Lady Vols coaching hire may be bold, but bold has worked for AD Danny White so far

Danny White has been the University of Tennessee’s athletics director for three years and three months. Not a long time, but a busy one.

Last week’s hire of Kim Caldwell as the new women’s basketball coach further stamped White’s imprint on a coaching roster that still traces its roots to four athletics directors.

Caldwell is the seventh head-coaching hire made by White. He has, in his term, replaced two coaches hired by Phillip Fulmer, two by Dave Hart and even two by Joan Cronan from the era of a separate women’s department.

The highest-profile change was, of course, his first one. Before he even knew where his personal parking space was, White brought Josh Heupel from Central Florida in 2021 to rebuild football from the Jeremy Pruitt debacle.

Pruitt was a Fulmer hire. So was Kellie Harper, whom White cast off last month from the Lady Vols basketball program after a fifth season of treading water short of the Final Four. “We’re good,’’ said White. “We want to be great.’’

In 2022, White sacked Beth Alford Sullivan, a Hart hire who led the combined men’s and women’s track and field and cross-country programs. He hired Duane Ross to oversee track and field and Sean Carlson to direct the cross-country and distance efforts.

Also in 2022, White promoted assistant coach Joe Kirt to head women’s soccer when Brian Pensky, a Hart hire, left for Florida State.

White hired Diana Cantu as women’s golf coach in 2021, replacing Judy Pavon, a long-serving Cronan hire.

Last year, he picked Kim Cupini to head the rowing program when Lisa Glenn, a Cronan hire, retired after 25 years.

Then there are the coaches White inherited.

The longest-tenured is Karen Weekly, whom Cronan hired in 2002 as co-head softball coach along with her husband, Ralph Weekly. When Ralph retired in 2021, White named Karen as the sole head coach, a no-brainer.

The other Cronan holdover is Matt Kredich, hired in 2005 as women’s swimming coach. Kredich, in 2012, was promoted to director of the combined men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs by Hart.

John Currie had a short stint as AD in 2017, before he was a casualty of his football coaching search that went off the rails. But he made two significant hires in his nine months.

He gave Tony Vitello his first head-coaching break and Tennessee baseball has been a powerhouse ever since. Currie also promoted Chris Woodruff to head men’s tennis coach. The result has been a consistent top-10 program.

There are two leftovers from Fulmer’s tenure that ran from December 2017 to early 2021. Both have been solid – Eve Rackham Watt in volleyball and Brennan Webb in men’s golf.

That’s the roster. There are no head coaches left from the Mike Hamilton era, 2003-2011. Hamilton’s headliners were Bruce Pearl, Cuonzo Martin, Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley and Todd Raleigh.

White’s new hire, Caldwell, came out of left field. Or in basketball terms, it looks like a 3-point try rather than a layup.

However, Vol fans should give White the benefit of the doubt on Caldwell. His first full academic year on the job, 2021-22, saw Tennessee win the SEC All-Sports Trophy for the first time.

Then Tennessee repeated in 2022-23. And also finished No. 6 in the national Learfield all-sports competition, the school’s highest ever.

It’s a good coaching roster. And, more and more, it’s White’s roster.

Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee hires Kim Caldwell of Marshall as Lady Vols basketball coach