A new era has begun for the LSU women’s basketball team.
Former UCLA coach and Tennessee assistant coach Nikki Caldwell was formally introduced Monday as the new coach for the Lady Tigers, bringing her whole UCLA staff with her after three seasons with the Bruins.
Caldwell, a native of Oak Ridge, Tenn., is replacing Van Chancellor, who stepped down March 16. She said the decision to take the job at LSU was not an easy one, but her enthusiasm was evident Monday through her fiery persona.
“It was a tough decision to make when [UCLA] was my first head coaching job,” Caldwell said. “This LSU program is very rich in tradition, and LSU has been committed to women’s basketball when it wasn’t popular. I want this to be my home for a long, long time.”
Caldwell, 38, graduated from Tennessee in 1994 and served as assistant coach under Pat Summitt from 2002-08 after a stint as an assistant at Virginia from 2000-02. She also became recruiting director at Tennessee in 2003.
She compiled a 72-26 record at UCLA and took the Bruins to two NCAA tournaments in 2009 and 2010. UCLA was a No. 3 seed in the 2010 NCAA tournament but was eliminated in the second round against No. 11-seed Gonzaga.
Joe Alleva, LSU Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics, said he interviewed four people for the job, and he knew Caldwell was the right woman when she stressed “player development” in her interview.
Caldwell will get a five-year contract worth about $700,000 per year, on par with Chancellor’s former salary, Alleva said.
“I knew she was the one when she started talking about how important it was to develop young ladies for the rest of their lives,” Alleva said. “I didn’t interview any weak people. She’s a star.”
Caldwell said the hallmark of LSU will still be defense, and the tempo will be faster in practice and games. Additionally, she said she and her coaching staff will be actively engaged in increasing the players’ basketball IQs.
“We’re gonna run, run, run,” Caldwell said. “I love quick, early shots when they go in. I have a staff that can literally get on the floor and simulate the system we’re trying to run … That lends a different level of teaching, and that’s been special about our staff.”
LSU senior forward LaSondra Barrett said Chancellor and Caldwell are very different coaches, and she is most excited about Caldwell’s energy and “player-coach relations.”
Barrett said she remembers Caldwell’s passion from LSU’s 55-53 road victory against UCLA on Dec. 28. It was UCLA’s first of their five losses in the 2010-11 season.
“It will be great having a coach out there with us,” Barrett said. “It might be funny at first because we’re not used to it. It just shows how much they care for a coach to actually be out there when they don’t have to.”