Holly Warlick - Women's Basketball Coach (2024)

LIVE PINK, BLEED ORANGE VIDEO

In seven seasons at the helm of Tennessee women’s basketball, Holly Warlickbuilt a very impressive résumé in her young head coaching career. Her worksheet contains accomplishments few coaches achieve in their entire careers, much less as first-time head coaches.

Those successes confirmed that Warlick was the right choice to take the reins at Tennessee and that she and her staff had the acumen to run a championship program. A disciple of the legendary Pat Summitt, Warlickmaintained the core values of her former coach, co-worker and friend while at the same time employing her own personality, style and competitive energy to coach today’s players.

WARLICK RANKED AMONG THE NATION'S TOP COACHES DURING HER TENURE

• Tennessee claimed three SEC trophies in Warlick’s seven seasons, winning regular-season crowns in 2013 and 2015 and claiming the tournament title in 2014.
• Holly Warlick owns a 172-67 career record (.720), all at UT.
• Warlick’s career SEC winning percentage (.696, 78-34) through the 2018-19 season ranked her second among all active SEC women’s head coaches.
• Only three schools reached the NCAA Elite Eight more times from 2013-18 than the Lady Vols, who advanced to that round in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Those schools were UConn (6), Notre Dame (5) and Baylor (4).
• Warlick and Leon Barmore (formerly of Louisiana Tech) are the only skippers to direct their programs to three NCAA Elite Eight appearances in their first four seasons as head coaches.
• Only 11 women’s programs in the nation have appeared in every NCAA Tournament from2012-13 to 2018-19, including three from the SEC (Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas A&M).
• Eleven Lady Vols under Warlick’s tutelage were taken in the WNBA Draft, including two first round picks (Isabelle Harrison, 2015; Diamond DeShields, 2018).
• Warlickcoached one All-American, one SEC Player of the Year, one SEC Tournament MVP, one SEC Freshman of the Year, one SEC 6th Woman of the Year, eight All-SEC players and five SEC All-Tournament performers.
• Warlick continued the Lady Vols’ 100-percent graduation rate for players who have completed their collegiate playing careers at Tennessee.
• Under her watch, there were15 SEC Academic Honor Roll members, two named Academic All-District and one selected as an Academic All-American.

Whether as an All-America player from 1976-80, an assistant and associate head coach for 27 seasons from 1985 to 2012, or head coach from 2012 to 2019, Warlickthrived during her more than three decades in the spotlight at Rocky Top. She posted one of the top won-lost records in the nation during her tenure.

Warlick was announced as head coach of the Lady Vols on April 18, 2012, as women's hoops legend Pat Summitt stepped into the role of head coach emeritus. In a touching and symbolic gesture the following day at a press conference announcing the changes, Summitt presented her coaching whistle to her long-time aide and former floor general.

Since that day, Warlick and her staff worked tirelessly to maintain the program’s lofty expectations. Despite being picked to finish as low as fifth in the SEC and 20th nationally, her first squad won the 2013 SEC regular season title and made the NCAA Elite Eight, finishing 27-8/14-2 despite injuries that forced players to miss a combined 53 games. Her 2014 edition went 29-6/13-3, winning an SEC Tournament title and making it to the NCAA Sweet 16.

In 2015, her third team reached the 30-win plateau at 30-6/15-1, claiming a share of the regular-season SEC crown and charting the second NCAA Elite Eight berth in her three seasons. Were it not for a knee injury suffered by leading scorer and rebounder Isabelle Harrison, it is quite possible UT’s tourney run would have reached the Final Four.

Her last four units finished 22-14, 20-12, 25-8 and 19-13, advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight, back-to-back Second Round appearances and the First Round, respectively, from 2015-16 to 2018-19. The last four seasons saw the Lady Vols knock off national powers South Carolina, Mississippi State, Stanford, Notre Dame, Texas and Oregon State along the way.

During Warlick's seven seasons, 11 Lady Vols were taken in the WNBA Draft. Diamond DeShields (1st Rd.), Jaime Nared (2nd Rd.) and Mercedes Russell (2nd Rd.) were picked in 2018; Jordan Reynolds (2nd Rd.) and Schaquilla Nunn (2nd Rd.) were selected in 2017; Bashaara Graves (2nd Rd.) went in 2016; Isabelle Harrison (1st Rd.), Cierra Burdick (2nd Rd.) and Ariel Massengale (3rd Rd.) were chosen in 2015; Meighan Simmons (3rd Rd.) was taken in 2014 and Kamiko Williams (2nd Rd.) was selected in 2013. Simmons was twice named SEC Player of the Year (2013, 2014) during her UT career.

On the international scene, Warlick was a gold medal coach, and two of her players joined her in earning that hardware. Warlick served as an assistant, while Mercedes Russell and Diamond DeShields played on the undefeated (6-0) 2015 USA World University Games Team in South Korea.

From 2012-19, Tennessee produced in the classroom, with 16players earning a total of 35 spots on the SEC Academic Honor Roll. In 2015, Cierra Burdick became Warlick’s first CoSIDA Academic All-American, garnering second-team honors and also being named a UT Torchbearer, the most prestigious accolade a student at Tennessee can receive.

Warlick was recognized personally for her performance. In 2013, members of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association named her the Spalding Maggie Dixon Division I Rookie Coach of the Year. She was selected by the AP and league coaches as the 2013 SEC Women's Basketball Coach of the Year, and members of the Tennessee Sports Writers Association also chose her as TSWA Women's Basketball Coach of the Year that season.

In May 2017, Warlick was recognized for her years of leadership, volunteer activities, philanthropic work and professional accomplishments that have contributed to improving the quality of life in Tennessee. She was named the Tennessee Woman of Distinction at the 32nd annual Chattanooga Women of Distinction Awards luncheon. In 2019, she became a member of the Pat Summitt Foundation Advisory Board.

Warlick and her staff were quite successful on the recruiting trail. They signed 14 McDonald’s All-Americans in seven recruiting classes, including eight in her final three years. All four members of the No. 1-ranked 2017 signing class were McDonald’s All-Americans, including the No. 2 player in Evina Westbrook, and three of four members of the No. 4-rated 2018 group were McDonald’s All-Americans, led by No. 10 ranked Zaay Green. Class of 2019 No. 2-ranked player Jordan Horstonmade her UT debut in 2019-20.

After Warlick helped shape the direction of Lady Vol basketball as an assistant on Summitt's staff for more than a quarter of a century, the pupil took on greater responsibility and oversaw daily supervision of the basketball office during the 2011-12 season. She also handled a large measure of the media obligations after Summitt's Aug. 23, 2011, announcement regarding the diagnosis of early onset dementia, "Alzheimer's type."

Providing an excellent example of how people rally around each other, the Tennessee staff members pulled together remarkably in the face of that adversity. The end result was a 27-9 overall record, an SEC Tournament Championship and advancement to the NCAA Regional Final.

It's worth noting that Warlick was by Summitt's side, either as a player or an assistant, for 949 of the coach's NCAA-record 1,098 wins and all eight NCAA National Championships. Her value to the program was evident for quite some time, as she had held the role of associate head coach since the 2005-06 campaign.

The WBCA also recognized Warlick's contributions to Tennessee's success through the years, naming Warlick the nation's top assistant coach after she helped lead UT to its seventh national title in 2007. The NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches also recognized Warlick as one of the nation's top assistants in 1998, ranking her prominently in The Women's Basketball Journal poll.

In addition to the NCAA title and coaching honor in 2007, Warlick also teamed up for the first time with former fellow Lady Vol player and assistant Nikki (Caldwell) Fargas, the current head coach at LSU, to pursue her other passion. That pursuit is riding a motorcycle and raising money for the fight against breast cancer.

Warlick and Fargas created the Champions For A Cause Foundation, a long haul motorcycle ride dedicated to raising funds and awareness for a cure for breast cancer. The charitable organization has raised and donated more than $150,000. Past trips include the inaugural ride from San Francisco to Knoxville as well as trips from the Badlands to Las Vegas and from Knoxville to Key West, Fla., New Orleans, Niagara Falls and, most recently in 2013 and 2014, Panama City, Fla.

On Feb. 10, 2008, Warlick and Fargas presented a $10,000 check to the late N.C. State Head Coach Kay Yow and the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. At Tennessee's "Live Pink, Bleed Orange" game vs. Vanderbilt on Feb. 17, 2013, three checks worth $15,000 were presented by Champions for a Cause to the UT Breast Health Outreach Program, Kay Yow Cancer Foundation and the Brady James Foundation to help raise money for breast cancer research. Those presentations to organizations became an annual event, thanks to fundraising efforts and the generosity of many.

Warlick also presented a special pink basketball to her sister, Marion Ferrill, prior to the start of that game in 2013. Ferrill was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 2012 and was pronounced cancer free on Sept. 30 after undergoing surgery shortly after her diagnosis. With all of her accomplishments in coaching and in her charitable endeavors it might be easy to overlook the fact that Warlick left just as powerful a mark on women's hoops as a player at UT. It doesn't seem that long ago that the charismatic Knoxville native was flying up and down the court as an All-America Lady Vol point guard.

For more than three decades, Warlick has been considered the finest point guard ever to play for the Lady Vols. In addition to being selected to the CONVERSE/Lady Vol Team of the Decade for the 1980s in January of 1994, five different halls of fame opened their doors to her.

On Feb. 27, 2004, she was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. In October 2002, she became a member of the University of Tennessee Lady Vol Hall of Fame in the second class of inductees. In June 2001, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame selected Warlick as one of 10 inductees enshrined into the Hall for the Class of 2001. For the hometown girl, who grew up in the Rocky Hill section of Knoxville and graduated from Bearden High School, it was a dream-come-true.

In the summer of 1994, Warlick gained admission to her first hall of fame. She was honored as one of the City of Knoxville's finest all-time athletes with her inclusion in the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame.

Including the 2018-19 season, Warlickinvested 38 years in the program, having helped shape UT into a national powerhouse with tenure as both a player and a coach. Warlick’s expertise and major contributions to the team as an assistant came from her work with the guards. Simmons, Ariel Massengale, Shekinna Stricklen, Kara Lawson, Angie Bjorklund and Shanna Zolman were just a few of the successful players Warlick helped recruit and coach as an assistant coach.

Warlick's association with the Lady Vols started in 1976 when she joined the program as a scholarship 400-meter track athlete who ended up walking on to the basketball team. Soon, she would become the most prolific player in the history of Tennessee Lady Vol basketball.

Warlick was the first player in Tennessee athletics (men or women) to have her jersey retired (No. 22) at the end of her career in 1980. Bearden, her prep alma mater in Knoxville, retired Warlick's high school jersey (also No. 22) prior to a home football game on Oct. 26, 2012.

Known as a play-making wiz during her four years as UT's point guard, Warlick was once tabbed the "best player in the South." As a rookie, Warlick helped lead the Lady Vols to their first Final Four appearance in school history in 1977. She had no trouble adjusting her enthusiasm and knowledge of the game into the coaching role.

In 19 of the 38 years Warlick was affiliated with UT, she found herself at the Final Four as a player (1977, 1979, 1980) or as a coach (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008). Her best Final Four showing as a player was national championship runner-up in her senior season. As a coach, she has helped the Lady Vols grab the brass ring all eight times (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007 and 2008).

A three-time All-American while playing for Summitt from 1976-80, Warlick previously held UT records for most assists in a game (14), most steals in a contest (nine), most assists in a season (225) and most games in a career (142). She continues to hold the Lady Vol single-season steals record with 141 in 1978-79.

Warlick possesses vast international playing experience as well. In addition to being a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team, which did not compete in the Moscow Olympics, Warlick and the 1980 U.S. team won gold at the 1980 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

She also captured a gold medal playing for the USA at the 1979 FIBA World Championship, marking the first gold medal for the USA at the FIBA World Championships since 1957 and breaking a streak of five-straight golds by the USSR, a silver medal at the 1979 Pan American Games and gold at the 1979 R. William Jones Cup. Additionally, she served as a player representative on the USA BASKETBALL council and was a member of the USOC Advisory Council for Basketball.

In recognition of being a former Olympian, Warlick earned the distinct honor of running the Olympic torch through Knoxville as it made its way to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga. Post-collegiately, she was a WPBL All-Star, leading the Nebraska Wranglers to the championship of the Women's Professional Basketball League in 1981.

Prior to joining the Tennessee staff for the 1985-86 season, Warlick gained experience at two other stops on the coaching circuit. She was an assistant coach at Virginia Tech from 1981-83 and an assistant from 1983-85 at Nebraska.

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. Just six years later, Warlick already was using her love of the bike towards a greater cause, establishing the Champions For A Cause Foundation with Fargas.