KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – University of Tennessee head men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes announced Friday afternoon the hiring of Justin Caldwell as player development coordinator.
A veteran coach, Caldwell possesses over a decade of experience across the Division I, Division II, high school and youth levels, including five years as a collegiate head coach. Caldwell most recently spent the 2023-24 campaign as an assistant at Marshall University.
“We are pleased to add Justin to our staff here at Tennessee,” Barnes said. “He possesses a strong basketball mind and has shown the ability to develop young people. Justin’s passion and coaching acumen will assuredly assist our program on a daily basis.”
Caldwell spent 2018-23 as the head coach at his alma mater, Glenville State University, a DII school in Glenville, W.Va. Inheriting a program that went 8-21 the year before his arrival, Caldwell turned the Pioneers into a 9-4 team in the COVID-condensed 2020-21 season and up to a 17-13 team during his final campaign in 2022-23.
In 2020-21, his program ascended as high as No. 13 nationally and averaged 95.5 points per game. Both that year and the next, his squad averaged over 12 made 3-pointers per contest, leading the nation in 2021-22, a season in which the team set a program record with a 3.34 GPA.
Caldwell coached five First Team All-Mountain East Conference honorees at Glenville State, including John Williams, a 2020-21 DII All-American after averaging 27.8 points per game to lead the country in scoring. Four of his players, including Williams, went on to play DI basketball.
Before his first head coaching opportunity, Caldwell worked for two years, 2016-18, at Pennsylvania Western University California (California [PA]), a Division II institution in California, Pa. The previous three seasons, 2013-16, Caldwell was an assistant at Glenville State.
“I am thrilled to join the University of Tennessee men’s basketball staff,” Caldwell said. “It is a true privilege to work under someone like Rick Barnes, not only due to his immense success as a coach, but also because of who he is as a person. I cannot wait to get to work with this talented team and do all I can to help this excellent program continue its success.”
Caldwell got his first formal coaching job in 2012-13 as an assistant at Wyoming East High School in New Richmond, W.Va., his alma mater. As a prep senior in 2006-07, he led the Warriors to the Class AA state title and, for the second year in a row, earned first team all-state designation.
A standout collegian, Caldwell played three seasons at West Virginia Wesleyan College, a DII school in Buchanan, W.Va., and one at Glenville State. The two-time All-West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference designee totaled 1,997 points in his career. He capped his collegiate tenure by averaging 23.7 points per game and shooting 91.4 percent at the line for the Pioneers in 2010-11.
After the conclusion of his college career, Caldwell played for the BBC Bascharage Hedgehogs in Luxembourg for two seasons. During both his college and professional careers, Caldwell coached various youth teams during the summer.
Caldwell, who hails from Mullens, W.Va., earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Glenville State in 2013 and added a master’s degree in exercise science from California (PA) in 2017. He is married to Kim Caldwell, the head coach of the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team.
NORMAN, Okla. – No. 6/7 Tennessee will face its first true road test this season as it heads to Norman, Oklahoma for a primetime battle against the 15th-ranked Sooners on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.
The top 15 showdown will also be the SEC opener for both teams as they look to start conference play off on the right foot after identical 3-0 starts to begin the year.
BROADCAST INFO
For the second time this season, the ABC primetime crew of Chris Fowler (PxP), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst) and Holly Rowe (sideline reporter) will have the call for Saturday’s game. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET.
UT fans can listen to Tennessee’s official radio broadcast on the Vol Network (Local: WIVK-FM 107.7/WNML-FM 99.1) over 65 stations across the state of Tennessee and the southeast, SiriusXM (Ch. 82) and the SiriusXM app (Ch. 82), as well as the Varsity App. A live audio stream of the broadcast will also be available on UTSports.com and the Tennessee Athletics App.
Bob Kesling (PxP), VFL Pat Ryan (analyst) and Brent Hubbs (analyst) will call the action, with VFL Jayson Swain handling sideline duties for the Vol Network radio broadcast. The Big Orange Countdown pregame show begins two hours prior to kickoff at 5:30 p.m. The pregame show is hosted by John Wilkerson, Brent Hubbs, VFL Jayson Swain and a rotating VFL special guest each week. The Vol Network celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2024.
The Spanish broadcast is available locally on WNML-AM 990 with Carlos Lopez (play-by-play) and VFL Fuad Reveiz on the call. That version is also available on UTSports.com and the Tennessee Athletics app.
NEED TO KNOW
Record-Setting Start Tennessee has outscored its opponents 191-13 through the first three games of the 2024 campaign. The plus-178 point differential through three games is the largest in SEC history and second-most by any FBS team in the AP Poll era (since 1936). Baylor’s 2013 team was first at plus-186.
The Vols have scored 50-plus points in the first three games of a season for just the second time in school history and first since 1913. That year, UT beat Carson-Newman 58-0, Athens 95-0 and Maryville 75-0. UT joined 2018 Alabama as the only SEC programs to accomplish the 50-point feat in the AP Poll era.
Dominant Defense Continues The Vols have gone 16 consecutive quarters – four full games – without allowing an offensive touchdown, which is tied with Georgia for the longest current streak in the nation. The 16-quarter run without allowing an offensive touchdown is tied for the third-longest streak in school history and longest overall for UT since keeping its opponent out the end zone in 18 consecutive quarters across five games from 1965-66.
The four-game streak without allowing an offensive touchdown is the longest for UT since shutting out 15-straight opponents from Nov. 5, 1938 to Dec. 9, 1939, under Gen. Robert Neyland. The current streak began with the first quarter of the 2024 Citrus Bowl vs. Iowa.
This season, opponents have scored only via an interception return (NC State) and two field goals. In the FBS this season, the Vols are second in the nation in both total defense (160.7 ypg) and third in scoring defense (4.3 ppg). UT is one of only three FBS programs to not allow an offensive touchdown this season, joining Georgia and Ohio State.
Oklahoma Connections Tennessee’s staff has no shortage of connections to the University of Oklahoma with four on-field coaches having either played and/or coached for the Sooners in the past. Head coach Josh Heupel returns to his alma mater, as the 2001 OU graduate quarterbacked the Sooners to their last national championship in 2000 and was the Heisman Trophy runner-up. From 1999-2000, Heupel posted a 20-5 record, passing for 7,456 yards and 53 touchdowns. Overall, in program history, he still ranks fifth in passing yards and fifth in touchdown passes. The 2000 consensus first-team All-American guided the Sooners to a perfect season, capped with a 13-2 win over Florida State in the 2001 Orange Bowl.
Heupel spent 11 years as an assistant at Oklahoma. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant from 2003-04, in which the Sooners reached the national title game both seasons. He then served as quarterbacks coach from 2006-14. He also served as co-offensive coordinator for OU from 2011-14 and coached Heisman Trophy winners Jason White (2003) and Sam Bradford (2008). In total as an assistant and as a player, Heupel owned a 137-36 (.792) record at Oklahoma with 10 10-win seasons and seven Big 12 championships.
Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle is a two-time graduate of OU and played quarterback for the Sooners from 2006-08 under Heupel. Halzle got his coaching start at Oklahoma as a graduate assistant and offensive quality control assistant from 2009-14 and was part of five Big 12 championship teams.
Special teams coordinator/outside linebackers coach Mike Ekeler was a defensive graduate assistant at OU with Heupel from 2003-04 and secondary coach Willie Martinez coached defensive backs for the Sooners from 2010-11.
Must-See Vols, ESPN College GameDay ESPN College GameDay will be on hand in Norman for this Saturday’s ranked showdown between the Vols and Sooners. It will be Tennessee’s 25th appearance all-time on the show and its fourth during the Heupel era. The Big Orange are 2-1 in their previous three games under Heupel when College GameDay is on-site.
SERIES HISTORY
Oklahoma leads series, 3-1 The Vols and Sooners are set to meet for the fifth time on Saturday, which will mark the second contest between the two programs in Norman (2014).
Tennessee will be looking to end a three-game skid against Oklahoma and earn its first victory in the series since shutting out the Sooners, 17-0, in the 1939 Orange Bowl.
OU was victorious in the 1968 Orange Bowl and won back-to-back games in 2014 and 2015, including a double-overtime thriller at Neyland Stadium in the most recent meeting between the two historic programs. Saturday will mark the first contest between the Vols and Sooners as conference foes.
ABOUT OKLAHOMA
Head coach Brent Venables is in his third season leading the Sooners and has them ranked inside the top 15 after a 3-0 start to the year. Defense has been the calling card early in the season, as they have held their opponents to 11.3 points per game and 264.7 yards per game entering Saturday’s contest. Oklahoma also leads the SEC and ranks second nationally in turnover margin, having already racked up 10 takeaways (six fumble recoveries & four interceptions) through three games.
Offensively, OU has been led by dynamic quarterback Jackson Arnold, who leads the team in passing and rushing so far this season. The sophomore signal caller has completed nearly 63 percent of his passes for 484 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions while adding 159 yards and two scores on the ground. Redshirt junior wide receiver Deion Burks has been Arnold’s top target in the passing game with 22 receptions for 169 yards and three touchdowns.
Senior linebacker Danny Stutsman leads a stout defense for the Sooners. The 2023 All-American ranks second in the SEC and 10th nationally in tackles with 33, including 1.5 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry. Junior defensive lineman R Mason Thomas has also filled up the stat sheet with a team-leading four TLFs and three sacks to go along with two quarterback hurries, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Redshirt junior cornerback Kani Walker is one of four Sooners with an interception on the year and also leads the team with three pass breakups to pace the secondary.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (WYMT) – Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed Friday that the body found near the I-75 mass shooting site is Joseph Couch.
The determination was made through DNA extraction.
“We appreciate everyone involved in the search and are grateful no one else has been hurt,” said Gov. Beshear. “We will continue to be there for those injured as well as the Laurel County community as they recover from this tragic situation.”
Kentucky State Police Commissioner Phillip Burnett said he appreciates the efforts of those in the medical examiner’s office.
“This manhunt was the biggest team effort I have seen in my almost 30-year law enforcement career. We will forever be grateful for the assistance and resources provided by our local, state and federal partners,” said Burnett.
The body was found Wednesday by hikers in the Daniel Boone National Forest.
Officials said the cause of death was consistent with a gunshot wound to the head.
Gatlinburg, TN (WOKI) Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash is stepping down after almost a decade heading up the country’s most-visited national park.
Cash is taking over as President and CEO of Yosemite National Park.
Cash began his career in 1991 as a wildlife biologist before transitioning to a deputy forest supervisor before he began working for the National Park Service in 2010.
In 2021, Cash received the national Stephen Mather Award for creating Smokies Hikes for Healing, which emphasized conversations about race and diversity while hiking. It’s just one of his many accomplishments as the head of the Smokies.
Cash is expected to take on his new role in January of 2025.
The news came Thursday, when Yosemite Conservancy announced he would be taking over as president and CEO. (Courtesy: NPS)
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) The Knox County Sheriff’s Office says a seventh-grade student is charged with threats of mass violence and false reports for making a bomb threat at a Knox County School.
Hardin Valley Middle School was locked down on Wednesday, and students were evacuated for the bomb threat.
KCSO says a suspicious backpack was cleared by the bomb team and students were permitted back inside the building.
Sheriff Tom Spangler has repeatedly said threats against students, teachers or staff at schools will not be tolerated, and the suspects will be punished.
Hardin Valley Middle School student charged after bomb threat. (Courtesy: WVLT)
District Leaders and the Blount County Commission unanimously voted on a resolution that asks for more thorough investigation into every single complaint of sexual misconduct in Blount County Schools.
This resolution also included an official request of state legislators to take away state certification and benefits from any educator that’s pleaded or found guilty of sexual misconduct, to avoid those people from being in school in the future in Tennessee.
“I was sexually assaulted by Joseph Dalton when I was in kindergarten at Porter Elementary School,” said a former Blount County student who said she was assaulted by Dalton. “Ever since then, I have blocked it out of my mind and what he did to me has affected my life. But I’m a survivor of a child molester who isn’t being held accountable for what he did to me.”
Gym teacher Joseph Dalton was arrested back in January and plead guilty to assault after several reports of inappropriate contact with students.
He taught at two elementary schools in Blount County and is being accused of tickling and touching students.
Investigators used surveillance video which shows students forcibly trying to remove themselves from Dalton, some of these allegations go back to 2005. He will have another appearance in court in November.
Leaders say they’re in contact with a firm in Iowa who’d be able to audit Blount County schools and go through more than a decades worth of complaints.
A Kentucky sheriff is charged with the murder of a district court judge
According to Kentucky State Police, at around 2:55 Thursday afternoon, they received a 9-1-1 call from the Letcher County Courthouse in reference to shots being fired from inside the building.
Several law enforcement agencies and emergency medical services responded to the scene and located District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, with multiple gunshot wounds.
KSP says lifesaving measures were attempted but unsuccessful.
Mullins was pronounced dead on scene by the Letcher County Coroner’s Office.
KSP’s preliminary investigation indicates that Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Mickey Stines, 43, shot Mullins following an argument inside the courthouse.
They say Stines was taken into custody at the scene without incident.
Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines (left) and District Judge Kevin Mullins (right).(WKYT)
Stines has been charged with one count of first-degree murder.
The investigation remains ongoing. Law enforcement officials give update outside of courthouse on Kentucky judge’s death
Before being appointed by Gov. Steve Beshear in 2009, Mullins was an assistant commonwealth attorney for nine and a half years. As a prosecutor, he primarily focused on drug-related offenses. As a judge, Mullins gained attention for his efforts to treat those with drug addictions rather than keeping them behind bars. In 2010, he started a program allowing inmates with substance use disorders to enroll in inpatient treatment as a condition of their pretrial release.
Stines was elected as the Sheriff of Letcher County in 2018 and reelected in 2022.
In a social media post, Attorney General Russell Coleman announced that his office will collaborate with the commonwealth’s attorney for the 27th Judicial Circuit, Jackie Steele, as special prosecutors in this case.
Letcher County Judge-Executive Terry Adams announced in a social media post that he signed an executive order to close the courthouse for Friday.
This is a developing story. Story is courtesy of WVLT
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee men’s golf head coach Brennan Webb announced Thursday the promotion of Bo Andrews to associate head coach.
“I am very excited to announce Bo Andrews has been promoted to Associate Head Coach of our program,” said Webb. “Bo has played an integral part in the program’s rise to one of the best in the country.
“His passion and care for Tennessee Golf is obvious to anyone who touches our program. Bo’s relentless energy and effort in our recruiting has led us to new heights in recruiting and help set us up to continue our rise to the top of NCAA golf.”
Andrews, who was hired as Webb’s assistant coach in 2018, has spent six full seasons with the Vols and has been part of 11 team tournament titles.
The Raleigh, North Carolina, native has also played an integral part in the individual development of golfers. In his time on Rocky Top, Andrews has seen nine individual tournament titles, 11 All-SEC selections and seven All-America honorees.
“I am so grateful to be named Associate Head Coach at the University of Tennessee,” said Andrews. “I deeply appreciate the confidence coach Webb and Tennessee have shown in my abilities.
“I am excited about taking on new responsibilities and continuing to contribute to the success of our recruiting efforts and the development of our student athletes.”
Tennessee has qualified for match play at the SEC Championships and NCAA Regionals in each of Andrews’ six seasons with the program, as well as making appearances at the NCAA Championships in 2021 and 2024.
Andrews aided in UT’s successful 2023-24 season that featured the program’s first team top-10 NCAA Championships finish since 1981.
During the 2023-24 season, the Vols captured a program-record-tying three team titles, and registered eight top-four team finishes. Additionally, the Big Orange earned their first ever No. 1 NCAA Regional seed while boasting an overall record of 143-35-1.
With their three-win season last year, Andrews and Webb became the first Tennessee golf coaching duo to produce three triple-win seasons.
Following its successful season, Tennessee capped off the year with a No. 7 overall national ranking and saw Bryce Lewis, Jake Hall and Evan Woosley-Reed earn All-America Honorable Mention status, which marked the first time in a single season in program history for three Vols to be named All-Americans.
Andrews also played an influential role in Lewis’ redshirt senior campaign that ended with him becoming the first Vol golfer to earn PGA TOUR Americas status through PGA TOUR University.
UPDATE: One car still missing and Knoxville Police are investigating after multiple cars are stolen from a North Knoxville dealership.
Officers called to North Knox Chrysler Dodge on Callahan Drive to investigate a reported break-in and the theft of multiple cars last Thursday.
The suspects stole a car and 3 SUV’s, 3 of those recovered but a Grand Cherokee Trail Hawk is still missing.
Anyone with information is asked to call East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers
Original story: Knoxville Police are investigating after multiple cars were stolen from a North Knoxville dealership.
Officers called to North Knox Chrysler Dodge on Callahan Drive to investigate a reported break-in and the theft of multiple cars yesterday (Thursday) morning.
The investigation shows that at least four suspects broke into the dealership at just after 4 a.m. and left about two hours later.
The suspects stole a gray 2020 Grand Cherokee Trial Hawk, a gray 2021 Chevy Camaro, a gray 2024 Dodge Durango and a black 2025 Durango which was recovered in Birmingham, Alabama. Efforts remain ongoing to identify the suspects and locate the other three stolen vehicles.
Anyone with information is asked to call East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers at 865-215-7165. Tipsters can remain anonymous and be eligible to receive a cash reward.
