Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell rips her job performance after dubious distinction: ‘Players deserve better’

Arguably the worst season in Lady Volunteers history is finished, for which its head coach is accepting the blame.

Tennessee — 16-14, the program’s lowest winning percentage ever since the first season of NCAA-sanctioned women’s basketball in 1981-82 — went quietly, the 10th seed falling to No. 7 NC State, 76-71, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.

The defeat was the Volunteers’ eighth straight, their most recent victory on Feb. 12. A team traditionally built for March Madness went winless in the month.

Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell gives instructions against North Carolina State during the first half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 20, 2026, in Ann Arbor, Mich. AP

“I can’t put it on roster construction. I gotta put it on me, right? I’ve always been able to recruit players … and get them to run through a wall for me and get them to play hard,” second-year Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell told reporters, via ESPN. “I wasn’t able to do that, and the one thing I can put my finger on is that I bailed on what we want to do first, and then how can I blame anyone else from doing it?”

She “bailed” on her original plan, which had revolved around running and pressing and subbing on the fly.

A more conventional style of play did not work.

“It was the worst year of my professional career,” Caldwell told reporters. “Our players deserve better than that from me, and you learn from that going forward.

“There was never clear leadership on my part of, hey, this is exactly what we’re going to do. This is why we’re going to do it. We never got consistent rotations.”

Tennessee has played in every NCAA Tournament, and the program that forever will be known for Pat Summitt now has only lost three times in the initial game of the tournament.

Kim Caldwell of the Tennessee Volunteers looks on during the first half of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament first round game against the NC State Wolfpack at Crisler Arena on March 20, 2026 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Getty Images

Last year — Caldwell’s first with the school — Tennessee was knocked out in the Sweet 16.

Caldwell had been seen as a rising star in the industry, leading Division II Glenville State to a 2022 national championship before a stop at Marshall, where in 2023-24 she led the Thundering Herd to their second NCAA Tournament berth ever and first since 1997.