BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kim Caldwell’s son won’t remember it, but his first game watching his mother coach Lady Vols basketball was a memorable one.
Conor Caldwell’s first game was Tennessee playing in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, and the Lady Vols took No. 1 seed Texas down to the wire at Legacy Arena. The No. 5 seed Lady Vols fell 67-59 on Saturday, but the last game of Caldwell’s first season leading Tennessee was a thriller for the 11,433 fans in attendance.
“I think personally the support of my family is unmatched,” Caldwell said of her son attending. “My husband (Justin, the UT men’s basketball player development coordinator) has stepped up big. It’s been a tough year. It’s hard to have a baby in the middle of basketball season, I really don’t recommend it.”
It was somewhat of a full-circle moment for Conor’s first game to be against Texas. The Lady Vols’ regular-season game against the Longhorns was the only one Caldwell missed with the game in Austin, Texas, and only three days after she gave birth on Jan. 20.
Besides her husband, Caldwell had the support of her mother, Linda Stephens, who moved to Knoxville to help care for Conor during the season.
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“You don’t always get to pick your parents,” Caldwell said. “You do get to pick your spouse, but I got lucky enough to have help through this journey, through this process. And when you have to miss a game and sit on the couch with your two-day old son, and for him this is the first game he got to come to was special.”
Caldwell also said she appreciated the administration at Tennessee and her team for the support to get through this season.
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Caldwell knows the other side of what it’s like to coach through things happening in her personal life. Her father, Scott Stephens, was her assistant coach at Glenville State until he died suddenly of a brain tumor in November 2020. She was grateful to coach through having her first child this season.
“Everything was a blessing,” Caldwell said. “I know that there are coaches that coach through things that are not blessings – sickness and deaths and all of those things. I got to coach through blessing after blessing with a team that I love. But it meant a lot to have him here and I appreciate every single person that helped me through this season.”
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on X @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
