Nikki Caldwell

Nikki Caldwell

Nikki Caldwell was named head coach of the UCLA Bruins on April 17, 2008. Caldwell came to UCLA after serving on the staff of legendary women's coach Pat Summitt as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee for the 2003-08 seasons. She helped the Lady Vols post a 195-24 record during that span, which included five trips to the Final Four and NCAA championships in 2007 and 2008. Caldwell has been lauded as an excellent floor coach and a consistent star among college recruiters.

In her 14 seasons as a collegiate player and assistant coach, Caldwell's teams have compiled an amazing 404-76 record and appeared in the NCAA Tournament each season, while winning three national championships. In 2008, the Lady Vols captured a second straight NCAA championship and finished with a record of 36-2.

Caldwell joined the Tennessee staff for the 2002-03 season and became the recruiting director in the spring of 2003. In the fall of 2003, the Tennessee staff signed perhaps the most prolific freshman class in the history of women's collegiate basketball. That class consisted of six 2004 high school All-Americans, including three Players of the Year. In 2007, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) named Tennessee as the best recruiting school in the nation.

Caldwell is a passionate crusader for breast cancer awareness. She and Tennessee assistant coach Holly Warlick have founded the non-profit organization, Champions for a Cause. Since 2007, they have raised nearly $100,000 through their events including Cruisin' for a Cause, a long-haul motorcycle adventure to raise dollars and awareness for a cure for breast cancer.

Caldwell was raised in Oak Ridge, TN by her mother, Jean Caldwell. Caldwell has a younger sister, Simone, brother-in-law, Kirk and niece, Khayla. She is also the proud mother of a 15 year-old cocker spaniel named Princess.

Holly Warlick

Holly Warlick

The 2004-05 season marked the start of Associate Head Coach Holly Warlick's third decade at the University of Tennessee, working with fellow Women's Basketball Hall of Famer, UT Head Coach Pat Summitt. As Summitt has become the all-time winningest coach in men's or women's collegiate hoops, Warlick has been alongside her, either as a player or an assistant, for 834 of the unparalleled number of wins collected by her mentor. Including this season, Warlick has spent 28 years with the program helping shape UT into a national powerhouse. In 2007, the WBCA named Warlick the nation's top assistant coach after she helped lead UT to its seventh national title.

Somehow it doesn't seem that long ago that the charismatic Warlick was flying up and down the court as a Lady Vol All-America point guard. Warlick's association with the Lady Vols started in 1976 when she joined the program as a scholarship 400-meter track athlete who walked on to the basketball team. For over three decades, Warlick has been considered the finest point guard to ever play for the University of Tennessee Lady Vols. A number of Halls of Fame agree, as she has been enshrined in five of them. Warlick was also the first player in the history of Tennessee athletics (men or women) to have her jersey retired (number 22) at the end of her career in 1980.

A native of Knoxville, Warlick earned her B.S. in marketing from Tennessee in 1981 and her master's degree in athletic administration from Virginia Tech in 1983. Warlick added "biker" to her vitae in 2001. To commemorate her induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, a number of Warlick's friends got together and presented her with a Harley-Davidson "Sportster" motorcycle. In the summer of 2007, she and former fellow assistant Nikki Caldwell created the non-profit organization Champions For A Cause. Their long-haul motorcycle ride - Crusin For A Cause – is the organization’s premier event. Other events include Links Fore The Cure, a women’s golf tournament, and b3 – bikes, basketball & breast cancer, a special invitation dinner and auction.