The loss snatched from the jaws of victory to South Carolina in the SEC tournament sealed the deal. As it is Dawn Staley is poised to take over the region for a long while, A conundrum has been created trying to keep it constrained to Pat's lineage and Tennessee. So now 2 coaches dismissed in as recent a decade.

I agree, sad to see Kellie go and cast a wide net... seems like a good call to not limit it to prior Lady Vols. Wishing Kellie the best for the future

Maria is a legend in her own right! I trust her on all things lady vols! Can’t wait for her to give us some news on possible candidates for the job!

She was in an impossible situation, following in the footsteps of the best women's coach ever. Women's basketball is much more competitive than it was 20 years ago with several more powerhouses.

@ericscottstevens

2 ай бұрын

Lets say Kellie and her W/:L record coached at a Mountain West school or MAC. . She would be considered a great coach and be solid in her ability to keep the job. Kellie is not finished, she will find work very soon.

@jonathanyoung9369

Ай бұрын

*3rd best women's coach of all time

I hate it. KJH is as loyal VFL as you can wish for. Class act. I realize it’s all about the win column.

@goldbrick2563

2 ай бұрын

What is VFL?

@waldolydecker8118

Ай бұрын

@@goldbrick2563- volunteer fighting lady?

@goldbrick2563

Ай бұрын

@@waldolydecker8118 oh interesting, i thought they were called the 'lady vols'...never knew about VFL

Good move DW. Lady vols can and should do better.

What I don't understand is Tennessee hasn't been good since Pat Summit earlier days of coaching. I thought she done a good job.

It's about time Vols need a coach that can recruit elite talent

@brentjansen166

2 ай бұрын

How about John Calipari

@marlonlloyd5571

2 ай бұрын

🎯

@pamelaking3308

2 ай бұрын

Exactly

Good move DW. We need a top level coach. I want to win a championship.

Everyone wanted her to succeed- and while she was good she wasn’t great and didn’t meet the standard this historic program expects. These are hard decisions but necessary

@VIC00-ir2bb

Ай бұрын

PAT THE LEGEND, UT will never see that limelight ever again, get over it already...Mistake firing Kellie, shouldve finished out contract...Makes em look weak

Good job, Maria. No one better covering the LVs.

Whomever they get is gonna be after the 3-4 Year Bag💰💰💰 Because if they don’t Win like Pat Did (Which is Not Gonna Happen) they already know they are going to get the Axe!!! Hope Coach Harper goes on to have a Very Successful Career Somewhere that She isn’t Competing with a Legendary Coach and is Appreciated for Her Hard Work!!!

Wes Moore would never accept this coaching job. He is a very close friend of Jon & Kellie.

Seems a lot of Pat's former players are getting fired. Kyra Elzy just got fired but UK made a homerun hire with Kenny Brooks from Virginia Tech

Wes Moore would be great. Loved him when he was at UT Chattanooga. But he’s doing great things at NC State.

Kellie Harper is not the one that should have been fired ... and as a result it will be a hot mess going forward

@VIC00-ir2bb

Ай бұрын

Exactly...l Firing Kellie will lead to more mistakes this season...Dummies...lol

@LaCrux

20 күн бұрын

@@VIC00-ir2bbIt was time for Kellie to go! And I’m glad they didn’t hire from the Summitt tree. Danny White did the right thing

Kara Lawson? You hope when you make a fire like this you have a replacement in the wings.

@waldolydecker8118

Ай бұрын

Lawson has Duke on the rise and positioned to be even better with incoming recruits...Tennessee would have to double or triple her salary for her to depart what is a more premiere institution in Duke.

It's firing season. This is when you can get the biggest draws. Pony it up for a proven coach.

It's South Carolina time and era. You have to compete will Texas NIL money as well. LSU not going anywhere. And other schools around the nation are competitive. You're going to the final four or competing for SEC titles every year.

Many Volunteer fans (and I'm one of them) were shocked and dismayed by the injustice of Kelli's dismissal and like Pat Summitt remain proud of her on and off the hardwood. With a resume sporting significant athletic accomplishments both as a fierce player and demanding coach she is a role model for young women and an ambassador for the sport and Kellie will land on her feet to coach again. But in my opinion the future of women's basketball at UT is not as bright or certain. What sane coach would want to coach there doomed by high expectations from the Pat Summitt era at Tennessee? Kellie made the NCAA Tournament four out of her five seasons coaching Rocky Top and the Lady Vols have been in the Sweet 16 in each of the past two seasons! And injuries for key players which kept them on the sidelines prevented even better results. Few active college coaches in women's basketball can boast a better record today. UT needs to seriously consider that if not carefully managed the biggest enemy of excellence in college sports can be unreasonable demands by the alumni association for perfection.

@bobbysmith3196

2 ай бұрын

Well Put!!! Kellie was probably better than what they will get next!!! I would Not go there unless i was after a Boatload of Money in the 3-4 Years they are giving a Coach before giving that Coach the Axe!!!🙄 UT-Too high Expectations

@LaCrux

20 күн бұрын

@@bobbysmith3196Kellie had to go. Program was getting down right embarrassing under her. Great job Danny White

The lack of recruiting was the main issue for me... She couldn't bring in HS talent... Only portal talent... And this was before having to deal with NIL...

YET they didn't ask the question,was she FIRED because of that SC LOSS!!

Vanderbilt,Memphis, Tennessee State, or Tennessee Tech, SMU all the universities in the State of Tennessee should be interested in hiring Kellie Harper as their new coach we all make mistakes & sometimes an new chance of scenery is good.......

I think they made a mistake 😢

@marlonlloyd5571

2 ай бұрын

They didn't... It would've only gotten worse w/ her as coach...

@LaCrux

20 күн бұрын

Nope. Time to go

Simply put, Kellie could not bring the LV to dominance. Instead, after 5 seasons, we only got mediocrity. Time to move on and find a winner. Danny White will do just that. GO LADY VOLS!!!!

decent coach but a horrible recruiter.

❤ Maria

Nick Saban!

That's hard as player esp when you've been switching to try to find the right fit and you do. I know its hard as a coach as well.

Maria is awesome, best reporter in the business. Kara Lawson has a worse record than KJH, and it has been said she uses negative recruiting against the Vols on the recruiting trail.

You are judged on wins and loses. Having a losing record against top 25 competition in five years isn't going to get the job done! Danny White will make the correct hire!

What star recruit would wanna come this yr, now, star 5n4 Star high Schooñ Jr. Also crossing out Tenn now

Gotta give more time 5 yrs is just not enough sorry

I don’t think it matters because the glory days for Tennessee is over

This is a ridiculous firing. if they won the SEC title and they were probably one play away from doing so is she fired? Yes they should have beaten South Carolina in the semis they probably would have beaten an injury plagued and controversy plagued tiger team in the final. But even just beating an unbeaten South Carolina team in the semis of the SEC championship they would not have fired her so that one play made all the difference. I hope Harper goes to another conference gets a team and has some success. Or hell I hope she goes to the Gators and can build them up but that will take a few years and she probably wants a ready-made team.

Well I hate to say this because they should not fired her and so since they fired her and they should fired rick Barnes because he didn't make the final four and how long since Tennessee win the championship

Tennessee basketball 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

So if the Lady Vols don't make it to the Final Four every year they're just going to keep firing the coach?

@gwhite7136

2 ай бұрын

is you insane? lol We haven't reached a final four since 2008. Use your fingers and toes and see how long ago that was because it would require both lol. Not acceptable. And there was zero indication by the way Kelly coached we'd ever reach one in the next 5 years.

@tdvols

2 ай бұрын

You have to win games against top 25 competition. Kelly didn't recruit well also! Time to hire a coach who can recruit and coach in game! Kelly couldn't do either.

She is fired well can they make a better choice?

Speak for yourself. I am glad a change has been made. And why would anybody dress like that on national TV. Smh

She's not a reporter, she's a zealot.

She made her season about making the games against S Carolina Close. They would play SC close and get blown out by LSU… Why??

@gwhite7136

2 ай бұрын

A sign of some coaching issues and no consistency. It's also how badly the defense was in rivalry games. They looked lost on the basics of guarding many times and the worst possible times. The only way SC beats you if with a three. Ball in and no one even comes out to guard the 3 shooter who rarely makes a three. Nothing but net. Than get blown out by lesser foe. They played competiviely but it's been 5 years of this, and 0 final fours since 2008.

SHE HAD TO GO...BOTTONLINE __CRY BABY 😢 & WEAK...

20 plus wins every year to the big dance. U found one better.?

@gwhite7136

2 ай бұрын

Not one final four appearance since 2008. lol We can do better. We spent most of the seasons unranked. 20 wins isn't that impressive if you never do much with it. Play a close game to SC than blown out by LSU and other teams, time and again isn't a recipe for success.

Tenn will never ever have another Pat Summit because Pat Summit as I have read made the Lady Vols what it had become from scratch. Tenn lady vols time as the most dominate team in ladies basketball is over. You can't recreate another dominate very talented coach the likes of Pat Summit

Here we go again. Typical FICKLE Tennessee sport leadership. Danny, ….controlled by big money booster donors. Big money with little brains! K. Harper is an excellent coach. (I hate that this happened to you. The Lady Vols will suffer as a result!) Hate to break the news to you big money boosters, but the dynasty that Pat Summitt built can never be repeated. Pat Summitt changed women’s basketball / changed its status / changed its competitiveness / set the new high standards for all other women’s basketball programs across the nation. Now it is extremely competitive and extremely difficult. And now with “transfer portal” a big factor, it only adds greatly to the difficulties coaches face. Good luck Kellie. You will be quick hired into another coaching position. After the big money boosters cry a while over the next 2-4 years when they see how much worse it will be for the Lady Vols, and after they replace a few more head coaches over the next few years,…they will realize the huge mistake they made in firing you.

She could have been given more time to turn the program around. 😢

Tennessee has made a big mistake kellie was a great coach danny white is a terrible athletic director

@rickruch3487

2 ай бұрын

Tennessee will never win again pat summit is looking down and is not happy with this dumb as a box of hammers athletic director fire him Tennessee do yalls self a favor

@rrtownsend7148

2 ай бұрын

You sound butt-hurt....

I can't believe they fired Kellie harper after her tourney success

@woodsd4

2 ай бұрын

What success ?

@officertdavis

2 ай бұрын

@woodsd4 it was a joke dude... relax... you see I put Kara Lawson directly below sheesh

Firing Coach harper is a dumb move. She had a winning record. The next coach better be a big name.

@JustinWilliams-rr5bl

2 ай бұрын

No it wasn't lol she just wasn't doing it.

nothing personal but she had to go … NOW PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THE RX PLAYER BS AS COACH

She is a good Coach. This is a bad decision.

@ricksmith780

2 ай бұрын

Yes I agree I’m a S.C. fan and y’all really screwed this up ! She did not deserve this kind of kick in the ass!

@wack8589

2 ай бұрын

​@@ricksmith780The AD is a clown

@gwhite7136

2 ай бұрын

5 years and never made it past the sweet 16. With TN's money, brand name, talent pool? Plus, I think it's cumulative from the prior coach. We haven't been back to the final four in how long, well over a decade? Plus, it's how she coached in certain high profile games. Poorly. The last SC game being one of them. I think she's a good coach and got 5 years and this brand name, should have produced more.

@woodsd4

2 ай бұрын

She had to go.

Can we offer Bruce Pearl?

Kara lawson

Kara Lawson

Fire the AD. Not patient

@gwhite7136

2 ай бұрын

lol. 5 years, what do we have to show for it. It's also cumulative. The great Pat Summit tree hires have got us 0 final four appearances since 2008. That's an insult to what Pat built here and took decades to do. The name brand, and how it changed the sport. Kelly, has coaching issues. Clearly displayed in some of the most blundered coaching calls during games. From standing around in the box to not covering the 3 range, so time and again getting beat on pick and rolls. Kelly had 2 NCAA tournament appearances at Missouri State in 6 years before she came to TN. I think it was a bit much for her here too soon. In another 5 to 10 years, she might become an elite coach. But by than, our brand will be worth what?

Glad she is gone now get her out of knoxville forever she is a horrible coach

I hate to see Kellie leave but the only one I see to take her place is Candace Parker she knows how to win!!!!

@waldolydecker8118

Ай бұрын

Parker still playing in the pros for another year or two and has a comfortable no-stress long-term career on TV...would be shocked if she throws that away to take on the demanding high stress UT coaching job.

“Expecting” conference and national championships is naive and disrespectful of every other program in your conference and across the country!!!