Ruby Whitehorn remembers her first phone call with Kim Caldwell when she was hired at Tennessee.

Frankly, there wasn’t much to remember.

“She didn’t say much,” the junior guard laughed. “Just got straight to the point and I didn’t really talk as much. She just told me what she wanted to do and pretty much hung up on me.”

While the conversation wasn’t much, it was enough for Whitehorn to commit to Tennessee out of Clemson for the first-year coach’s first year in Knoxville.

This year’s Vols accomplished plenty in Caldwell’s first season, finishing the year ranked No. 20 in the nation and advancing to the Sweet 16, falling to SEC champion and No. 1-seeded Texas in a back-and-forth matchup.

“They bought in, they played hard, they’ve been a joy to coach,” Caldwell said of her first Tennessee team. “God blessed me to be able to coach this group of kids. I am thankful for them.

“Any success that we have at Tennessee from here on out is because of this team.”

Known for her high-octane offensive schemes, Caldwell helped Tennessee boast the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation with 87.5 points per game this season and Division I’s No. 14 scoring margin with a differential of 17.3 points per game.

Samara Spencer, who transferred from Arkansas and led the team in assists this season, said it was meaningful to play for a coach like Caldwell in her first season, especially what the team accomplished under a first-year coach.

“She really only asks two things, energy and effort,” Spencer said. “A lot of coaches ask you to do a lot of things here and a lot of things there and sometimes it’s not really possible, but it’s controllable for you to give energy and effort, and for her, that’s the biggest thing.

“That’s all she really wants from us and I think a coach who believes in you to be able to do that, and doesn’t really want anything but that, I think that that’s what coach gives us.”

Texas coach Vic Schaefer lauded Caldwell for “an unbelievable job” for her first campaign in the SEC, noting the success brought in the first year that isn’t easy.

“A lot of people think what she would do or how she is doing it wasn’t going to work,” he said. “I think she has shown them they ain’t right. What they do and how they do it is very effective.

“Again, getting kids to buy into a system, she’s done it so fast. A lot of credit has to go to her and how they play and the problems that they can create.”

Spencer’s first impression of Caldwell out of the transfer portal was simple: she’s a winner.

The West Virginia native compiled a 191–24 record at Division II Glenville State — her alma mater — from 2016–2023 before taking over at Marshall for a season.

She led the Thundering Herd to a 26-7 record, a Sun Belt Conference title and an NCAA tournament appearance before taking over at Tennessee.

“Her résumé presumes her: she is a winner,” Spencer said. “You want to be coached by somebody who has that ability to be able to win at each level that they go to. And the fact that she did what she did at Marshall and Glenville State, it showed it would be possible at Tennessee.

“Not a lot of people thought it would be possible in the first year but we came and we helped her do that, and I think that it was really special.”

Caldwell prided her group on its effort during her first year and buying into the system confident her group gave “everything they had.”

“I think the foundation is set,” the coach said. “Again, it’s off of this team. This team has laid the foundation and that was important and selfless and we would have loved to have gotten one more win. We would’ve loved to go to the Elite Eight but we didn’t.

“We have a good class coming in. We have a few pieces to fill and then it will just hopefully be smoother sailing in the preseason trying to teach everything next time around.”