KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee women’s basketball has a new head coach.
The Lady Vols announced Kim Caldwell will be the fourth head coach in program history. She comes from Marshall where she spent one season after coaching at the Division II level. She was Sun Belt's Coach of the Year last season after leading Marshall to a 17-1 record in conference play and a 26-7 overall record.
Tennessee paid $600,000 for the buyout to get her to Rocky Top. The contract reveals base pay and incentives for Caldwell as she now leads the Lady Vols.
Her base pay is set at $750,000 a year on a five-year contract. For reference, the school's last head coach Kellie Harper's base pay was $1.1 million.
She has been allotted a one-time $35,000 moving fee, which is in line with the university’s policy.
She will also be given a monthly vehicle allowance of $1,700 for two vehicles.
There are incentives for success both at the athletic level and academic level.
If the Lady Vols win an SEC regular season championship outright or by a share, she would get $60,000. If Tennessee wins an SEC Tournament title, she’d get $30,000.
As it pertains to the NCAA Tournament, she’d receive one of the following based on highest achievement. Winning a national championship would net $400,000. Finishing as runner-up would get her $200,000. A Final Four appearance comes with an extra $150,000.
If Tennessee made it to the Elite 8, it would be $100,000, a Sweet 16 appearance would be $75,000 and a Round of 32 appearance would net $40,000.
A First Four win would get her a $30,000 bonus and making it to the NCAA Tournament, which the Lady Vols have never missed, would get her $25,000.
The contract reads if Caldwell leads the Lady Vols to a national title she would get a raise that would equal or exceed the highest salary of any head coach of a women’s basketball team in Division I of the NCAA based on publicly available salary data on the date of such achievement. That would put her at over $3 million a year.
When it comes to academics, if the team has an Academic Progress Rate exceeding the national average multiyear APR in women’s basketball in the same year, she would get a $25,000 bonus.
Tennessee would have to pay 100% of Caldwell's base pay if they fire her without cause prior to April 1, 2025. If they fire her on the date or after, they would only have to give 50% of the base pay.
