THE CALDWELL FILE

Personal Information

Name: Kim (Stephens) Caldwell
Birthday: Nov. 24, 1988
Hometown: Parkersburg, W.Va.
High School: Parkersburg South High School, 2007
Education: B.S. (Sport Mgmt. with Psychology Minor), Glenville State (W.Va.), 2011; M.S. (Education), Ohio Valley Univ. (W.Va.), 2012
Spouse: Justin Caldwell
Son: Conor

Coaching Experience

OVERALL

Years as a head coach (2016-present): 10 (3 in NCAA DI / 7 in NCAA DII)
Overall record: 257-55 (66-31 in NCAA DI / 191-24 in DII)
Conference record: 165-29 (33-17 in NCAA DI / 132-12 in DII)
NCAA berths: 10 (3 NCAA DI / 7 NCAA DII)
NCAA Final Fours: 2 (2022 & 2023 in NCAA DII)
NCAA Championships: 1 (2022 in NCAA DII)
Conference Championships: 7 (1 in NCAA DI / 6 in NCAA DII)
Conference Tournament Championships: 5 (1 in NCAA DI / 4 in NCAA DII)
National Coach of the Year: 1 (NCAA DII)
Rookie Coach of the Year: 1 (NCAA DI)
Conference Coach of the Year: 5 (1 in NCAA DI / 4 in NCAA DII)

TENNESSEE

Head coach (April 7, 2024-present)
Two-year record: 40-24
Conference record: 16-16
Two postseason appearances (both NCAA, best-2025 S16)
Best start by a coach in first year with Lady Vols (13-0), t7th best start overall
Led UT to first victory in the interrupted series over UConn since 2007

MARSHALL

Head coach (2023-24)
One-year record: 26-7
Conference record: 17-1
One postseason appearance (NCAA 1st Rd.)
2024 Spalding Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year
2024 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year
Led her team to SBC regular season and tournament titles (2023-24)
Earned Marshall’s first NCAA berth since 1997 and only the second ever
Tallied most wins by a first-year coach in program history
Program’s first 20-win regular season since 1990-91
Squad averaged 85.3 points per game and forced 24.2 turnovers per contest

GLENVILLE STATE

Head coach (2016-23)
Seven-year record: 191-24
Conference record: 132-12
2022 NCAA DII National Champions
2022 & 2023 NCAA DII Final Four
Seven postseason appearances (all NCAA)
Six Mountain East Conference Championships
Four Mountain East Conference Tournament Championships
2022 NCAA DII National Coach of the Year (received Pat Summitt Trophy)
Four-time Mountain East Conference Coach of the Year
Named to 2016-17 WBCA Coaches Thirty Under 30
68-4 record over her last two seasons at GSU

SACRAMENTO STATE

Assistant coach (2013-16)
Three-year record: 50-45
One postseason appearance (2015 WNIT 3rd Rd.)

GLENVILLE STATE

Assistant Coach (2012-13)
One-year record: 27-4
One postseason appearance (NCAA DII Second Round)

OHIO VALLEY

Assistant Coach (2011-12)

COLLEGIATE PLAYING EXPERIENCE

Glenville State (2007-11)
Led Pioneers to 2010-11 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title
Earned a bid to the 2011 NCAA Division II Tournament
2010-11 WVIAC Student-Athlete of the Year
2010 & 2011 WVIAC Commissioner’s Honor Roll

Updated: June 2026

WATCH: Everything Orange Podcast | First 100 Days On Rocky Top | Introductory Press Conference

Kim Caldwell is in her third season as the women’s basketball head coach at the University of Tennessee. She was announced on April 7, 2024, as the fourth leader of the Lady Volunteers during the NCAA era.

A rising star in the profession, Caldwell has quickly forged a reputation as an elite head coach at three different stops after making her debut at the game’s highest level as the skipper of the all-time winningest program in women’s hoops at UT. She previously led NCAA Division II Glenville State and DI Marshall to championship seasons with a high-octane approach on both ends of the floor.

Simply put, Caldwell is a winner. Through 10 seasons as a head coach, she has compiled a 257-55 (.824) career record, ranking her No. 11 among all active NCAA coaches and No. 4 among those at the NCAA Division I level. Those numbers include an astounding 165-29 (.851) mark in conference games. Along the way, her teams have earned berths in 10 NCAA Tournaments, and she directed those squads to one national championship, two NCAA DII Final Fours, seven conference championships and five conference tournament titles.

Statistically, her teams have excelled in scoring, three-point shooting, offensive rebounding and steals. As a head coach, her squads have led the nation five times in scoring and have finished second twice. Her squads have been the top team on four occasions in three-pointers made per game. In steals per game, Caldwell’s units finished below fourth only once in her first eight seasons.

Her first year on Rocky Top saw Caldwell guide her club to a 24-10 overall record and an 8-8 mark in SEC play, carding wins over Florida State, Iowa, Ohio State and eventual NCAA champ UConn, the first by UT over the Huskies since 2007 in the interrupted series. The Big Orange advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 and finished the season ranked 15th and 16th, respectively, in the AP and USA TODAY/WBCA Coaches Polls. Those accomplishments came while Caldwell carried her first child and gave birth during the season, missing only the Texas game and returning vs. South Carolina.

Caldwell carded her eighth 20-win season (exception was COVID year) and recorded the best opening ever by a Lady Vol head coach in her first year of leading the program (8-0) and extended it to 13-0. That marked her second-best opening to a campaign behind a 29-0 start at Glenville State in 2021-22.

Caldwell’s initial team at Tennessee set school and SEC records for points (139), three-pointers made (30) and threes attempted (63) vs. N.C. Central on Dec. 14. The treys made also eclipsed NCAA (M/W), NBA and WNBA bests, while the point total ranked fifth in NCAA women’s history.

Additionally, UT tallied the most treys made (343) and attempted (1,054) in a season at UT, also setting SEC bests. UT’s 86.6 points per game in Caldwell’s first campaign stood fourth in school annals and eighth in the SEC record book.

Caldwell’s first edition produced an All-SEC Second Team and SEC All-Defensive Team performer in Talaysia Cooper. It also featured Sara Puckett and Jewel Spear earning CSC Academic All-District accolades and 11 of her 15 players receiving SEC Academic Honor Roll distinction.

After the season, Zee Spearman was chosen for the USA’s 2025 FIBA 3x3 Nations League Americas squad (Chile) and the 2025 FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup Team (China). Spearman was Caldwell’s first player to compete with USA Basketball.

On the recruiting front, Caldwell and her staff have seen the benefits of their hard work pay off early during her tenure. Her first portal class played a lead role for the 2024-25 squad. UT then signed a 2025 high school class ranked No. 1 or 2 and added the top portal class of 2025 and the No. 9 group in 2026.

Year two saw UT climb two spots in the SEC regular season standings to sixth and its tourney seed rise three spots to sixth as well, finishing 16-14 overall, 8-8 in the SEC, and making the school’s 44th-straight NCAA appearance. The team navigated one of the nation’s toughest slates to do so, including games vs. ranked teams in 10 of its last 15 games. Six of those were vs. top-10 ranked squads.

UT, which earned victories over No. 11/12 Kentucky, No. 21 Alabama and Georgia and suffered close losses to No. 4 Texas and No. 9 Oklahoma, saw redshirt junior Talaysia Cooper (All-SEC Second Team) and freshman MIa Pauldo (SEC All-Freshman Team) recognized for their standout play in 2025-26. Nya Robertson set a program record for most threes in a game with 10 vs. Coppin State, while the team’s totals of threes made (280) and attempted (917) ranked No. 2 in school history and near the top of the SEC record books.

Caldwell enjoyed another first in her career, celebrating her first two WNBA Draft picks in 2026. Janiah Barker (29th, Las Vegas) and Zee Spearman (31st, Dallas) were taken in the second and third rounds, respectively.

Prior to coming to Tennessee, Caldwell guided Marshall to a 26-7 overall record and 17-1 league mark in her only season there in 2023-24. She was named the WBCA’s Spalding Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year and the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year after piloting the Thundering Herd to the league’s regular season and tournament titles as well as the school’s second NCAA berth ever and first since 1997.

After being picked ninth in the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll, Marshall proceeded to generate 85.3 points per game (4th in NCAA) and force 24.2 turnovers per contest in notching a program best for wins. Caldwell’s victory total stands as the most by a first-year coach in MU women’s hoops history and marked the first 20-win regular-season campaign by the school since 1990-91.

Caldwell got her start as a head coach at her alma mater under her maiden name of Kim Stephens. She led Glenville State to the 2021-22 NCAA Division II National Championship in her sixth year at the school and helped the Pioneers earn seven overall NCAA Tournament berths.

For the 2021-22 season’s accomplishment, she was presented the Pat Summitt Trophy, which goes to the WBCA’s NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year. Caldwell also earned the 2022 Furfari Award, which is presented to West Virginia’s College Coach of the Year in all sports by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association. She also won that award in 2019 and 2024 (while at Marshall) as well.

In seven seasons with the Pioneers, from 2016-23, the 2011 GSU graduate compiled a 191-24 mark, including a 132-12 slate in the Mountain East Conference (MEC). Her final two editions forged a 68-4 combined record, including the 35-1 national championship season (22-0 in league play) in 2021-22, and a 33-3 outcome after advancing to the national semifinals in 2022-23. Her final unit there led NCAA Division II in points per game (91.2) and turnovers forced (27.3).

She guided Glenville State to six MEC regular season titles (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023) and four MEC Tournament trophies (2018, 2019, 2020, 2023), earning MEC Coach of the Year honors four times in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. Her first four league titles came with her father, Scott Stephens, serving as her assistant coach before he passed away on Nov. 21, 2020.

Prior to her stint at GSU, she worked as an assistant at Sacramento State for three seasons from 2013-16 under Bunky Harkleroad, for the 2012-13 season at Glenville State as an assistant to Harkleroad and began her college coaching career at Ohio Valley University, filling a role as an assistant there from 2011-12.

A native of Parkersburg, W.Va., Caldwell played high school basketball for her dad at Parkersburg South High School, where he led that program to three state titles during a 13-year career. Her sisters Anne and Jill also played at PSHS before going on to collegiate careers at the University of Cincinnati from 2002-06 and 2005-09, respectively.

As a collegiate player, Caldwell (then Stephens) helped lead Glenville State to the 2010-11 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship as a player and earn an NCAA Division II Tournament berth. She was named the WVIAC Student-Athlete of the Year that season and academically made the WVIAC Commissioner’s Honor Roll as a junior and senior.

Caldwell is married to Justin Caldwell, who was head coach of the men’s basketball program at Glenville State from 2018-23 and served as a men’s hoops assistant at Marshall in 2023-24. He joined Rick Barnes’ men’s basketball staff at Tennessee on Sept. 20, 2024, when he was named player development coordinator for the Volunteers.

The Caldwells are the parents of a son, Conor Scott, who was born on Jan. 20, 2025.

WHAT UT VICE CHANCELLOR/DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS DANNY WHITE SAID...

"From the beginning, our goal has been to find a dynamic head coach who can restore our women's basketball program to national prominence. Kim Caldwell is the ideal person to lead us," said White. "Kim has a winning formula that she has successfully implemented everywhere she has coached, with a fast-paced, high-octane offense and pressure defense that has led to remarkable results. In this new era of college sports, it was vital that we found an innovative head coach with a strong track record of winning titles. We are eager to return the Lady Vols to a championship level, and we're confident that Kim Caldwell is the coach who can lead us back to the top."

Caldwell's Year-by-Year Head Coaching Record
Year	School	Position	Overall/Conf. (Pl.)	Postseason
2016-17	Glenville State	Head Coach	24-6/18-4 (1st)	NCAA First Rd.
2017-18	Glenville State	Head Coach	31-2/22-0 (1st)	NCAA Regional/MEC Trn. Champs
2018-19	Glenville State	Head Coach	30-3/21-1 (1st)	NCAA Regional/MEC Trn. Champs
2019-20	Glenville State	Head Coach	26-5/19-3 (1st)	NCAA/MEC Trn. Champs
2020-21	Glenville State	Head Coach	12-4/10-2 (2nd)	NCAA Regional
2021-22	Glenville State	Head Coach	35-1/22-0 (1st)	NCAA Champs
2022-23	Glenville State	Head Coach	33-3/20-2 (1st)	NCAA Final Four/MEC Trn. Champs
2023-24	Marshall	Head Coach	26-7/17-1 (1st)	NCAA 1st Rd./SBC Trn. Champs
2024-25	Tennessee	Head Coach	24-10/8-8 (t8th)	NCAA Sweet 16
2025-26	Tennessee	Head Coach	16-14/8-8 (t6th)	NCAA First Round
2 years	At Tennessee		40-24/16-16	2 NCAA Tournaments
10 years	Career		257-55/165-29	10 NCAA Tournaments