Holly Warlick, Evina Westbrook debate Warlick’s Tennessee future

Holly Warlick and Evina Westbrook had thoughts on Warlick’s future.

COLLEGE PARK, MD — On Saturday in College Park, No. 11 Tennessee lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to No. 6 UCLA, 89-77.

But much of the drama came after the game, when Holly Warlick’s future was freely debated by both Warlick and Tennessee player Evina Westbrook.

There has been speculation about head coach Warlick’s job security all year. In the press conference afterwards, Warlick was asked about those rumors, and whether she had considered this might be the end of her time in Knoxville.

“I don’t, it’s out of my control,” Warlick said.  “I’ve been a part of this program, I love this program, I love what it stands for, our administration is, when you have an administration that steps up and treats women equally to men, that’s special, and that’s what Tennessee does. Do I want to continue coaching? Absolutely. But if it needs to go in a different direction, that’s not up to me.”

More from NCAA

• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, April 6: Stanford defeats Arizona in a tightly contested matchup to win the national title
• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, March 30: UConn and Baylor deliver a classic battle of storied programs
• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, March 26: Louisville and Texas A&M survive and advance
• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, March 23: Highlights from the first round of the NCAA Tournament
• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, March 16: Tournament bracket released

She later added that she wanted to be remembered for her “passion for the program” and “passion for this game.” She also expressed a lot of appreciation for the administration at Tennessee.

“If I had a daughter, I’d send my daughter — whether I’m coaching or not — I’d send her to the University of Tennessee,” Warlick said. “Because they care about women. They care about women. That’s what you want. You want a woman to have that opportunity to be successful, and that’s where you need to go.”

In the locker room, sophomore guard Evina Westbrook told Jordan Cramer of 6News that she thinks there need to be drastic changes in the program’s leadership.

“Most definitely. I just think off-the-court stuff. Steps need to be taken with our staff, and just overall, off-the-court, this team,” Westbrook said.

When asked directly whether she expected Warlick to be coaching next season, Westbrook said, “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Back in the press conference, Warlick discussed what the team needs to improve on going forward. In her answer, she implied that her players weren’t working as hard outside of practice as they needed to be.

“Well, for us it’s just consistency. We haven’t had consistent leadership because we are young and now we’re not young anymore, we’ve just got to consistently work hard,” Warlick said.

“There’s days when we — our practices have been very competitive, they’ve worked hard, but they haven’t carried it over to the game. Everything consistent with what we do. We’ve got to go back to, we’ve got to understand we have to change our culture. You go back to Tennessee teams, they play hard, they work hard, they put in the time, they put in extra time and, as we all know, there is parity in women’s basketball now, so putting on a jersey doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to play in the tournament nor play for the championship. That’s on you, you’ve got to bring it along. We’re gonna put you out there, but you have to do the extra work. Being in practice right now isn’t enough, it just isn’t enough. You’ve got to put in that time, just like Mimi Collins did, you have to put in that time, and then, when you do, you know you’ve put it all out there and you’re ready to go.”

Love our 24/7 women’s basketball coverage? Join our Patreon now and support this work, while getting extra goodies and subscriber-only content for yourself.