KINGSPORT – Three months after giving birth during her first season as Tennessee Lady Vols basketball coach, Kim Caldwell is taking maternity leave.
Her final stretch run toward that break was a three-day tour of Tennessee for the Big Orange Caravan. She signed countless autographs, posed for photos, answered questions from fans and announced her break from day-to-day duties to reporters.
“My maternity leave starts tomorrow after finishing this,” Caldwell said on May 1 at the Kingsport stop of the caravan.
“I’m very thankful. It has been a whirlwind of a year when you have a baby at midseason. I obviously made the choice that I made to come back right away. I was in practice three days after giving birth. That might be right. That may be wrong. I don’t know, but that’s what I felt like I needed to do.”
Caldwell, 36, gave birth to baby boy Conor Scott Caldwell on Jan. 20. It was the first child for her and husband, Justin, who is the player development coordinator for Tennessee men’s basketball.
How Kim Caldwell will spend maternity leave
Caldwell will take a few weeks off, beginning May 2. Women’s basketball is beginning a dead period in recruiting. After that, she said she’ll mostly work from home during her maternity leave, stop by her office about once a week and enjoy some long-waited time with her son.
“I’ll still be on the phone some. But I will be around my son. I’m looking forward to starting a routine with him,” Caldwell said. “I’ve brought him to practices. I’ve brought him to the office a lot since our games have finished. That’s been great since our schedule has slowed a little.
“But I’m going to be with him and start a routine. We’ll travel a little bit and try to get our feet under us and then get back to it.”
Caldwell’s coaching staff will fill in for her where needed. She said she wants to be disciplined enough to stay away, but that won’t be easy considering her work ethic.
“I’m going to try to not to (work as much), and I’ll probably still take (my son) when I go in,” Caldwell said. “So much (of the job) now is that you’re just on the phone. You’re connecting with people. So I’ll probably go in (to the office) a little bit. I’ve tried to tell myself that I’m not going to, but I also know who I am.”
Why Kim Caldwell thinks it’s important to step away in offseason
Caldwell said she understands that not every mother would’ve delayed her maternity leave. But she felt it was important to finish her first season before taking a break.
Now it’s important that she step away for a break and extra time with her family.
“It’s really important that I say that (I’m taking maternity leave),” Caldwell said. “One, I say that because I’m excited about it. But I think it’s also important because women looked (at that decision) and maybe (thought) that’s not a great standard to set.
“But, hey, I’m thankful that the University of Tennessee is allowing me to do this three months after giving birth.”
Caldwell missed a Jan. 23 game at Texas after giving birth. Then she returned to practice the day after the game. She coached the Lady Vols to the Sweet 16 to cap her first UT season with a 24-10 record.
Since then, Caldwell has been recruiting, landing players from the transfer portal and participating in fan events.
The Big Orange Caravan included round-trip flights to Memphis and Nashville and a drive to Kingsport. She greeted a long line of fans and revved up the crowd from the stage.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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