Austin Price: Hello Everybody. Welcome in for another episode of All Club Confidential, sponsored by the great people at Knoxville Smiles. I'm your host Austin Price. Coming up to now on the show we have Tennessee Lady All's Head coach Kim Caldwell, to wrap up season two. This will be the final show until August, but before then we bring in Will Crockett of the volunteer club and will you look at the next couple of months going to be pivotal from a standpoint of just getting ready for those big tailgates? We're going to finish out baseball season and the launch of the new app. Will Crockett: Yeah, so we will spend the next few months getting ready for everything throughout the fall. So for our tow dates, we always want to try to do bigger and better, so we're going to work through that and then we're really excited about this app that we have coming out. Something that we've noticed really since football season ends with basketball and baseball. We try to do a few events. It's just harder to have as many people there just because not as many people can travel in. We don't have the space, et cetera. So for the app, this is a way for us to engage people 12 months throughout the year. So we're really excited about that. So that should be coming out hopefully late May, early June. Austin Price: We're doing a lot of shared content with Vault West on there, whether it be players, press conferences, coaches press conferences, podcasts, all those type of things will be available on the Will Crockett: App. The people keep asking us for more of you. So this is just a way for us to get you out there, but really everybody at Ball Quest, so that's a big thing for us is just gauge members in new ways. Austin Price: What a guy you are. Yeah, you know it. Baseball season, wrapping up as we get you out the door, which means there's activations coming up in the month of the May for the South Carolina series. Will Crockett: Yep. So we're going to be at the stadium doing different stuff throughout there so you can come by and see us then as we hopefully host a regional, then super regional and then in the World Series we're going to be there the whole way. So as far as they go, we're right there with them. Austin Price: We appreciate you. We also appreciate the great people at Knoxville Smiles. Dr. Michael Costa: Hi, I'm Dr. Michael Costa. Dr. Malone and I here at Knoxville Smiles are here to help you with any of your dental needs, whether it's a routine cleaning, a root canal, or if you just want some advice. Did you know that you don't have to settle for a denture anymore? My team and Dr. Malone are here to help you no matter where you're at and to help you figure out the truth for your dental health. So give us a call or visit our website@knoxvillesmiles.com. Austin Price: Coach you just over a year ago, you're at your alma mater, you're not even at Marshall yet, you're not married yet to know how much your life has changed in the last 365 days. How wild has that ride? Kim Caldwell: It is just hard to wrap your head around at this point. Every now and then you think about it. My alma mater is in a one stoplight town in Central West Virginia. I mean the population is 1,400 max maybe. And so there's not a Walmart, there's not a mall. There's barely cell phone service. I mean you go 15 miles of back roads to get there and it's a special place. It's a great place. It's a huge part of my heart. But to go from there and a year later you're the head coach at Tennessee, it's very hard to wrap your head around and you want to make those people proud and remember where you came from, but it's just a completely, completely big jump. And then you get married and you buy a house and you sell a house and you do it over and over and that's what this profession is, isn't it? Austin Price: It is. When you kind of look at the last almost month since you got here, I know you're spending a lot of time in the office recruiting, building a staff, things you all did a year ago, but at this level probably a little bit different than what you were doing at Marshall, right? Kim Caldwell: Absolutely. I think I was always nervous about the jump from division two to division one and I would say that that jump was easier than the jump from mid major to high major and the SEC and the way things operate here. I've learned probably more in the last two and a half weeks than I have my whole career and just trying to keep up with the order of operations and how things go. So it's definitely a different ball game and I'm thankful to have a staff in place that is there to help me with it. Austin Price: You did this a year ago and as you said, it's a little bit different now, but when you made this jump, did you have an idea of maybe a few people that you wanted to go target to be on your staff or is that kind of flying by the seat of your pants? Flying Kim Caldwell: By the seat of my pants mean you didn't Austin Price: Think you'd be Kim Caldwell: Here? Didn't think I'd be here. I mean I don't know anyone from the SEC, I mean I division two coach and so there's a lot of context that I don't have or didn't have. I have 'em now that I didn't have because I didn't need 'em. And so no, just making sure that when I got here I tried to do things the right way and kind of a blank slate, which is nice, but making sure that I'm doing things the right way and getting the best people in for Tennessee. Austin Price: When you're at the office all hours of the day, do you ever just get up and when you're on the phone, are you just in your office or do you walk around the arena? What's that? I would imagine that just different surroundings, you're trying to familiarize yourself with everything and just kind of get a feel for it. Kim Caldwell: Yeah, I don't sit well, so I'll do a lot of phone calls and I'll do it outside, which is nice. The weather here is phenomenal, but every day on my way out there's multiple ways to get to my car and I'll usually cut across the arena and try to picture it packed and picture it on game day and picture what it's like. I mean it's an incredible arena. It's an incredible fan base, it's an incredible opportunity and so I try to just on my way out the door every night because when you leave you're still not done right? You're taking phone calls the way home, you get home, you're still talking on the phone. So take that moment to myself and just kind of picture Austin Price: It. I think Food City Center formerly Tom Smelling Arena is neat when the lights are off because there's just enough emergency lighting in there so it gives that kind of cool feel and you can see the silhouette of the banners and Kim Caldwell: The box lights are still on, so yeah, it's nice. Austin Price: What's the one thing you didn't know that you found out, the one thing that sticks with you that you're like, man, I didn't know that. Kim Caldwell: I think there's a lot of things, but I think the first thing that comes to my mind is just how the alumni here of any sport, even if you didn't play a sport of just what an honor it is to go to school here and it's kind of an elite group and it's really remarkable that I get to be a small part of it. Austin Price: Everyone wants to talk about the pace of play for the Tennessee fans that don't, they haven't seen you coach, haven't seen your teams play that don't know describe it. Kim Caldwell: So we're going to go five out offense. We're going to try to get the ball across half court in two bounces. So we're going to go as quick as we can to get the ball across half court. We're going to look to hit the home run pass for a quick layup first. It's not going to be there every time obviously. And then we're going to look to pass it up to the wing and then drive and then we're going to look to have our point guard go coast to coast and get a layup and then we're going to go high ball screen NBA five out offense space and pace and try to score fast. And when we're going to press make or miss variety of presses, we are going to switch that up a little bit, but we want to give our players a lot of freedom. We want to teach 'em to play. I like to have great players, not great plays, so teach 'em how to play off of each other, teach 'em how to drive and kick and let 'em go Austin Price: When you're having a lot of success and there are no stoppages, there's no fouls, there's no any of that because I know being able to rotate in and out is a big deal in the offense. Is there a point in time where you feel comfortable calling a timeout to kind of give the ones that are out there a break or do you just let 'em go? Is it just kind of a feel thing? I Kim Caldwell: Don't know if this is a stat, but I would say I probably call the least amount of outs of anyone in the country. I let my players use 'em. I don't like to use 'em unless we need to or and I'll save them for endgame. So no, we run a lot, so I'll usually tell 'em, suck it up, push through it, we'll get you some subs. We will pick up our bench energy to try to give them some energy to get through it, but rarely, unless it's bad and they're not playing hard, will we burn a timeout? Austin Price: Would you like to first year always Coach Hippel did this when he got here, bringing a new style of play in, but if you could kind of script it all, what kind of thumbprint are you putting on the program in year one? Kim Caldwell: I think the biggest thing is we want to be a team that works really hard and plays really hard and it's fun to watch. And so we want to be flying around getting the 50 50 balls being on the floor out rebounding our opponent. We want to be just a hardnosed blue collar team. Austin Price: What do you like about the players that you inherited? Because at the end of the day they're now your players, they're not Coach Harper's players, just like when Coach Pearl was out, they become coach i's players, Kim Caldwell: Right? No, and I appreciate you said that there is a lot of your players, not your players. I love them. They're my players and they're hungry. They have a chip on their shoulder, they want to be pushed, they want to win, they're fun to be around, they're funny. And so the best part of my days right now are being in the gym with them. Austin Price: Do you think they understand at this point the style of play change for them? Yeah, Kim Caldwell: I think they understand that we've talked about it. We've kind of joked about it because we've been pretty light. We've done some skill workouts and some open gym, but we haven't done anything too terrible. But they know, I mean I'll always talk about it, especially in front of recruits like, hey, the running is going to be tough. And they kind of side me they know it's coming. I have a reputation that we run a lot and they know that and I'm sure they did their research too of talking to my former players and so they know it's coming, but I think that as long as they are going to be given freedom on offense, which they are, they're going to be willing to do that. Austin Price: Coach Heel comes from a similar top background. He's kind of middle of nowhere South Dakota kind of coming this route. From a coaching standpoint, is there anybody you could go and talk to about advice, not necessarily him, but just you kind of go and pull from and go, Hey, what can I expect? What do I need to look out for? Those type of things making this kind of jump. Kim Caldwell: Yeah, I think everyone, every coach here, every head coach here has been phenomenally welcoming. I see Rick all the time obviously up in the practice gyms and he's great. I mean great just down to earth guy that we could talk about anything and would help me find a place to live or help us with anything on the basketball side. And so he's been really, really good just on his side that I know if we needed anything that I could walk right over. Austin Price: What about from a lady Val standpoint, how much, because you've been building a staff, you've been obviously trying to recruit, fill out your roster, but at the same time you got to try to work those alumni, those former players just because you are the first non lady of all to be the head coach here, so you're trying to get to know those people. How much have you kind of worked that to talk to former Lady of Alls? Kim Caldwell: Yeah, I think it's important to have those relationships and have 'em be real and authentic, not just forced. And so right now I think it could come off a little bit as forced, I'm calling you just because supposed to as opposed to I want to actually hear what you have to say, I want to actually learn from you. And so we had a great day yesterday, we a, we probably had 25, 30 alumni in the building watching our practice. I got to talk to 'em after I got to hear their stories. Their PAT summit stories were phenomenal. I mean I could listen to them all day and just have them talking to our former players or our current players and it was just a great day and it was happy to see them. I was happy to hear their stories and again, we welcome them back. We have an open invitation to any alumni that they can come walk into any practice at any time. They don't need to make an appointment, just show up. Austin Price: When you were a little girl and you fell in love with basketball, do you remember that one time where you're like, man, I just love this game. How old were you? Kim Caldwell: I don't necessarily remember. I have two older sisters and my dad was obviously our coach from a young age and so I always looked up to them and it was just always something we did, especially when you're the youngest and a basketball family, it's just something you're always in the gym and as the youngest we have a reputation as the youngest, you kind of has weasel tendencies and so we would go to the gym and I'd forget my shoes and just I was the worst of the three by far. And so always being in the gym, I remember going to A-W-N-B-A game one time in the arena and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I'm like, I'm going to play in the WNBA and then I didn't grow, so I was like, I'm not going to play in the WNBA, I want to be a coach. That was the next best thing. Sure. Austin Price: How would you describe your ability as a player? Kim Caldwell: I was not very good. I tried really hard. I was a great teammate. I was in the gym if I would've been in the gym as much as I was my senior year. I think things for me, I probably put a sense of urgency on basketball too late in life, but I was a five 10 post player. They thought I was going to grow my dad six 10. My sisters are six five and six four. So I was in the post and they thought that I was going to be taller and I was not. So my basketball lifespan was pretty short, being five 10 and not knowing how to really dribble or shoot, Austin Price: What's the family reaction been to all this? Kim Caldwell: My oldest sister and her friends and everyone from our age grew up a Tennessee fan, but they were diehard Tennessee fans. I mean had Tennessee blankets, blue tearaway pants. I mean they're in that era where it was just, there was no other school. And so she's been so excited. She came down the first weekend to see everything and she was already here and it's amazing and they're going to be back. And so they're just happy, a little bit worried but happy. Austin Price: So when you interview for the job, because in talking to people, everybody said you killed the interview and that's you. That's where you won the job was your ability to kind of sell yourself and the passion and the playing style. We all know Dandy likes, home runs, touchdowns and a lot of points, three points like score. There you go. That's his. As someone who hires, when did it become real for you? Kim Caldwell: So I went into the Zoom interview, okay, sure, let's do it. It was just very much myself, and that's kind of my whole philosophy in recruiting, coaching in life. I'm going to be myself. They can take it or leave it. If you try to fake your way through an interview, you try to fake your way with a recruit or a player one, they're going to see through it and if they don't see through it, then it's not going to be a great situation once you are comfortable and you can be yourself. So I was very much myself. I was very honest, talked about my blind spots, my weak spots when you get me talking about basketball. And Danny was really good about talking about basketball. And so that was fun. That made the interview fun. And then they had mentioned after the Zoom interview, they had mentioned wanting to come to my house and we had just had a tornado, so we didn't have any power. And I'm like, well, we can come sit in the dark. But when that was mentioned I was like, oh, well I must've done okay on that, but it's still kind of a blur. Austin Price: You're standing up there being introduced at that point. Are you still like this is a dream? You know what I mean? At that point, when did it truly hit you? Has it hit Kim Caldwell: You? I don't know that it's hit me. I think Pat Summit has a really great quote and it's one that I've written down my very first day. I keep a little journal and my very first day as a head coach, I had this journal and I wrote down, left foot, right foot, breathe, repeat, right? And that's a very famous pat quote, and that's what I'm doing right now. Like step-by-step day by day, just show up, take care of what you need to take care of, do it to the best of your ability and then move on. Austin Price: How much do you look forward to it slowing down? It's never truly going to slow down, but at the same time we got the staff hired, the roster's complete. Now we can actually do find a house, which I know your husband's big in charge of that he's in charge of selling the other one, we can go have a dinner in Knoxville and not it is just more relaxed. It becomes more ingrained. Kim Caldwell: Yeah, I think that, I mean I kind of try to reward myself with that. So let's get through our recruiting class. We're almost done with our workouts before they head home for summer and then it will slow down a little bit, but it's going to be a one calendar year of discomfort. And I just did it. I was just at Marshall thinking, okay, I'm not the new one anymore. I've been through every phase. I know how to handle summer, I know how to handle this, I know how to handle that. And so it's going to be one year. And so this time next year I think I'll probably be able to breathe and relax and have a better grip on it Austin Price: Every year. You have been the head coach at drama mater at Marshall up to this point. You have finished first in the conference except for one and you finished second. You went 10 and two that year in conference play, and that was the covid year. I always say that the covid year just kind of doesn't count Kim Caldwell: Me too, Austin Price: Because the kids were put through such strain. But how have you been able to do every year? You know what I'm saying? I mean it's one thing to win a lot, but to constantly be the top in the conference, no matter what level you've been at. Kim Caldwell: I have a blueprint and I have a way that I do things and you just don't change it and you sometimes up the intensity, but you just stick with that and this is what our preseason is going to look like and this is what our Christmas is going to look like and this is what our shoot around is going to look like. And it's very routine and it's very monotonous and you don't really waiver from it. You believe in what you do. You believe in your players, you let them play, you give them freedom and you just don't really switch it up because you don't have to. And then once you have to, then you adapt. Austin Price: So we talked about all the rotations and subbing in and out and all that earlier. At this level, you're going to have recruits that are going to want to play X amount of minutes. So how do you balance that when you're selling your style? How do you assure top five player nationally? Hey, you're still going to play a ton of minutes, you're still going to score a lot of points. Kim Caldwell: I think that one, we do have to, I do adapt to every team. We still have a philosophy, but we're going to adapt to every team and you got to check their motors. I mean, last year we had our two point guards had very high motors so they could play longer. And then so you talk about motors, you talk about switching up your defense, make or miss, so you can keep your best players on the floor, especially before the media, before the quarter. And the biggest thing is why do you want to play more minutes? Well, because you want more shots. Well, you're going to get more shots. Why do you want to play more minutes so you can get more possessions? You're going to get more possessions than any team in the country. If you're talking about possessions, opportunity points, chances to get a double, double, a triple double, all of that. There's not going to be a better place to come because that opportunity is going to be in front of you. You're going to get done in 32 minutes more than you would get done in 40 walking the ball at the floor Austin Price: And you've not been here long enough to, but how much will you have to adapt the attire? Because everybody that comes here, you have to go get orange this, orange that. How much orange was in your closet before you got here? Any? Kim Caldwell: No. Austin Price: So you're going to have to, it's going to be all new. Kim Caldwell: Yeah, I have this. This is orange. Austin Price: Orange summit Blue. Yeah, Kim Caldwell: I have a couple orange things. I have some summit blue things. It's just all new. I just spent so much money on Kelly Green. I had zero Kelly Green. And so then it's like, man, I was just, when you talk about a year, you had your wardrobe, you had your shoes, you don't think about your shoes. You have Kelly Green, you have Royal Blue shoes, and so then you got to redo your shoes as well. And so it'll take some time and until then, I'm just going to keep rocking the same couple Austin Price: Things. I always laugh when they bring in a new coach on the men's side, there's always somebody there with four or five different orange ties ready to give the new coach. Which one do you like to wear for the press conference? Those are always my favorite. What makes you smile Kim Caldwell: Right now? My players make me smile. My husband is doing very good at making sure that I stay levelheaded and don't get too high and too low throughout this process, and he'll do that all year. But I think we have a staff that makes us laugh. But right now, I mean every day we walk in and the young ladies on this team just make me laugh. And we work hard and I mean, I try not to let myself laugh during a practice. One thing my dad taught me was don't ever let them see you smile till Christmas. You can always ease off, but once you're easy, you can't go back to being strict. And they make me laugh in the middle of a workout and I almost just have to cover my mouth. Like girls, they're hilarious, but they're doing it while diving on the floor and working hard and sweating. So what more can you ask for Austin Price: Speaking more about smiling? Let's learn more about Knoxville Smiles from Dr. Costa. Dr. Michael Costa: I'm Dr. Mike Costa Malone and Costa Dentistry. You can find us@knoxvillesmiles.com. I'm standing here in front of a dental robot. We're one of two dentists in the state of Tennessee that utilizes cutting edge technology. Do you have a broken tooth, A tooth that's in pain or a denture that doesn't fit well? Maybe you're a little anxious. You can come in and we offer comprehensive sedation services and utilize this awesome technology to give you precise, accurate care. If you think this technology can help you, visit our website@knoxvillesmiles.com. I look forward to helping you Austin Price: All. You're a basketball junkie, LeBron or Jordan? Kim Caldwell: Kobe. Austin Price: See, Kobe gets more votes than you think. I mean he gets a handful of votes. Kim Caldwell: Yeah, that was my guy. I loved him. I have VHS tapes where I would record their games and go to sleep. It would be on the west coast and then watch 'em the next morning through junior high and high school. I'm always going to say Kobe on that. Are Austin Price: You even old enough to have VHS tapes? Kim Caldwell: Yes, I am. I am. I have. I still have them. How much I loved him. Austin Price: Oh, VHS tapes and then when you would rewind them. Yeah, yeah. I'm old. Who's the goat for women's basketball? Kim Caldwell: I don't know. That's hard. I mean, I'm going to go with Candace and it's because I got to warn John, but it's also because she just retired and you have a moment to reflect on what she's done for the game on the floor and off the floor and just what she's done for basketball and just almost unmatched. Austin Price: How old were you when they won Threepeat? 96 through 98. Kim Caldwell: 10, 11 90. Austin Price: Yeah. So I mean that's when you, for a little girl, that leaves an impression, right? Absolutely. You start winning shame La Holka and Tamika Catchings and Shameika Randall. Kim Caldwell: And that's when you start watching the game, right? That group, they get you to watch women's basketball. And so you think about the Caitlyn Clark who you have now in women's basketball. Austin Price: Yeah. Who's leaving an impression on my daughter. Right. Kim Caldwell: Who we watched and they played with such grit and they were so tough and you don't really see that a lot anymore and we're going to try to bring it back. Austin Price: Biggest influence on you is who? Kim Caldwell: My dad. Oh, both my parents. Both of my parents. It's easy to say my dad because he's no longer with us, but I won the parent lottery. I have phenomenal parents. Austin Price: If you could go one place that you've never been, where would it be? Kim Caldwell: The division one national championship game or Greece? Austin Price: Yeah, we can go both or Kim Caldwell: We can go both places. Austin Price: That's fantastic. That's who I am, one and the same. Your husband was the coach there at the Alma Water two went as an assistant at Marshall. You talked about how he's taken a step back to what you live your dream. How much would you rely on him? Not from a coaching standpoint, but just kind of like extra set of eyes, thought processes on a situation, that type of stuff? Kim Caldwell: A ton. A ton. And it's really nice to have somebody that's maybe not in the office every day or not in practice every day can give you an Austin Price: Unbiased, Kim Caldwell: They can give you an and they don't see it every day so they can tell you, and he was huge last year. We had a situation last year where I needed some very unbiased advice and he gave it to me and I took it and it changed the course of our season. And so that to me is nice. He knows me, he knows my temperament, so he knows sometimes when I'm being dramatic and I need to calm down and he knows sometimes where my feelings are involved and I love a player too much and maybe aren't treating them the way that I should. Austin Price: What's the biggest life lesson you've been taught pertaining to basketball? Kim Caldwell: The biggest life lesson I've been taught pertaining to the basketball is probably still one of the hardest ones for me to wrap my head around is it's so much bigger than basketball. And every now and then you get hit with perspective. You have a player whose parent dies or you have a player whose house burns down or you have somebody who's sick in your family and you spend all of this time worrying about wins and losses and stats and recruitings and appearances. And then you got to put it in perspective sometimes that this is not life. This is something that we do. We do it to glorify God, but this is not life. It's bigger than basketball. Austin Price: What's the one drill that you teach that the kids hate the most? Kim Caldwell: There's probably a lot. We have one called Grapevine Layups. We only bring it out during Christmas time. It's a Christmas special when we're doing two adays and we have some time off of games and it's just full court layups, bam, bam, bam. But we place it in practice to where if we started practice with it, it would be easy. We do it at a point in practice where in the middle or right towards the end where this is a pretty tough drill after we've been going for an hour and a half. Austin Price: When you're talking to your team in the huddle before the game, after the game, during the game, what's the biggest thing you want to convey? Kim Caldwell: I want them to play confident and I want them to play hard and I don't care about much else. Play as a team represent us well, but as long as you are controlling what you can control, which is your energy level and your effort, then we'll be okay. Austin Price: When did you know that coaching? I know you maybe wanted to coach, but when did you know coaching was going to be a real path? Kim Caldwell: Great question. Once we won a couple, I would say probably three championships in, I was like, oh, pretty good at this. I guess this is what we're doing. And I always tell players that whatever you pick you're going to do, you're going to change your mind three or four times and that's just kind of life you think your major is when you're a freshman probably isn't what you're going to do by the time you're a senior or once you graduate. So once we saw some success then I was like, okay, well we're going to coach. Austin Price: Your former assistants, your former players, your family that are around you quite a bit, how do you think they would describe you? Kim Caldwell: I think they would be a mix of intents and loving. Austin Price: How intense does it get? Kim Caldwell: Only the eight teams that have been in the practice in the arena can probably answer that one. Austin Price: Alright. You're coming up on your first anniversary. Yes. You got married in Sevierville. Kim Caldwell: We did almost a year ago. Austin Price: What led you to Sevierville To get married? Kim Caldwell: We have vacationed down here for the past three or four years and wanted, I wanted kind of an untraditional wedding since my dad passed and I didn't want to be sad without someone walking me down the aisle. So we decided, hey, we're going to rent a big house, so where can we find a big house? We want pretty views, someplace to place. Nice. We love it down here. And so we rented a big 16 bedroom cabin, beautiful views, got married in the living room, had brunch, had a great day. Austin Price: All right, so if you've been in here that many times, have you found a go-to spot over that way? We Kim Caldwell: Really like the Pancake Pantry. Yeah, we'll wait in line. Okay, Austin Price: So you're a pancake pantry girl. Kim Caldwell: Okay, well my husband is, my husband loves chocolate chip pancakes. Austin Price: You got the ped peddler, you got the Green Briar two steakhouse that are really good Cherokee Grill down in Sevierville. You have Frank Allens, which is like a little local burger spot. Kim Caldwell: I haven't had it Austin Price: Teach you. Kim Caldwell: Yeah, I mean it's right there. So Austin Price: The beautiful part of this is, and this is where it gets awkward and fun all at the same time. So coach has got her website here. Kim Caldwell: Oh my goodness. Austin Price: We've got her wedding registry. No one bought you the Great Bay Home, four piece jersey net, California king cotton blend sheets that though, Kim Caldwell: No, they Austin Price: Didn't. And those are kind of orange-ish. Kim Caldwell: They are Austin Price: Orange-ish. You knew, you just kind, it was in your mind the whole time. Yes, Kim Caldwell: It was. I didn't even remember that, but nobody got 'em Austin Price: For me. The towel set orange, Kim Caldwell: It matched the match, the sheets. Austin Price: I will say this, they did buy her the home pack of LED candles. So when the tornado rolled through in you without power, you still had Kim Caldwell: Lights. I forgot I had those. She could have used it. Austin Price: I love this. This is fantastic. This is literally sent to me on the way over here to tape this and I'm like, you know what? This is the kind of stuff like when Jimmy Fallon popped on Taylor Swift that his mom or her mom had given him the video of her after the eye surgery. Kim Caldwell: This is why I'm glad that we didn't have put pictures on there. I almost like throughout the years, I am going to see if we can get that taken down. Austin Price: What's the best thing your husband did for you? Kim Caldwell: He was all about this job. I mean, any reservation I had, any nerve that I had, he was, this is do it. And he was excited and he was all in. And when you're married you have to think about the other person and he said, no, we're doing this. And didn't even really make it a conversation about him and his side, which is almost unheard of. Austin Price: How did you meet? Kim Caldwell: We went to college together, so we've known each other for or since 2010. And then when we were in Glenville and we were working alongside of each other, we just became great friends and the rest is history. Austin Price: Where's the first date to Kim Caldwell: Oh gosh. We went to watch, this sounds so stupid. We went to watch one of his players. We went to scout one of his players. So we went to recruit a game on the men's side, had some popcorn, sat in the bleachers, watched a game. Austin Price: Did you know it was a date at this point though? Or did you just think you were just gone? Yeah, Kim Caldwell: We went to eat. I mean, yeah, I knew it was a date. Austin Price: Most romantic. Is he a romantic guy? Kim Caldwell: Yeah, but I'm not romantic. So we're romantic in the same type of romance, not like flowers and all of Austin Price: That. Yeah, I'm with you. My wife don't like flowers either. She says they die. Kim Caldwell: Yeah, I like money. Austin Price: Yes. So true. What's the one thing that you enjoy most away from the court? What are the extracurriculars for Kim Caldwell away from basketball? Kim Caldwell: I like to be outside. I like to be with my family. I love the beach. So just being in good weather, having some music on. I mean it's pretty simple. Austin Price: What kind of music? Kim Caldwell: Any type of music? Not any type. I don't really want to listen to Hard Rock, heavy Metal or opera. But any other than that during basketball season, I'll listen to r and b and hip hop. And during summer I have country on. Austin Price: You're a small town girl, but do you like big cities? Do you like Hust and Bustle? Kim Caldwell: No. I was on the interstate the other day and I said I'm never getting back on this interstate. I don't Kingston bike bro. Campus. Yep. I don't know where my home is going to be, but it's not going to be on this. Austin Price: I'll tell you where you should live. And it's Sequoia Hills. Yeah, I know. Because if you live close enough to campus, then you can bring unofficial visitors to your home. Great. Kim Caldwell: See if you can get someone to move out Austin Price: Val Nation, get it done. Eviction notice Sequoia Hills for somebody. Justin's coming. Kim Caldwell: He can knock on your door. Austin Price: Your mom, how often do you talk to her? Kim Caldwell: Almost every day. It'll be rare. I don't think I talk to her. She's babysitting my nephews, but I don't almost every day. Austin Price: Do you call her? Does she call you? I Kim Caldwell: Call her. Will call me every now and then, but she usually lets us call her. Austin Price: What about the siblings? Kim Caldwell: We have a family group chat with my 96-year-old grandma who can text and send Austin Price: Emoji emojis. That's the best. Kim Caldwell: Oh yeah. And she can send pictures. I mean, she's great with her phone. So we have a group chat and we talk in our group chat all day, every day. Austin Price: What's grandma thinking right now? Kim Caldwell: Grandma, we have sent her a lot of orange. We got her orange polo and a pompom and a bunch of a flag for her front yard, and so she's proud. She's not a, I think anytime you live to be 96, you're not super big fan of change, but you know how to deal with it and so she's excited. Austin Price: Door to door. How far is it from hometown to here? Kim Caldwell: From hometown to here? It's about six hours. Austin Price: I was going to say about five something, but, Kim Caldwell: But from Cincinnati, where my sisters are and where I think my mom will eventually be because you can't keep her away from those grand babies. Four is going to be, yeah, three and a half, four. Austin Price: The grand babies, obviously. So you got nieces and nephews? I Kim Caldwell: Have two nephews. Austin Price: Oh yeah. How's that? Kim Caldwell: Great. Austin Price: Great. How old? Kim Caldwell: I think five and two. Two and a half Austin Price: Ish. That fun age. Kim Caldwell: Oh yeah, Austin Price: A fun age. Now you've got all kinds of new kids though, right? Over your own campus and sometimes they may act five or two, Kim Caldwell: Sometimes they probably will. They've been good so hard. Austin Price: And that's okay. When you're recruiting, what's the biggest thing you're having to answer right now? What's the question you get the most? Kim Caldwell: Probably the question you asked me about playing time, about the substitution and the playing Austin Price: Time. You think that's something you have to before in your recruiting, it's probably not getting used against you as much, but at this level. Oh, Kim Caldwell: It's getting used. Yeah, it's Austin Price: Getting used. Kim Caldwell: Yeah, and that's fine. It's fine. I'm not a salesman. When I bring visits on campus, I'm very blunt and I always give them a warning or have somebody on my staff say, Hey, coach is going to say some things and you're going to look at her sometimes. Like what? Because I don't sugarcoat it. I'm going to say what it is. Whether you should know or you shouldn't know. I'm going to answer the question. And so the question doesn't bother me. Austin Price: So when you're getting that from parents, how much do you just have to be like, look, at some point you're going to have to see us this fall and understand. It's kind of like Coach Hip, when he first got here and they had the NCAA cloud over from the previous coaching staff with football, he had to show that first year they were scoring points, boom, boom, boom. Do you feel like that's the biggest thing that at this point now let's add a few more to the roster and then let's just get to the floor and show them what it looks like? Kim Caldwell: Absolutely. And for everyone who has stayed and everyone who has committed, I mean, we're going to be all in because it's going to be us and we are showing and we're going to be the team that shows and then hopefully if it goes well, then everyone else wants to jump on. But they believed in it before they saw it and they're always going to be very special to me because of that. Austin Price: Besides the national title, we've already established that and that's normal. I think the biggest thing for this program is get back to the final four. For the first time since 2008, I think the year after Candace left, that recruiting class was the first recruiting class to not make a final four, and they've not made one since oh eight. I mean, that's mind boggling when you think about it. Elite eights and several sweet sixteens, but they just can't get over the hump. What's it take to get there? Kim Caldwell: That's a question that I don't have the answer to. We're going to go step by step game by game, not look at big picture right now. I think last year being division one, you learn a lot and our Marshall team, we just weren't used to playing that long. When we got into the NCA tournament, they had never missed their spring break. They'd never made post-season playing. And so it'll be different here, but there's a lot of things. I didn't really realize it until we were in it because I'm used to playing long seasons to why they were so fussy and they were so uncomfortable and they were had such bad energy in practice, they weren't used to it. And so there's a lot of things that until you get in it, you don't necessarily know until you see it. Austin Price: Yeah. It's like when you go from playing college ball to pro ball and you go from playing 35 or 40 games to 82 or Major League baseball, 161 or 1 62, whatever they play now, it's just a different path, different challenge. Biggest challenge for you heading into year one's? What? Kim Caldwell: Just the fact that everything's unknown. Every scout is unknown. The level of competition is unknown. That Austin Price: Can be a good thing for you though too. Kim Caldwell: Nobody knows me either. Right. So it does kind of work both ways that their scout, every scout that they have to do for us is unknown, but it's just kind of exhausting to not know a name on our roster. I mean, I know the names on the rosters, but knowing their scout, having done their scout, once you have it done, you can kind of pull from last year and save yourself a little bit of time. But again, it's nice to go with a blank slate sometimes too. Austin Price: Well, the slate is blank, but it won't be blank for long. Coach, we appreciate the time. We appreciate you coming out for the season finale of season two of all Confidential. Kim Caldwell: Thank you.