Source: Tennessee hires Marshall's Kim Caldwell as new coach

Tennessee hired Marshall coach Kim Caldwell on Sunday, going outside the Lady Vols family for the first time since the late Pat Summitt stepped down, a source told ESPN.

Caldwell replaces Kellie Harper, who was fired last week after five seasons coaching at her alma mater. She will be introduced at a news conference Tuesday. The move might be considered outside the box to some. Both Harper and her predecessor, Holly Warlick, had deep ties to the program.

Not so with Caldwell, who spent this past season at Marshall, reinvigorating a program that had been down. In her lone season as head coach, Marshall won the Sun Belt championship, set a record for most wins in school history (26) and made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1997.

Before going to Marshall, Caldwell spent seven seasons at her alma mater, Division II Glenville State, winning the 2022 Division II national championship. That same year, she won the Pat Summitt Trophy as the WBCA NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year.

Unlike Harper, who had a long track record as a head coach in Division I before Tennessee hired her, Caldwell has only spent one season at the Division I level. But the appeal of her offensive and defensive systems spoke to athletics director Danny White -- especially at a time when Tennessee has lost ground in the SEC to both South Carolina and LSU.

She now becomes the fourth head coach in the NCAA era at Tennessee, with the inevitable pressure that comes with trying to get back to the standard Summitt set. Summitt won eight national championships in 38 seasons, but Tennessee has not advanced past the Elite Eight since 2008.

Caldwell is 217-31 in eight seasons as a head coach -- earning eight NCAA berths across two divisions and winning seven total conference championships. Marshall was picked to finish ninth in the preseason Sun Belt media poll, but under Caldwell, the Thundering Herd averaged 85.3 points per game (fourth nationally) and forced 24.2 turnovers per game (second nationally). It was the first 20-win regular-season since 1990-91.