Time To Go

The signs have been there since the 2015-16 season.  Holly Warlick does not need to be the head coach at the University of Tennessee.

The long time assistant coach to the legendary Pat Summirt makes a great assistant, but she has proven that she is a lousy head coach.  While her record may not show it, it is very obvious that the on-court product does show it.

It started with the 2015-16 season when Diamond DeShields became the starting point guard for the team.  It was obvioius to Lady Vol fans that DeShields was not a team player.  Her "me first" mentality hurt not only the team on the court, but hurt it off the court as well.  DeShields was never reprimanded for the way she played on the court or her attitude towards teammates.

With the departure of DeShields after the 2016-17 season, I along with a majority of the Tennessee fans thought Coach Warlick would be able to get the ship turned around and get the team back to playing Tennessee basketball.  However, this wasn't the case, as Tennessee went 25-8 and the second consecutive year of leaving the NCAA Tournament in the second round.

In Pat Summitt's 38 years as the head coach at Tennessee, she only failed to make the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament one time.  Holly Warlick has failed to make the Sweet Sixteen the past two seasons.  To make matters worse, for the first time in program history, Tennessee lost in the NCAA Tournament...at home.

But that is the past and a new season is upon us.  Sadly, a new year brings the same old problems to light.  The team continues to tune Coach Warlick out, something that started when DeShields was the point guard.  Coach Warlick continues to try and act like Pat Summitt during games by not saying a word and just stomping around and expecting the team to react to it.  I hate to break it to you Holly, but you are not Pat Summitt.

If you would like proof that there needs to be a change, look no further than the two losses this season:

1.  On December 18, with #8 Stanford in town for a Top 10 matchup, the attendance was horrid.  Tennessee could have taken all the fans in the upper deck and the suites and put them in the lower bowl and still not filled the lower bowl.

2.  In today's game versus Missouri, Coach Warlick whistled to get the teams attention so she could call a play.  The team did not react to Warlick, instead whomever had the ball, just drove down the lane for a layup.

3.  I have never seen a Tennessee team play with such lack of passion and heart.  In the two losses this season, they have been pushed around and out played on their home court.  Just look at the loss to Missouri when Rennia Davis took an elbow from Missouri's Sophie Cunningham.  Not only did Davis' teammates not come to her defense, but there was no fire or emotion from anyone.

There has been speculation among Tennessee fans that the reason Holly Warlick was named head coach, instead of there being a search outside the program, is because Warlick was a place holder.  She was going to be the head coach while Tyler Summitt went off and gained some coaching experience.   Unfortunately, we will never know if this was supposed to have happened, because on April 7, 2016, Tyler Summitt resigned as the head coach of Louisiana Tech after two seasons, because he had an extramarital affair with a current player, and also got her pregnant.

Now, I can't write a blog about wanting someone to lose their job, without naming some people who should be a candidate take over:

Carolyn Peck

Yes I know her alma mater is Vanderbilt.  However, she is from Jefferson City, Tennessee.  She still has ties to East Tennessee.  But what you may not know, is from 1993-1995, Peck was an assistant coach under Pat Summitt.  She has head coaching experience in college (Purdue and Florida) as well as in the WBNA (Orlando).  She is currently an assistant coach at Vanderbilt.

Nikki Caldwell-Fargas

If Carolyn Peck is not the choice for Phillip Fulmer to replace Holly Warlick, then Nikki Caldwell-Fargas should be.  Nikki served as an assistant coach under Pat Summit, and then went on to become the head coach at UCLA for three seasons and is now in her seventh season as the head coach at LSU.

Kellie Jolly-Harper

Kellie Jolly (Harper) was the starting point guard from 1996-1998 when Tennessee won three consecutive NCAA Championships.  She started her coaching career in 2000 as an assistant at Auburn, she became a head coach in 2004 when she was hired at Western Carolina.  She is the second winningest coach in Western Carolina history.  She is currently the head coach at Missouri State.

The Pat Summitt coaching tree is immense and loaded with talent.  There are many who are good head coaches, and there are some who are good assistant coaches.  Holly Warlick is a good assistant coach and a lousy head coach.