On Thursday, UCLA hired its top choice for its women’s basketball head-coaching position, a coach Athletic Director Dan Guerrero called “a rising star in her profession.”
Nikki Caldwell accepted the UCLA job after six seasons as an assistant at Tennessee, where she won NCAA titles the past two years under head coach Pat Summitt. The 35-year-old Caldwell replaces Kathy Olivier, who coached at UCLA for 15 seasons but was never able to lead the Bruins to a Final Four.
Caldwell was introduced by associate Athletic Director Petrina Long at a press conference Thursday.
“When you look at the tradition and the championships that have been won here, this was definitely a no-brainer,” Caldwell said. “I’m blessed and fortunate to be working with some of the finest coaches, administrators, faculty and student athletes in the country.”
Caldwell has never held a head coaching position, but has a remarkable basketball pedigree. She played at Tennessee under Summitt from 1990-94, winning a national title as a player in 1990. In 1999, she joined Summitt’s staff as a graduate assistant, and then worked for three seasons as an assistant for Virginia coach Debbie Ryan before returning to Tennessee in 2002.
“She really bowled everybody over during the interview process,” Long said. “We are absolutely thrilled that she will bring her brand of class and championship basketball back to Westwood.”
In her time as an assistant at Tennessee, Caldwell directed the program’s recruiting and built a reputation as one of the nation’s top recruiters. She will take over a UCLA program known for its young talent; of the team’s top seven scorers last year, five were underclassmen.
“This is an excellent time because these girls are going to be here for the next two or three years,” sophomore guard Erica Tukiainen said. “We’re building a new foundation for the program.”
Caldwell said she doesn’t believe it will be a difficult transition from assistant coach to the top job because she had “head coach’s responsibilities” while working for Summitt at Tennessee.
“The foundation of any program is built on discipline and hard work, whether you are a head coach or an assistant coach,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell described her coaching style as defense-oriented, and also said she prefers the up-tempo offense that Summitt coached at Tennessee.
The Bruins saw that fast-paced style when they played Tennessee last season in Pauley Pavilion. Tukiainen, for one, thinks it will be a good fit for the current group of UCLA players.
“You can already see on our team that we have a lot of speed and athletic players,” Tukiainen said. “I think this system is going to fit our identity very well.”
Tukiainen also said that the team was to meet privately with Caldwell for the first time Thursday after the press conference, and that she was very excited about the hiring.
Coaching at Tennessee, Caldwell learned how to work with other high-profile sports programs, namely Bruce Pearl’s men’s basketball program and Phillip Former’s football team. She will find a somewhat similar hierarchy at UCLA, where men’s basketball coach Ben Howland and football coach Rick Neuheisel run the biggest programs on campus.
“I’m a team player,” Caldwell said. “I understand that … it is about the institution, it is about those who have led the way in football and basketball. Here, Ben Howland and his staff and his players have done an exceptional job in bringing national prominence back to men’s basketball. That’s my primary goal as well.”
Caldwell said she and Long called Summitt on Wednesday during the drive from her hotel to campus, where the press conference was held. She told Summitt that after 11 years as a player and coach in Knoxville, years that included three NCAA titles and three Final Fours, she had accepted the UCLA position.
Caldwell said Summitt was very excited when she heard the news.
“Tennessee is very dear to my heart and it always will be,” Caldwell said. “I hope to bring some of that championship blood to the UCLA Bruins family.”