By james art 
Kim Caldwell will be back on the side line on Monday night, when her 17th in the rankings Tennessee Lady Vols hosts the defending national champion of South Carolina Gamcox.
Exactly a week after giving birth to her first child, a bouncing boy.
“It’s nice to come back,” Caldwell told reporters on Sunday.
Caldwell gave birth to Connor Scott on Monday while dealing with the flu. She missed exactly one match, a loss of 80-76 to number 7 in Texas on Thursday night with assistant Jenna Burtet, who played the role of a coach for this match on the road.
“It was just a sense of helplessness than something else,” Caldwell said that he had to watch the only game he missed, even with the addition of Burdet, did a great job in her absence.
Caldwell was on a workout on Friday and was busy filled with liquids with some of the Lady Vols with the flu that used to go around the dressing room. This is one of the reasons why her son will stay away from the team that organizes a party for her coach, no matter how eager the Lady Vols are to see the latest addition.
“We have many germs,” Caldwell said.
Asked about the statistics on the height and weight of the baby, Caldwell said her son was the size of her late father and fortunately little.
“He can grow outside,” Caldwell said.
The four losses of Lady Vols (15-4, 3-4 Southeast Conference) are combined eight points, with three of these opponents ranked in the top 10. On Monday night they get another chance with number 2 South Carolina (19-1 , 6-1) comes to Knoxville.
For the first time, senior coach could not watch this match from home, not with Lady Vols, who were trying to avoid their first slipping of three games for the season.
Caldwell has a good support system, starting with her husband, who won the draw for their baby’s name. Her mother is also in Knoxville to help with her sister, who will come soon.
“It would be a completely different story if the case wasn’t like that,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell works to get her Lady Vols to stop performing the same fellows over and over, though she and her assistants continue to review these points.
Tennessee ranks first in the country with an average of 93.4 points per game and no one has made more 3s than Lady Vols, which have an average of 11 1/2 per game. They have hit 10 or more than 13 times this season, more than doubled the previous school grade of six. They made 9 out of 17 against Texas.
Now comes the challenge to balance work as a coach and mother.
Caldwell said she visited Rick Barnes, her husband’s boss and men’s coach during her pregnancy to talk. Barnes, who has two children and five grandchildren, remembered the birth of his daughter on Friday. His advice for easy balancing of training and parenting can be applied to both Caldwells.
“That’s what we do,” Barnes said. “Can’t be who you are.” ___
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