What They Are Saying About Nikki Caldwell At LSU ...

Caldwellbillboardgoldweb

Since she was named the school’s seventh women’s basketball head coach during the first weekend in April, Nikki Caldwell has made an immediate impact for the Lady Tigers. Here is a collection of quotes from former coaches and TV/media personalities on her hire at LSU …

“I am absolutely thrilled for Nikki. It’s UCLA’s loss and LSU’s fantastic gain to get a brilliant, rising coach of Nikki Caldwell’s caliber.  LSU is committed to its women’s basketball program both financially and with the resources they have in place to compete amongst the best teams in the nation. The Southeastern Conference will become much stronger with Nikki joining the league.  Her accomplishments in the three short seasons she was at UCLA is indicative of more of what will come from Nikki and her staff at LSU.”
-- Tennessee head coach and Hall of Famer Pat Summitt

“Nikki Caldwell is a superstar in our profession. She is the quintessential "players" coach who understands that each player is unique and must be motivated differently to get their maximum effort every night. Nikki has a style and grace that garners immediate attention. She has a great moral compass for the way things ought to be in life. LSU may have hired a coach but they acquired a tremendous person who will achieve greatness beyond the athletic realm.”
-- Former Virginia head coach and Hall of Famer Debbie Ryan

“When I started making phone calls around and asking people who I should look at to take this position, Nikki Caldwell’s name came up every single time, and I’m not kidding you. Every single person I talked to brought up her name, so I said I need to meet this lady, and I did. I was obviously very impressed. She’s a star, she’s a role model and she has the priorities of the young student-athletes in her heart and in her mind. She wants to make them better, not just as basketball players but as people, and that’s what this is all about.”
-- LSU Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva

“LSU should get the hire of the year award in hiring Nikki Caldwell. I was an assistant on the staff at Tennessee when she played. I have known her for a long time and followed her when she was an assistant at Virginia. She came back to Tennessee and won a championship as an assistant coach there. When you look at what she did at UCLA in a short amount of time, Nikki is a winner. She works hard. She knows how to relate to people and she is a constant student of the game. There is more than one way to do things and she is going to find the right way that works with the players she has. The folks in the community are going to love her. She’s a Southern girl being from Oak Ridge, Tenn. I am sure she already feels like she is home being now in Baton Rouge.”
-- Carolyn Peck, ESPN analyst and former Purdue/Florida head coach/Tennessee assistant coach

“An absolute overflow crowd, rivaling something one might expect for the hiring of a new LSU football coach, is gathered on the fifth floor of the athletic building for Caldwell's introductory press conference. The room is captured immediately by the star attraction's million dollar smile and infectious personality. It's not a boring affair. Caldwell pays tribute to the late Sue Gunter while talking up former Lady Tiger stars like Seimone Augustus, Temeka Johnson and Sylvia Fowles. She even boasts about "standing toe-to-toe" with her powerhouse alma matter Tennessee and her iconic mentor Pat Summitt. Caldwell is confident, but not cocky, about the Lady Tigers and what they can accomplish. There's a new, exciting energy in the air, and athletic director Joe Alleva is praised for what many consider to be a "home run hire."
-- Jacques Doucet, WAFB-TV

“In Caldwell, the Lady Tigers not only have a proven winner, but a charismatic young coach whose reputation for camera presence, fashion sense, an affinity for high-heel shoes and Harley Davidson motorcycles precedes her. Because the news of her hiring over the weekend sparked calls from fans interested in when 2011-12 season tickets go on sale, the athletic department decided to start selling them on Monday—far earlier than usual.”
-- Associated Press

“This is a woman who drives her players so hard, even the male students who practice with her team are ordered to run sprints if they slack. Yet before every practice, everyone stands motionless in a midcourt circle with their feet touching to remind them that they are all one family.”
-- Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times

“So have you been infected with Nikkimania yet? … The road back to the Final Four begins with but a single step. And there couldn’t be anyone who was jammed into Caldwell’s introductory news conference Monday at LSU who would say she didn’t get off on the right foot. Caldwell was engaging, confident, deferential in all the right places — like when speaking of late LSU coach Sue Gunter or her coach, Tennessee’s Pat Summitt — and funny as well.”
-- Scott Rabalais, Baton Rouge Advocate

“Listening to Caldwell speak and field questions for about a half hour, one thing became apparent: She has “it,” whatever “it” is, that indefinable quality that allows certain people to walk into a room, calm the chatter and become the center of attention. … No one knew it, but the Caldwell era was waiting on the other side, and being in her presence Monday you couldn’t help but think it was a prelude to LSU’s version of CBS’ “One Shining Moment.”
-- Scott Rabalais, Baton Rouge Advocate

Posted by Bill Martin