Lady Vols basketball coach Kim Caldwell announced on X she is pregnant, posting “Faith in God includes his timing. Baby Caldwell coming winter 2025.”
The post includes a photo of a baby-sized high-top sneaker balanced on a basketball.
The baby will be the first for the first-year Tennessee coach and her husband, Justin. The couple celebrated their one-year anniversary in May.
Caldwell, 35, isn’t the first coach at Tennessee to be pregnant during her first season in Knoxville. Volleyball coach Eve Rackham Watt was pregnant during her first season in 2018 – and for Rackham Watt, it was her first head coaching job.
The volleyball team found immediate success and made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in six seasons even as Rackham Watt was restricted from travel the final month of the season. She gave birth to her son, Jude, in November 2018.
Tennessee has long been supportive of coaches having children, which began with legendary Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt. She gave birth to her son, Tyler, in 1990. Most recently, women’s tennis coach Alison Ojeda led the Lady Vols to the Final Four while 36 weeks pregnant. Ojeda gave birth to her son, Marcus, in July.
Ojeda’s first pregnancy with her daughter, Summitt, resulted in Ojeda giving birth midseason. Ojeda said she received “unbelievable” support from athletics director Danny White and the department with both pregnancies.
Caldwell was hired as the program’s fourth coach in April. Caldwell was the head coach at Marshall last season, which was her first season coaching Division I. She spent the previous seven seasons as a head coach at Glenville State, a Division II school and her alma mater.
The Caldwells overlapped as the head coaches of the Glenville State basketball teams. Caldwell — then Kim Stephens — was two years into her tenure when her future husband was hired as the coach of the men’s team. He coached at Glenville State from 2018-23 before joining the Marshall men’s basketball staff a few months after Caldwell was hired as the Marshall women’s coach.
Caldwell is a Parkersburg, West Virginia, native, and grew up 150 miles away from Justin in Mullens, West Virginia. Justin also played for Glenville State for one season in 2012-13, but Caldwell had already graduated in 2011.
Marshall went 26-7 in Caldwell’s lone season at the helm and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997. The Parkersburg, West Viginia, native owns a 217-31 career record. Caldwell was hired following Tennessee firing Kellie Harper after five seasons.
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The Lady Vols will play Carson-Newman in an exhibition on Oct. 31 before their season opener against Samford on Nov. 5.
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
