Why Kim Caldwell wants to get back to blue-collar culture with Lady Vols

"It was refreshing every single visit," Caldwell said. "You would think that we would have gotten tired from doing it, but to be able to see how awesome everything is and how appreciative (they were), how well we are supported here through everyone's lens, really was honestly amazing."

Caldwell's recruiting in the portal to rebuild her roster reflected a priority on production over potential. She said on April 29 in Nashville that she put herself in a situation where she "chased rankings" with last season's roster and recruited the same type of player.

Caldwell said while they were great players, they all wanted to do the same things, so they needed to construct a roster with players who can thrive in different roles and players who complement each other.

When evaluating players in the portal, some things translate better when jumping levels, Caldwell said, but some things stay the same, like the 3-point line. But Caldwell put an emphasis on players who produced and they brought in rebounding guards and stronger defenders.

Caldwell's goals for the offseason workouts include each player getting three to five points better.

"That's a lot of points better, but you set your goals high and then you chase it," Caldwell said. "I think we got to set our culture. We got to set our leadership early. I think all of those things need to happen in the summer months. So they'll come back middle of June, and then we'll run pretty much up until school starts."

Caldwell wants to do things differently from the moment the 15 new players arrive on campus, and it already started on their visits. They're also sending each player legendary Lady Vols coach Pat Summit's book "Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective."

"You have to think that these young players are so far removed, and they're so young from when Tennessee was at its best," Caldwell said April 29. "Once they get to campus, trying to involve the former Lady Vols of really connecting the past and the future, so we have an education of what we are on the floor playing for."

Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social‬. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Kim Caldwell changed approach to transfer portal building Lady Vols roster