Kim Caldwell navigating first season as Tennessee Lady Vols coach with ‘Baby Caldwell’ on the way

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Kim Caldwell received two rounds of huge news this year: getting the job as coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols and finding out that she’s pregnant.

Caldwell announced on social media Sept. 3 that "Baby Caldwell" was on the way.

"I spent a really long time, I think maybe the first three months of my pregnancy, being really worried about it," she said Wednesday at SEC women’s basketball media day. "You have to give it to God. God gave us this blessing for a reason. He's got it. I don't have a lot of power over it.

“I have a great team around me. My husband will be there to support. My mom will come. Our staff is ready."

Caldwell’s husband, Justin, was hired as player development coordinator for Rick Barnes’ men’s team at Tennessee on Sept. 20.

"When we talk to our team about it, we really put it in a light of, 'Hey, we need all of you guys to step up and be leaders, come together now,'" she said. "I think at that moment it became a really positive thing."

Caldwell led Marshall to its first NCAA Tournament since 1997 last season and guided Glenville State to the Division II national title in 2022.

"She’s a competitor," fifth-year guard Jewel Spear said. "She’s not wanting to win in two years or three years. She wants to win this year with the group that we have.”

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said there have been conversations about going from 16 league games to playing 18 like the men.

"We've taken a lot of input, sometimes probably incoming from our women's coaches, about increasing that number," Sankey said. "They think they've benefited from the nonconference scheduling from the byes, the open dates they have, that have been filled with some prominent nonconference games. That conversation does continue, however."

Texas coach Vic Schaefer doesn't like the idea of going to 18 games, saying the SEC is "a monster" league.

"I think that's why our coaches and conference are so adamant at staying at 16," Schaefer said. "Our league is that good. Every year we still have a large amount of teams making the NCAA tournament because of that."

Former No. 1 WNBA draft pick Rhyne Howard will be on the staff at Florida during her offseason. Victoria Vivians of the Seattle Storm is a new assistant coach/director of scouting for her alma mater Mississippi State.

They’re among the pros working on the bench in the SEC this season. Howard, who played college ball at Kentucky, was the WNBA rookie of the year with the Atlanta Dream in 2022. She will be an assistant and director of player personnel for the Gators.

"She's going to be elite in our game for a very long time, if that's what she chooses to do," Florida coach Kelly Rae Finley said. "Having somebody like her around our student-athletes that is currently living their dreams is just such a valuable asset to our coaching staff."

Vivians helped lead Mississippi State to consecutive national championship game appearances in 2017 and 2018.

"It’s special not only because she’s a pro but she was at Mississippi State, been to the Final Four multiple times," Mississippi State guard Jerkaila Jordan said.

The women’s tournament will remain in Greenville, South Carolina, through at least 2028.

The SEC announced a three-year extension with the city on Wednesday to host the tournament in 2026, 2027 and 2028. Greenville has hosted the event the past three years in the Bon Secours Wellness Arena and will again in 2025.

"The city's hospitality and organization combined with the quality of the arena make Greenville an ideal location to provide a memorable experience for SEC women's basketball student-athletes, coaches and fans," Sankey said.

Greenville is one of 14 cities to have hosted the conference’s women’s basketball tournament.

Auburn coach Johnnie Harris’ evolution from recruiting specialist to head coach got a helping hand from Texas coach Schaefer.

They were together on the staff at Texas A&M from 2007-12, where head coach Gary Blair charged Harris primarily with recruiting duties initially. Schaefer, though, had her draw up mock scouting reports and then graded them, filling the early reports with red ink.

"Vic Schaefer took me under his wing because he knew I wanted more," Harris said. When Schaefer took over the Mississippi State program, he brought in Harris and they were together again until 2020.

"He's like a brother to me, and always will be," said Harris, who led the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament last season.

Auburn graduate forward DeYona Gaston comes from the Longhorns program, where she was the Big 12 Sixth Player of the Year last season and first-team all-conference as a junior. She gets to face her former team on Jan. 16 at Neville Arena, and is clearly looking forward to it.

"Oh yeah, for sure," Gaston said. "Of course, yeah. It’s a rivalry for me. But it’s going to be a good game for both teams."

She said Harris had recruited her since the eighth grade.

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AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll