BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell, fifth-year guard Kaylene Smikle and senior guard Rylie Theuerkauf represented Lady Vol basketball on Tuesday at SEC Tipoff ’27 at the Hotel Wildemont (formerly the Grand Bohemian Hotel – Mountain Brook). Below is a transcript from their media interview sessions.
HEAD COACH KIM CALDWELL
THE MODERATOR: Coach Kim Caldwell is beginning her third year as the head coach at the University of Tennessee. Please welcome in Kim Caldwell.
“Thank you for the introduction. I’m very thankful and excited to begin year three at the University of Tennessee. I’ve loved our players and our new staff members so far this season. Let’s get right to it.”
You’ve got an entirely new roster this season. I guess just for you what have maybe been the biggest challenges of that and maybe also the biggest rewards that you’ve kind of found in building a team like this?
“I think when you are building a team any time this time of year, it’s really important to set your foundation, make sure you have your culture, make sure you really set your standard. When you have so many new players, it really helps you set that standard the exact way that you want it to because they don’t know any better. They’ve been great. They’ve done nothing but try to
please our coaching staff and get it right. They want to get it right. They want to get better. They want to learn. They want to be coached. It’s been really fun so far.”
Kim, we know you talk about you want your teams to be the hardest-working team in the country, but just outside of that, what identity have you kind of seen start to form with this team over the offseason and preseason?
“The thing about this team is they really like and they really get excited about the effort plays. So being the first to a 50-50 ball, taking a charge, saving the ball from out of bounds, maybe an offensive rebound, kick-out three, that’s really what excites our team. That’s just such a rewarding thing as a coach because that matches my mentality, and it’s not so much of a score or
an and-one. Those things excite us too, but our bench is always on our feet when they make the effort play, and I think that’s a good place for us to start.”
What do you believe has changed most about your approach to running this program, whether it’s from recruiting, player development, communication, or just game preparation?
“Yeah, we haven’t got to game preparation yet, but I think the most important thing, again, matching both of those questions was really setting the standard the way that I want it to be set, and that’s it’s going to be a selfless culture. It’s going to be a hard-working culture. We’re going to make sure that we do things the right way every single day. It’s about basketball. Our team is so — they love to be in the gym so much, and it’s such a special place right now because if you show up to practice 30 minutes early in our gym, you don’t get a basket. The baskets are full. There’s already a player in there shooting, getting work. So it’s a competitive thing to make sure that we’re getting our rim time, we’re getting time with individual coach. That’s been really fun for us to be around.”
If you’re not half hour early, you’re late. Where does that ethic come from?
“I think that that’s the standard that we want to set, and we wanted players — we wanted to recruit players that wanted to be in the gym and that wanted to get better. They really do want to get better. They take pride in that, and they take pride in maybe getting on the floor with a coach a few minutes before practice, working on a countermove and then putting that together in practice and then putting that on display. It’s been infectious. We have leaders that will bring players into the gym with them so that it’s every single person is – that’s the standard.”
Why did you select these two players? What do you like the themes of this year’s team to pursue?
“Yeah, I think, again, just hate to beat the same point over and over, but I think the theme is to work hard, play hard, try to get better, and continue to get better. That’s not just needs to happen in the preseason. That needs to happen all year long. I think the two players, K.K. and Rylie, do a really good job of embodying that for our team. They’re both older. They’re experienced. They know what it takes at this level. They are competitors. Every single day they show up and compete, and they don’t take things personally. They want to get better, and they want to make their teammates better.”
How have you changed and grown as a coach over these last couple of years?
“I think it’s a fine balance between trying to get back to who I was and maybe at a lower level and who I was as a younger coach when I was at my prime and we were winning championship after championship and trying to embody that here at this level and continuing to grow, continuing to learn. The game has changed a lot. My seat has changed a lot even though it’s been a head coaching seat. They’re pretty big jumps, and it’s happened pretty quickly. Even in the three years that I’ve been the head coach at Tennessee, college sports has changed a lot. So continuing to learn and adapt and rely on people every single day. I think that’s what it takes in this profession for everyone.”
I know it’s still preseason, but just for you, what have you seen this offseason? How would you kind of evaluate this team ceiling and floor going into this year?
“That’s a really good question. One thing we always want to do is keep moving our floor up, up, up. We have great pace on offense. I like the way we score the ball. We need to be able to score the ball consistently against pressure, against bigger SEC teams because we know that it’s coming, but we do play at pace. We do share the ball really well. Our floor is going to come down to can we keep people in front of us, can we do it without fouling”
I’m curious your thoughts on your front court. Obviously you have a couple of SEC veterans with Fats and Aaliyah, but how do you feel about where that group is at, especially in terms of maybe Fats and Aaliyah sharing some insight on the physicality they’re going to face, especially as an undersized group?
“Yeah, we are definitely undersized, and that’s something we can also add Zhen Craft to that mix. She has SEC experience. It’s going to be a whole team effort to try to guard on the inside, and we know that our opponents, as the year goes on, are going to get bigger and stronger. We’re trying to get to that now of having it be ball pressure on the outside, back side help, sending maybe multiple people to try to attack that because it’s going to be hard for us to do one-on-one.”
How did the composition of your team determine your schedule this year?
“Yeah, the majority of our schedule was already done. Return games, maybe a few years out. So we didn’t have very many games to add after our schedule was already set.”
Where do you feel like you’re at in terms of finding those groups that really are gelling and playing well together, kind of find those units you’ll really want to rely on this season?
“I think we’re close, and then we’ll probably switch it halfway through the preseason. I’ve never had a team that you can really pick it right now because a lot of things arrive in game situations to where you have to figure out who gels well. The thing about this team is we have so many selfless players. Again, they want to get it right. They want to play — they’ll play with whoever. They’ll play in whatever position. They’ll do whatever it takes to be on the floor, and they’ll do whatever it takes to win, no matter how many minutes that is. That’s really refreshing, and it’s great to see out of this group, and we’ll continue to tinker with that over the next couple of months.”
Obviously, you bring in a player like Kaylene. What has impressed you the most about her, and what are some of your expectations for her for your program?
“I think what impresses me the most about her is her mindset. She’s a competitor, and she’s a winner. That’s just who she is, and she brings people up with her. She is not afraid of anything. She’s not afraid of confrontation. She wants to be coached. She wants to get better. She has big goals, and she wants to chase them. But she’s a kid that will just find any ball. She will just get to it. It’s going out of bounds, she’s saving it. She will just make a play happen. She’s been really fun to watch. I think we want to continue to develop her, add some things to her game, continue to work on her defense because she is a scrappy defender. She wants to get that ball back, and she wants to get better there, and she can do that. We have seen her be able to do that. She’s smart on the defensive end. So I think that this will be her best year coming up.”
You touched on it earlier with just how you feel like you’ve changed as a coach, but just going into your third season, I’m just curious, standing up there, how do you feel different maybe as a coach going into your third season here?
“Yeah, I think every year is different, and you have different rosters, and you have different things. I think every time you do this until you come to SEC Media Day, you get a little more familiar. There’s familiar faces. You recognize people, and we have the same driver every year. I mean, it’s a fun place to be. This year is more about I’m excited to see the excitement on my players’ faces from being here. It’s Rylie’s first time at an SEC Media Day. So getting to see her excitement and watching K.K. explain to her, because she’s been to several, of this is what it is, this is not what it is, and to be able to prepare for that. That’s really where my joy comes from now is seeing things through my players and seeing their excitement and watching them get to experience things like this because it really is awesome.”
FIFTH-YEAR GUARD KAYLENE SMIKLE
What are some key components to this year’s team?
“Our work ethic, our mentality towards things. Just how we approach our every practice, our everyday. Just the little things I feel like has made us come together.”
What is one example of when you were tested and able to overcome the challenge?
“I think one of our times on the track. When we woke up at 6:30 in the morning, we had a track workout. I think that was one of the days that really tested me, but I feel like we all stand up when it’s time and we don’t duck hard work. We’re all ready to work. That’s why we came here. She (Head Coach Kim Caldwell) was very honest on our visits, telling us that it was going be hard. We knew it was coming, and when the hard did come, we all pursued (it).”
SENIOR GUARD RYLIE THEUERKAUF
After your first scrimmage this season, what do you feel like the team learned about themselves?
“Yeah, I think it was really fun to play against someone new. We played against the practice guys all summer, and playing against each other all summer. Just to play a new team that had scout on us and everything, it was a lot of fun. We brought so much energy, and I lost my voice. It was just a grand ole time, and you really learn how much we love to actually play with each other.”
What was the biggest reason why you chose to play for Tennessee?
“Tennessee had a lot of reasons why I wanted to play here. I mean, ever since a little kid, a little girl, that’s where you dream of playing at is Tennessee. All the history and everything with Pat Summitt. Then just when I really got to meet Kim [Caldwell] and come on the visit, I fell in love with her and her ideals and her program. Yeah, it’s been history ever since.”
