryland. She's from Greater Washington, DC and, as I understand, has always kind of kept tabs on the team and the area in general.