Tennessee WBB Coaching Vacancy Overshadows Sweet 16

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

ALBANY, N.Y. — Tennessee, as represented by the contingent of eligible players in the original 64-team field of the 2019 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, may have been knocked out in the first round 89-77 by sixth-seeded UCLA, which has since advanced to the regional here as part of the Sweet 16, which begins Friday continuing later in the weekend as  the Elight Eight. 

But Tennessee, the Lady Vol brand that won eight national titles under the late Pat Summitt, has taken over the landscape as the tournament’s No. 1 conversation piece and may even grow stronger into next weekend’s Women’s Final Four in Tampa Bay, Fla.

How large?

Ahead of the list of players to be speculated for the looming WNBA draft April 10 downstate from here in Manhattan.

Ahead of all the individuals announced and soon to be announced for the annual list of postseason awards.

Ahead of anything else you might name, including ongoing list of remarks made by Hall of Fame Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, whose powerful  Huskies will be the No. 2 seed Friday night, breaking a long run as a No. 1, when they take on UCLA, an upset winner at No. 3 Maryland Monday night.

They will tip the doubleheader here in the Times Union Center at 7 p.m. followed at 9:30 p.m. by No. 1 Louisville meeting No. 4 Oregon State.

On Wednesday, four days of speculation came to an end when Tennessee announced that former Lady Vol all-American Holly Warlick, who was promoted in 2012 to succeed the legendary Summitt, would no longer coach after seven years at the helm.

Warlick had the dubious task of following Summitt, also her life-long friend, who had stepped down while battling Alzheimer’s disease whose effects she succumbed June 28, 2016.

Though it had been a while during the end of the Summitt era since Tennessee had been to a Final Four, winning the national title with Candice Parker in 2008, that drought continued, though Warlick steered the program to three Elite Eight appearances and was able to continue to attract quality recruiting classes.

Her record was 172-67, though several years ago  Tennessee fell from the AP Women’s Poll for the first time since the mid-1980s ending the longest appearance streak in the history of the rankings, begun for the 1976-77 season.

Additionally, other low points were hit this season, falling to win at least 20 games for the first time in the NCAA era, enduring a six-game losing streak, and barely avoiding missing the NCAA field for the first time in the 38-year history of the tournament.

Tennessee was made an 11th seed and fell in the first round for only the second time in the history of the program, though truth be told, if one measured the talent alone on the Bruins and Lady Vols, in another configuration the teams could have met further down the road instead of the opening round.

The other time, when Summitt was still coaching, the Lady Vols were the higher seeded team losing to an unranked mid-major that had made the field as an upset winner in its conference tournament.

As one who has been around the program from the early years of the Summitt era, Saturday was the first time your Guru was actually at a Tennessee game that Warlick was guiding from the sidelines.

And things were different, for sure, in that a larger Tennessee media contingent that traveled is no more — longtime beat writer Dan Fleser was laid off at midseason and with the Tennessee men also playing,  the Knoxville the paper used a quite competent freelancer from the District to staff the game at College Park.

(An aside: Tennessee’s original beat writer Mike Siroky, writes all things Southeastern Conference women’s basketball in the Guru’s blog).

Some of the media organizations that did make the trip have newer staffers.

Despite all of the hardships encountered in recent months, no one believed a change at Tennessee was about to occur.

With a recent contract extension, the 60-year-old Warlick, who was making $690,000 annually, had a deal running through April 30, 2022, with a buyout entitlement in being let go without cause of $710,000, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

So with all of the athletic department’s issues at hand and the fact that this past season’s roster contained a youthful assortment of  seven freshmen and sophomores out of the 11 players, given the money it would take to relieve Warlick and then chase after a replacement with the funding involved in that pursuit, few believed that the game with the Bruins could be her last as a decades-long integral part of the program.

But postgame was surreal at the Xfinity Center with an emotional Warlick not sounding like a coach who felt secure in returning next season.

Asked if she wanted to continue coaching, Warlick said, “It is not my call.”

That led to an extended line of questioning about her legacy if let go.

"I was part of this program. I played here," she said.

"I obviously coached with Pat Summitt and (became) head coach, and just (remember) my passion for the program and passion for the game. I think it's a great game. If I had a daughter, I'd send my daughter — whether I'm coaching or not — I'd send her to the University of Tennessee."

She went on to say about how Tennessee stood behind women.

Given the fact that many of the room were not the pure locals, the Guru did muse, things have so changed that if this was a coaching profession funeral service, much of the burial detail was being handled by rental undertakers. 

Never the less, a few minutes later the Guru was in the hallway when Warlick was coming down from the locker room and she gave the usual greeting, chided him for complaining about the marathon weekend he was enduring in three different cities, and there was a brief discussion about plans to make the USBWA Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award presentation into an even greater event in addition to the annual presentation at the Women’s Final Four.

“Well, keep me informed,” she said and we went our separate ways.

But many viewing the postgame presser on TV wondered if she knew something no one else did and  several days later a comment on social media claimed Louisville was planning to deal with the departure of Jeff Walz, who has led the Cardinals to three Final Fours.

The speculation all turned to reality early Wednesday afternoon when first an internet alert saying Warlick was let go was soon followed by an official university release in which athletic director Phillip Fulmer talked about the hardship of making the move, but also alluding to the recent decline from a one-time program of dominance, saying, “ It's important to all of us that Lady Vols basketball maintains its status among the elite."

Several hours later, though, Tennessee’s official internet site had a video tribute, causing the Guru reaction when asked about the oddity, “Yeah, it’s one thing if she had retired. 

“Or if the video came from an extremely loyal part of the fan base.

“But, hey, from what I recall from history in a parallel action, I don’t believe that John Wilkes Booth had his video corporation send out a tribute on the presidential years of Abraham Lincoln 15 minutes after Booth departed Ford’s Theater.” 

And so the successor speculation begins wondering which way Fullmer will go for a replacement, someone with Tennessee ties or someone brand new, first-time male, or remain female?

Auriemma wasted little time alluding to the talk of the day Thursday when asked to first give an opening remark at the Huskies’ preview presser: “Just want to let everybody know that I’m still the coach at UConn, and I intend to be the coach at UConn next year in case anybody had any questions about that.”

Walz, when his turn came, also went right from the top.

“First off, I just want to start off by saying I’m the head coach of the University of Louisville. I think Geno would be a wonderful coach for that position that is open. 

“So before the questions start coming, I’m the head coach at the University of Louisville. I’ve loved it, enjoy it. It’s been great. So now I’ll start talking about our team so we can focus on that.”

With the prime ESPN crew here for the regional telecasts, Holly Rowe on her account noted she had asked each of the coaches about Tennessee, including UCLA’s Cori Close and Oregon State’s Scott Rueck.

After the formal presser, Walz, who has good relations with the Connecticut media throng and a few national types, joked within the group around him, “I think I’m going to announce I’m running in 2020.

“The internet has changed everything.”

If a total outsider is hired, dealing the basketball part and recruiting is one thing. But there is going to have to be a total adaptation both ways with the community, who has had deep ties to the program and rightfully continues to  pay homage to Summitt.

“Getting the right coach is always a huge, huge key and getting someone who knows how to coach, someone whose been in some pressure situations before,” Auriemma said.

“So, I think if they make the right decision and the the right person gets in that job, it won’t take them long for them to be back where they were. I don’t think it’s going to be very difficult at all,” he continued.

“But their fan base is a lot like ours. They’re impatient. They want everything right now. There’s not going to be a lot of patience for whoever the next person is, so they’re going to have to be great right away.” 

With Summitt’s passing, Warlick was like the U.S. presidency when Truman was said to have occupied Roosevelt’s fifth term.

Several years ago Auriemma and Warlick warmly co-hosted a reception prior to induction ceremonies at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville.

“I feel terrible for her,” Auriemma said. “Every school is entitled to have their own coach, obviously, and Tennessee is entitled to have whoever they want as a coach,” Auriemma said.

 “I don’t know the details of all that, but I just — any time a coach is in that situation, I feel it because we’re all part of the same community. Holly will land on her feet, for sure.”

Ironically, Tennessee and UConn are set to resume relations on a two-year deal next season, playing for the first time since Summitt shut the series down following their last meeting in 2007.

“I think we have a two-year contract with them. I think we play them twice. I think depending on who the coach is, we may play them ten more times, or we may not play them at all,” Auriemma quipped.

“I’m anxious to see who the coach is because it may only be two years, maybe one. I may try to get out of it next year.”