Nikki Caldwell is no stranger to success.
Over the course of the last two seasons, the Tennessee native sat next to legendary coach Pat Summitt, the coach she played for in college, as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee. She helped guide the team to two more national championships. She also worked as an assistant with longtime Virginia coach Debbie Ryan.
This Sunday, Caldwell will embark on a new journey, as she will begin her first head-coaching job at UCLA and take the first step toward building the Bruins into a national power. For Caldwell, the move to Westwood is the culmination of a dream of hers: to become a college coach at a big-time program.
Last season, when Kathy Olivier stepped down after 15 years on the job, UCLA was left to look for a candidate to revitalize a program that had fallen off the radars of many Bruin fans. With the exception of USC or Stanford games, Pauley Pavilion remained noticeably empty as the program struggled to break into the highest ranks of the conference standings. Now, Caldwell hopes to place UCLA women’s basketball squarely at the forefront of many students’ minds, as has been done at successful institutions like Tennessee. The first step to achieving that success, however, is winning ““ something the new coach plans to do with regularity.
“We have to do our part, which is basically to win,” Caldwell said. “Winning a national championship is the ultimate goal. That is the ultimate goal.”
A Rising Star
Caldwell has the pedigree of a coach. From 1991-1994, she played at the University of Tennessee, knocking down three pointers by the dozen and getting in the face of opponents on the defensive end. After graduation, Caldwell did not immediately want to go into coaching. Instead, she decided to pursue a different career.
“When I got out of college, I went into broadcasting, and I thought I was actually going to be a writer,” Caldwell said with a laugh.
The recent graduate joined Fox Sports South as a commentator on women’s basketball broadcasts, working as the color commentator for one SEC game a week. It was then that Caldwell’s desire for something bigger started to show.
“After a couple of years, I realized I wanted to do more and be more hands-on in the women’s game,” she said.
Struck with a desire for coaching and to get back into the game that she loved, Caldwell approached Summitt for advice. Summitt told her that two positions were open for employment, one of them as a graduate assistant. Caldwell took it and began to live a dual life as basketball coach and graduate student. The mornings were filled with classes as Caldwell pursued a degree in Sports Management. The afternoons and evenings were spent dissecting practices and tape. There was a catch to this newfound happiness, however.
“I asked where I could learn the most, and Pat said as a graduate assistant,” Caldwell said. “So I went from a comfortable salary to a stipend.”
Caldwell left Knoxville for the University of Virginia in 2000, a fresh start for a fresh millennium. There she worked as a recruiter and assistant to Ryan, a legendary figure in women’s basketball, before returning to her home state as an assistant to Summitt in 2003.
“I’ve always said I’ve been fortunate to be around two great women of the game in Debbie Ryan and coach Summitt,” Caldwell said.
The experience as an assistant has helped her get more accustomed to her new position as a coach.
“I felt like I was being groomed for this position,” Caldwell said.
While working as an assistant in Knoxville, Caldwell became well-known as an outstanding recruiter. She was able to lure one of the best players in the history of women’s basketball, Candace Parker, to Tennessee, where she won two national titles. That recognition helped her gain notice throughout the college coaching ranks as a potential coach. It was one of the characteristics UCLA had been looking for.
“I did get offers where I knew there were opportunities there, but I knew it was going to take a special place to uproot and move there,” Caldwell said. “Most of my family is still in the Tennessee area. It was going to take something special.”
New places, new faces
That special place turned out to be Westwood, where Caldwell accepted an offer to lead the UCLA women’s basketball team. On April 17, she became the fifth coach in UCLA history. In the end, the choice turned out to be a fantastic fit.
“Nothing really stirred in me like UCLA did, having played against UCLA, knowing about the basketball tradition that was here,” Caldwell said. “I knew that UCLA was a special place. This was one job, one opportunity, one position, one university that I felt like I had to go after it with everything I had.”
Now that she has settled into her new life, Caldwell has a lot to address, first and foremost a program that she has been assigned the task of revitalizing. The Bruins have not made the postseason since 2006 when they advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Purdue. The path is an uphill climb, but one that coach Caldwell is looking to scale. In her mind, the biggest key to success is maintaining a disciplined, consistent approach on the basketball court as well as in the classroom.
“If you live a disciplined life, it will carry over into our student-athletes, and them being disciplined in getting an A versus a B,” Caldwell said. “You’ll work harder, you won’t cut corners. Those who are disciplined will play this game with a great passion. They will compete on every possession because they’ve been trained to do it over and over again. That’s what we want to instill in our athletes: that you do it the right way, every time, every possession, every practice, every game.”
The change has not always come easily for the players, who themselves must deal with an overhaul in the coaching staff and the strategic changes that come with it. Slowly, however, the players began buying into Caldwell’s philosophies.
“She has her presence, and that’s what motivates us,” junior guard Erica Tukiainen said. “She has a vision for us to compete on another level with all of the other teams here at UCLA.”
Already, Caldwell has made her trademark stick at UCLA as she was able to retain a pair of young standout players: freshmen Atonye Nyingifa and Rebekah Gardner.
“I came over with coach Caldwell,” Nyingifa said. “I heard about the change, and my coach told me she was a good coach.”
Caldwell hopes that with success, enthusiasm for the women’s basketball program will spread throughout the athletic department and into the student body. Part of a successful program is getting fans in the seats, something Caldwell is constantly trying to do. For the new coach, however, the change in culture that is needed to draw fan interest starts with the players themselves.
“Here in Westwood, we’re competing against a lot of things that are going on, whether it’s concerts or the 405,” Caldwell said. “If you have a great product on the floor, you have to get the message out there. It also helps if your student-athletes get involved with the campus life. If you’re involved in regular students’ life, then they will become involved with you. You have to build unity within your own communities first, and make sure we’re reaching out to them.”
Protegee among Legends
Caldwell’s office sits down the hall from some of the most successful college coaches in history. She works on a campus with the most successful athletic program in the country. In her mind, the legacy of UCLA basketball weighs as heavily on her shoulders as it does on Ben Howland. Yet she takes all of the pressure in stride.
“Coaching is a lifestyle,” Caldwell said. “I love being with those great coaches and being affiliated. You’re proud of it ““ proud to be a Bruin. You know that down the hall there’s Al Scates or Sue Enquist, you’re able to talk to John Wooden, and Ben Howland is down the hall. You kind of get spoiled a little bit.”
With all of her success in the past, Caldwell has extremely high expectations for both this year’s squad and the program’s future. All along, she knew that she would fit at a place like UCLA, and she still gets advice from those who have shaped her coaching philosophies.
“Pat and I still talk, maybe about every other week,” Caldwell said at a season-opening media luncheon a few weeks ago. “I don’t think I have her stare down yet, though.”
In the movies, on a bike
Anyone who was on a California road last December may have spotted UCLA’s future coach winding her way through traffic on a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Biking is one of Caldwell’s favorite occupations, and while somewhat dangerous, she insists that it’s a rather calming experience.
“The best way to see God’s country is on a bike,” Caldwell said. “You’re just so focused on everything that is around you. It’s a complete sensory experience.”
Caldwell is also a self-proclaimed movie nut. When she was younger, she would venture to the Cineplex and remain there for hours on end, taking in film after film. Her tastes are not confined to any one genre either.
“I love everything, really, a little bit of everything,” Caldwell said of her secret hobby. “I just saw “˜Saw V,’ but that wasn’t really scary ““ just gory. I love Denzel Washington, though.”
Caldwell hopes that as the newest coach of the UCLA women’s basketball team, she can create a Hollywood ending of her own. While the ultimate goal in her mind is a national championship, there are smaller steps to be taken and smaller victories to be won. Perhaps no one at UCLA understands that outlook better than John Wooden himself, the architect of 10 men’s basketball national championships. Caldwell has had chances on occasion to speak to coach Wooden.
“One of the reasons why I’m here and that I’m at UCLA is because I love being around greatness,” Caldwell said. “I remember coach Wooden talking about women’s basketball and how those who play it with great pride are playing close to how the game really should be played. It’s about being part of something bigger than yourself.”