As women’s basketball coach, Nikki Caldwell is a model of progress
In her second year at the helm of the UCLA program, coach Nikki Caldwell has guided a remarkable turnaround.
By Matt Stevens
Jan. 11, 2010 10:26 p.m.
The cover of the UCLA women’s basketball media guide does a great job synopsizing the subsequent 120 pages.
On that cover, front and center, stands Nikki Caldwell, smiling wide, basketball at her hip, a backdrop of Pauley Pavilion behind her.
Tennessee’s coach Pat Summit described UCLA’s coach as being “as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.”
That’s the new face of UCLA women’s basketball for you. The program has found its image. It has found its leader. It has found its identity.
At practice Thursday, there was Caldwell, dressed in gym shorts and tennis shoes, but still exuding that particular aura of hers that’s captured on the media guide cover.
She’s young ““ I’m not about to guess an age, but there wasn’t a person on that court over the age of 40. That wide smile of hers radiates. And the players respond to their youthful set of coaches that at times seem more like older siblings than authority figures.
In the middle of a drill, one of Caldwell’s assistants, Tasha Butts, implored her players to “SWITCH! SWITCH! SWITCH!,” and seconds later, after the play was over, a chorus of teasing “Switch, switch, switch!” came from the players.
Butts keeled over laughing, and Caldwell joined in.
Yet what is intriguing about Caldwell is how she can exude youthful enthusiasm and a wide smile while simultaneously commanding respect. Caldwell is quite simply a very strong figure. You do not mess with Coach.
After she got her own chuckles in with Butts, she took up her position once again at center court, arms crossed, watching, observing very closely her team’s imperfections.When she blows her whistle, play stops.
“What are you guys shooting over there?” she asks of one group running against the scout team.
“Five-for-14,” someone answers.
“How many offensive boards do you have?”
“Two.”
Wrong answer.
Off goes the coach into a mini tirade about rebounding ““ one critical part of her basketball philosophy ““ and how rebounding is a great way to counter poor shooting.
Lo and behold, on the next run-through, the team didn’t even need to rebound. The shot went in.
This is how Caldwell is building UCLA into “Tennessee-West.”
It’s time we all stand up and take notice. For God’s sake, this team battled back from 17 down and came within five points of beating Stanford.
Let me say that again: UCLA came within five points of beating the untouchable Stanford.
This is why the Bruins have won five of their last six. This is how the Bruins beat powerhouses Arizona State and Cal by double digits. This is why we have reason to be excited.
At least one of our basketball teams will be dancing in March.
In only her second year, Caldwell has already managed to turn a consistently mediocre team into one that seems destined to finish in the top third of the Pac-10 and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006.
“They’re bringing a different attitude, a different set of urgency,” Caldwell conceded about her team. “And we’re also a much better team than we were last year.”
That may be a nice way of saying that the problem players have been eliminated.
A year ago Caldwell kicked a senior starting point guard, Tierra Henderson, off the team for violating curfew, Henderson’s father said. While Caldwell never acknowledged the reason for Henderson’s dismissal, she did cite “multiple infractions.”
Then there was the other senior, Chinyere Ibekwe, who, despite starting every nonconference game, saw both her minutes and starts dwindle as the season wore on.
It is not good to be in Caldwell’s doghouse.
Anybody in there now?
“Nope. Nobody.”
Here’s why: On New Year’s Eve, the team was in an Arizona hotel preparing for the game against the Wildcats the next day. Shootaround was scheduled for 7 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
“We watched the East Coast New Year’s thing on TV at 10 p.m.,” said senior guard Erica Tukiainen. “Then we drank some apple juice and went to bed.”
A year ago, players were getting suspended for curfew.
Now it appears everyone is into making sacrifices for the team.
It’s that sort of philosophy, discipline and fun Caldwell is trying to instill.
And man, does it ever appear to be working.
E-mail Matt Stevens at [email protected].
