Perhaps the best analogy to describe the 2025-26 season for the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team is a five-alarm fire. What started as a few embers grew into a raging blaze that had everyone running for the exits.
In the end, the only person left standing to sort through the wreckage is head coach Kim Caldwell.
The Lady Vols lost every player from this season’s roster to either graduation or the transfer portal, including their heralded freshman class. Adding to the internal exodus, Olivyah Edwards, the No. 2-ranked recruit by ESPN, announced on social media that UT had granted her request to be released from her letter of intent.
At one point, the only player attached to the Lady Vols in any capacity was incoming freshman Gabby Minus, a four-star guard from Dacula, Georgia.
The coaching staff was not immune either. Assistant coach Gabe Lazo left to take an assistant coaching job at LSU only to quickly pivot and become the head coach at UCF. A few days later, Caldwell fired assistant coach Roman Tubner.
The warning signs were apparent for months. Tennessee (16-14) finished the season with the first eight-game losing streak in the modern era of the program. UT’s 16 wins were the fewest in a single season in program history.
Midway through Caldwell’s second season, she called out the Lady Vols for having “a lot of quit in us.” The downward spiral continued as Tennessee gained more attention for the drama surrounding the program than anything being done on the court.
Not unique to Knoxville
Tennessee is far from the only program with a high number of transfers. Iowa State, Oklahoma State, UNC and Texas are among other high-profile women’s programs being hit by a large exodus. There are more than 1,400 players in the transfer portal, which will benefit Caldwell in trying to fill the roster.
The process started last week with Liberty guard Avery Mills, Northern Arizona guard Naomi White, Georgia forward Zhen Craft, Georgia guard Rylie Theuerkauf and Stanford’s Harper Peterson among the first transfer commitments to the Lady Vols.
Caldwell hired former Florida State associate head coach Bill Ferrara and former Georgia assistant Isoken Uzamere as assistants to help her rebuild the roster.
Caldwell arrived at UT with just one season of Division I experience at mid-major Marshall. Taking over a tradition-rich program like the Lady Vols was a big jump. UT finished 24-10 in Caldwell’s first season, reaching the Sweet 16 and ending the season ranked in the Top 25.
After signing one of the top recruiting classes in the country, expectations rose this season. But the pieces didn’t seem to fit, and drama became the defining story by the final month.
The players the Lady Vols can attract through the transfer portal this month will likely be less talented than last year’s squad, but they could fit better in Caldwell’s high-tempo offense, which uses hockey-style substitution patterns.
A lot of eyes on the program
Former UT legend Candace Parker, whose role as president of Adidas Women’s Basketball also makes her a key asset in the program’s NIL strategy, gave her thoughts on the current state of the program during an episode of her podcast “Post Moves with Candace Parker & Aliyah Boston.”
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been back to the Final Four. I was in the jersey, and I know I’m about 40, so I know it has been a really long time. So it’s just disappointing,” Parker said. “Obviously, you can’t control the portal all the time. However, we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to start making strides, so this program doesn’t really fall by the wayside, for sure.”
A few of the transfers from this year’s UT team have already found new homes, including Talaysia Cooper committing to Ole Miss, twin sisters Mia and Mya Pulido both heading to Rutgers, and Alyssa Latham and Lauren Hurst both committing to Virginia Tech.
Danny White, UT vice chancellor/director of athletics, gave Caldwell a vote of confidence before the NCAA Tournament began. He hasn’t made any public statements since the offseason roster exodus, but it’s safe to assume Caldwell will need to show she can rebuild the program through the portal and make the changes necessary to alter the current narrative to keep her job.