Pregnancy notwithstanding, Caldwell assures that she will be able to handle whatever comes her way as the Tigers make a postseason run in 2012. (Credit: Preston Gill)

Competitors play and coach with a fiery feeling on the inside that seems to kickbox its way from deep within the soul. The intensity of this can be exhilarating, and sometimes painful.

First-year LSU women’s basketball Coach Nikki Caldwell has been coaching this season with a double whammy of internal kickboxing.

Caldwell is giving new meaning to March Madness in 2012. As exciting as another possible LSU run through the Big Dance of the NCAA might be, it pales in comparison to the exhilaration of giving birth to a first-born child – which Caldwell, who is expecting the arrival of her first child near the end of March, very well may do during the tournament.

“It is only fitting that I have a ‘March Madness’ baby,” Caldwell said with a hint of a chuckle. But her grin slipped away as she said seriously, “I won’t do anything to risk the health of my baby.”

In an exclusive interview with Dig, Caldwell talked about her first year at LSU, the ups and downs of this season, and the issues near to her heart. As she spoke, Caldwell gave some insights into her life on and off the court, as she prepares for the biggest months of her life.

On the move

Caldwell’s journey to Baton Rouge has taken her across the country in pursuit of the game she loves. As a freshman player for the University of Tennessee in 1991, Caldwell helped the Lady Vols to a national title. Defense was her trademark as a player, as well as a lethal shot behind the arc. It is easy to see the defensive fires still burning within her as you watch her coach. She was a shooting guard on the hardwood, but from the bench she is a general on offense and defense.

Using the term “bench” in the same breath as “coaching” for Caldwell is a bit of a misnomer, for she is seldom on the bench during a game. You would not be faulted for thinking there was a basket of snakes under her seat. She seldom sits there. When she does sit, it is only for a few moments before she is up clapping her hands in encouragement, commending players, and yelling defensive instructions and offensive plays down both sides of the court.

“She has been awesome – a fireball,” senior forward Courtney Jones said of her new coach.

“Coach Caldwell has brought intensity to the game and to practice so everything is fast paced,” senior forward LaSondra Barrett added. “She is teaching the game at a faster level.”

Appropriate to her mannerisms and affinity for pace, Caldwell moved up the coaching ranks quickly in her career. After her playing career, she got back into the game during a three-year stint as assistant coach at Virginia, but soon the Oak Ridge, Tenn. native returned to her roots at Tennessee as an assistant coach before being named the program’s recruiting director. 

A little sponge

Success followed Caldwell. While an assistant at Tennessee, the Lady Vols made five Final Four appearances and won a pair of NCAA Championships in 2007 and 2008.

It was her time at Tennessee, both as a player and a coach, that Caldwell credits as critical to her development as a person and a leader. For this, she thanks legendary Tennessee Head Coach Pat Summitt.

“I have known her since I was 16 or 17,” said Caldwell of Summitt. “I love her dearly.”

Caldwell has a unique descriptor for her beloved mentor, calling Coach Summitt “a movement.” She uses that term to describe not only Summitt’s unparalleled influence as a coach, but also, more importantly, what Summitt has done since being diagnosed with dementia in 2011.

Since doctors dianosed Summitt with the disease, the legendary coach has helped educate and raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and dementia and has “put a positive spin to it” by bringing it to the attention of so many people. “It became an educational thing to me,” said Caldwell of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. In addition to her relationship with Caldwell, she has an even deeper family connection to the disease. Her grandmother has it.

Summitt’s influence, on and off the court, is part of what made it so hard for Caldwell to leave when UCLA offered her its head coaching job in 2008. Leaving the University of Tennessee was like leaving home and “leaving her family’” for Caldwell. But, three years later, leaving behind the team she built at UCLA in her first gig as head coach was even more difficult.

“Professionally, that was the hardest decision I ever had to make,” Caldwell said as she recalled leaving UCLA.  “But I never doubted it was the right decision [to come to LSU].”

Caldwell’s calling

There certainly were times where doubt could have crept in. After a sizzling 14-3 start to Caldwell’s career at LSU, a late season 1-5 skid undoubtedly panged from within. That slump ended with an exhilarating win over then-No. 5 Kentucky at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and the Lady Tigers reignited. Four consecutive SEC wins have put LSU (18-8, 8-5, and a fourth-place tie in the SEC with South Carolina and Arkansas) on the cusp of an NCAA Tournament invitation. If they picked up a couple more wins they could be playing on March 18 and 20 when the PMAC will host Rounds One and Two of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

What panged LSU more than those five consecutive SEC losses, however, was the season-ending injury of LSU senior point guard Destini Hughes on January 19. The pre-veterinary graduate appeared to be playing the best basketball of her career when she went down with torn ligaments and a torn meniscus in her right knee during the first half of the Lady Tigers’ road game at Tennessee.

“We lost our leadership at point guard,” said Caldwell of Hughes, who now cheers her teammates from the bench on crutches. She describes Hughes as a “great person” who was “coming into her own” prior to the injury.

It seems that Caldwell thrives off the mentor relationships she builds with her players as much as they thrive on her passion. She has her team adjusting and playing through this and other unexpected events and hardships, much the way a mother-to-be does for the nine months of a pregnancy. 

“We don’t give up. This is a group with a lot of courage (and) a lot of team spirit,” Caldwell said. She explained that individuals have willingly assumed roles that they were not accustomed to playing.

“This is a great group to coach. They have all sacrificed a lot,” said Caldwell. She praised their efforts on and off the court as well as the commitment from the university to help keep her “100 percent graduation rate” intact.

As she speaks of her current LSU team, it is apparent that she has developed strong ties to LSU and the community in her first year, but even stronger bonds to her players.

“As a coach, coaching is the last thing we do,” she said. “We listen, we mentor, we advise, we hold accountable... we teach loyalty.”

Caldwell said that she was thrilled by the commitment from the university and the community to not just women’s basketball but to all of women’s athletics. “LSU is a place with unbelievable people,” she said.

Ultimately, Caldwell hopes to become one of those “unbelievable people” as she settles in Baton Rouge. Even with a child on the way, she remains dedicated to the game she loves.

“I have a burning passion for the game,” said Caldwell of her coaching. “This is my calling. This is what I was born to do.”