Jaida Civil Joins the Exodus From the Lady Vols

The Tennessee Lady Vols ‘ struggles haven’t ended since finishing the season on an eight-game skid capped by a first-round NCAA Tournament loss.

As of Monday, coach Kim Caldwell had no players with eligibility left wanting to play for Tennessee anymore.

Jaida Civil was the last player with eligibility remaining only to announce Monday morning her departure after one season. Civil wrote on social media that playing for “one of the best up and coming coaches in the country” was a blessing but: “After deep thought and prayer, I have decided to enter the transfer portal.”

Civil was part of Caldwell’s 2025 recruiting class rated No. 1 nationally by 247Sports. She joined four other Lady Vols in the portal that opened Monday, including Talaysia Cooper, Kaniya Boyd, Alyssa Latham and Lauren Hurst.

Mia and Mya Pauldo announced their intent to enter the portal on social media last week, but their names weren’t in the portal as of midday Monday. Neither was Deniya Prawl’s name despite her own social media post that simply said March 26, “Thankful for it all” after reports she too was headed to the portal.

Tennessee went 16-14 in Caldwell’s second season. The eight straight losses were the first in the program’s NCAA women’s basketball era going back to the 1981-82 season, while the 14 losses matched the 2015-16 Lady Vols’ school record for losses in a season. Those Lady Vols lost in a regional final in March 2016.

Caldwell also had an assistant leave first to work for Kim Mulkey at LSU before being hired as the new head coach at UCF on Saturday. Tennessee fired assistant coach Roman Tubner with Caldwell confirming his departure Thursday night.

She hired former Florida State associate head coach Bill Ferrara as an assistant March 30 for his experience with high-scoring offenses, 3-point shooting and recruiting.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness