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Tennessee was once the preeminent program in women’s college basketball. But it may have just hit its lowest point.
The Lady Volunteers have just one player committed for the 2026–27 season after eight players entered the transfer portal, including star Talaysia Cooper and freshman twins Mia and Mya Pauldo. The program also lost four graduating seniors and five-star recruit Oliviyah Edwards, who announced Tuesday that she has decommitted from the program.
Gabby Minus, a four-star recruit, is the only player committed to Tennessee for next season.
From Dynasty to Downturn
Tennessee had already been struggling in recent years, at least relative to its heyday. The program has won eight national titles, second-most in NCAA history. But its most recent title came all the way in 2008, led by 2026 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Candace Parker.
UConn, which has 12 national titles, has maintained its spot at the top while South Carolina appears to have claimed Tennessee’s old spot.
The program brought in head coach Kim Caldwell last year after she led Marshall to the tournament in 2024 for the first time in 27 years. She helped recruit one of the best freshman recruiting classes in the nation.
But the changes couldn’t change the program’s fortunes.
Tennessee entered the tournament as the No. 10 seed and lost in the first round. It was the first time since 2019—and the third time in program history—that the school failed to win a tournament game (not including 2020, when the tournament was canceled due to COVID).
ESPN reporter Holly Rowe called out Tennessee AD Danny White on Monday for the program’s collapse in a now-deleted tweet.
“What Danny White is allowing to happen to @LadyVol_Hoops is making me so sad,” Rowe wrote. “Gut wrenching to watch him let one of the greatest programs in women’s sports history disintegrate. I am devastated.”
The women’s basketball team has slowly declined since White joined in 2021. In the same period, Tennessee’s football team hit new heights, making its first college football playoff in the 2024–25 season. The men’s basketball program has also consistently been one of the best in the nation, making the Elite Eight in the last three seasons.
The Bigger Trend
Tennessee is far from the only program that’s been decimated by the transfer portal, which has seen more than 1,100 players enter since it opened at midnight Monday.
Iowa State also felt the hit, losing ten players to the portal, including star center Audi Crooks.
On Thursday, Cyclones AD Jamie Pollard released a nearly 7-minute clip citing the issues NIL and the transfer portal have caused his basketball programs.
“Although disappointing, it’s really an unfortunate product of the state of our industry at this point in time,” Pollard said. “Rest assured, we aren’t the only school that’s going through this.”
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