Kim Caldwell On Hot Seat As Tennessee Women’s Basketball Drama Casts Doubt On March Madness

Tennessee is going to make the NCAA Tournament in women’s college basketball but the drama surrounding the program casts doubt on its ability to make a run. Especially after Kim Caldwell decided to bench Talaysia Cooper during the SEC Tournament.

Do the players even want to continue?

It will be interesting to see how the Volunteers respond to the chaos during the remainder of the college basketball postseason. This latest incident could either serve as a spark or it could crash and burn.

Tennessee women’s basketball cannot stop losing.

Tennessee started hot in 2024-25 and even beat the UConn Huskies in Knoxville, but things very quickly faded toward the back half of the season. The Volunteers finished at 24-10 with a loss to the No. 5 Texas Longhorns in the Sweet Sixteen. It was a good first year for head coach Kim Caldwell. Not a great year.

The return of leading scorer Talaysia Cooper and leading rebounder Zee Spearman set high expectations for 2025-26. Things have not gone according to plan.

Tennessee lost its season-opener to No. 9 North Carolina State by three and lost games to No. 3 UCLA and No. 16 Louisville in blowout fashion during the non-conference schedule. And then it started to trend in the other direction.

The Volunteers went on a six-win run to open SEC play, including wins over No. 21 Alabama and No. 11 Kentucky. No reason to panic, right? Wrong!

Tennessee lost nine of its last 11 games during the regular season. A loss to Alabama in the SEC Tournament on Thursday marked its 10th loss in 12 games. Brutal. Hit the panic button!

To make matters worse, there is drama in the locker room.

Fifth-year senior Kaiya Wynn decided to leave the team before the postseason because Kim Caldwell did not get her in the game on Senior Day. The snub sent shockwaves across Knoxville and led to some dissension among her teammates. Not great.

Kim Caldwell benched Talaysia Cooper.

Cooper averaged 15.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.6 rebounds and 2.7 steals this season. She is the team’s leading scorer and leads the team in assists. The offense goes through the 6-foot-0 combo guard.

Tennessee cannot succeed if Cooper does not get going. Just for example, UConn shut her down at the beginning of February in a 30-point blowout.

Thursday was another example.

The Volunteers lost to the Crimson Tide by 12 during the SEC Tournament. Cooper sat the majority of the game on the bench with only four points. Caldwell took her out of the game and never put her back in. She was benched for the final 16 minutes and 27 seconds.

Caldwell called it a “coach’s decision.” She is trying to “find combinations that work.”

Yikes.

The SEC Tournament is NOT the time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. I would imagine that it is better to have your leading scorer on the floor than on the bench, even if she is having an off night.

To add to the lore, Talaysia Cooper left the locker room early while her teammates met with the media. She hugged several staffers and walked out of the room with Heather Ervin, the Director of Student-Athlete Success & External Relations at Tennessee, dressed in sweatpants with her backpack.

Caldwell said she wanted her star player to “get some air.”