Kim Caldwell makes her debut in the Boost (Her) Club

Kim Caldwell made her Lady Vol Boost (Her) Club debut this week at a private event in Maryville where dozens of fans had the chance to meet the women’s basketball team’s new coach, get photos and autographs and bid on once-in-a-lifetime experiences like a chalk talk with Caldwell before a game.

The ticketed event at The Walnut Kitchen, a locally-sourced restaurant popular with locals and foodies, sold out quickly last spring and everything was orange on Monday night. Caldwell made it worthwhile for fans by talking to attendees and staying for more than two hours until the last photo was taken.

Knox TN Today was able to catch up with Caldwell after the event concluded to ask her about the benefits of the Lady Vol Boost (Her) Club. Since her April 7 hire, the head coach has spent the last two and a half months in a basketball mixer, hiring players, recruiting, moving and settling into her new office as CEO of Lady Vols Basketball, as described HERE.

“It was great because you could see how committed everyone was to this,” said Caldwell, a West Virginia native who led Marshall to the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament title in her first Division I season. “I was able to hear everyone’s stories. We had people with ties to West Virginia and people who drove all the way from Ohio, seven hours away, to be here. That says a lot about the fan base and the heart of the fan base.”

Caldwell won a Division II national championship at Glenville State before taking the job at Marshall. Other Division I programs had taken notice of him, but it was the call from Tennessee that really caught Caldwell’s attention.

The Lady Vols have all the requirements for a head coach, especially the support of the fans. The Lady Vol Boost (Her) Club was founded by the late Pat Summitt, dissolved with the merger of the women’s athletics department with the men’s athletics department, and revived with the arrival of NIL in 2022 and the support of newly established Boost (Her) Club founder Terri Holder, as explained HERE.

Coach Kim Caldwell with her mother Linda Stephens and her husband Justin Caldwell. (UT Athletics)

“I think it’s incredible,” Caldwell said. “That’s one thing, as I’ve looked for jobs throughout my career, I’ve always wanted to take jobs where there’s either a fan base or where you can build a fan base. I think I got the best job in the country.”

In both versions, the Boost (Her) Club has promoted all women’s sports in Tennessee and today represents female athletes in basketball, golf, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and volleyball.

“I think it’s incredible,” Caldwell said Monday. “Pat Summitt created equal opportunities for women and made sure women could play just like men. Sometimes as female athletes we still look over and see what the men have and that doesn’t exist in Tennessee because we have as much support here as we did tonight.”

NIL is still in its infancy in college sports and changes regularly. Caldwell has also been keeping up with all the details, as NIL is not as prevalent in the mid-majors as it is in the power conferences.

“It’s always changing, but I think tonight was really eye-opening for me because it gave me more of an opportunity to learn and learn more about the people who are helping,” she said.

If you would like to learn more about the Lady Vols Boost (Her) Club or join, click here HEREBy signing up for emails, supporters can attend events and receive advance notifications of ticket sales.

While Caldwell is fully behind the supporters – she entertained them well at her debut event – her focus remains on the court. July is also a full month of recruiting, and the current team is back on campus in July after June practices.

“This is my favorite area,” Caldwell said. “I feel most comfortable on the floor. When we practice, when I’m in the gym and I’m with my team, I feel like a coach again and I love being around them.”

Maria M. CorneliusSenior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, she began her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began covering the Lady Vols in 1998. She published her first book, The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt, with The University of Tennessee Press in 2016.