Lady Vols basketball's second-ever coaching search is underway.
Tennessee athletic director Danny White faces the challenge of hiring a new women's basketball coach after firing Kelly Harper on April 1 after five seasons.
Our initial hotboard included 11 names: Notre Dame coach Neale Ivey, USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb, Louisville coach Jeff Walz, and Oregon. State coach Scott Lueck, UCLA coach Cori Close, Colorado coach J.R. Payne, Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McKeown, Duke coach Carla Lawson, Jackson State coach Tomekia Reed, University of Oklahoma coach Jenny Baranczyk, and Vanderbilt University coach Shea Ralph.
Consider five more names.
Brenda Frese
Current task: maryland coach
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Frese has been one of the most successful active coaches over the past 22 years at the University of Maryland. She won a national championship, made three Final Four appearances and was the consensus 2021 Coach of the Year.
Frese, 53, owns a 582-161 record with the Terps and is 42-17 in the NCAA Tournament. She has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 19 times, and only missed the Grand Dance once, which was after her first season at the University of Maryland.
Getting Frese out of Maryland would be a steep price to pay. She currently earns $1.88 million and is under contract through 2029. But Frese is a winner, and if White can get her and NIL's support, she could be a home run talent.
kevin mcguff
Current task: ohio state coach
McGough has been on a bit of a roll lately with the Buckeyes. He led Ohio State to Big Ten regular-season championships in 2022 and 2024, giving him four total championships. McGough and the Buckeyes reached the Elite Eight last season and were the No. 2 seed this season, but lost to Duke in the second round.
But McGuff, 54, is a proven winner, going 79-21 over the past three seasons. He's also done well recruiting out of high school, landing players like Coty McMahon in 2022 and out of Nashville's Jaloni Cambridge, ranked No. 3 in the 2024 class. He has also received a contract.
He currently makes $1.05 million at Ohio State and is under contract through 2026.
Lisa Fortier
Current task: gonzaga coach
Fortier is one of the most successful mid-major coaches. She is coming off her best season with the Zags, with a 265-63 record at Gonzaga.
Gonzaga is 32-4 this season and has earned the No. 4 seed to host the opening game of the NCAA Tournament. The Zags advanced to the Sweet 16, but lost to top-seeded Texas. In Fortier's 10 seasons with Spokane, he only missed the NCAA Tournament once.
Fortier, 42, has led the Zags to consistent national rankings over the past six seasons, including their first regular-season top-10 finish in 2019-20. Fortier also led Gonzaga to its biggest win in program history this season, defeating No. 3 Stanford in December.
Fortier will be a jump from the West Coast Conference, but she is a winner and worth considering. Fortier earned $632,983 this season at Gonzaga.
nicky coren
Current task: baylor coach
Collen took his first college head coaching job after coaching in the WNBA. She was an assistant for many years at several schools including Louisville and Arkansas before becoming an assistant with the WNBA's Connecticut Sun. She then took the leap, coaching the Atlanta Dream from 2018 to 2020, and she was hired by Baylor in 2021.
Collen, 48, compiled a 74-28 record in three seasons. She won the Big 12 in her first season and led the Bears to the NCAA Sweet 16 this season. Baylor ranks No. 4 in the AP Top 25 this season.
This isn't necessarily a huge hire on paper, as Collen is in the early stages of his college head coaching career. However, her experience over the past two decades and her promising start make her a solid candidate.
Because it is a private school, Koren's salary is not made public.
Carla Berube
Current task: princeton coach
Berube has had an impressive career at Princeton since 2019. She went 100-17 over the past four seasons (she did not play in the Ivy League in 2020-2021), and she did not miss the NCAA Tournament with the Tigers. In her first big dance at Princeton, she led them to an upset over Kentucky in 2022. Kentucky, featuring No. 1 WNBA pick Rhyne Howard, upset South Carolina to win the SEC Tournament.
Since then, Princeton has tied for first place in the Ivy League each of the past two seasons. Berube, 48, has a history of winning and postseason success, even though he was at Division III Tufts. But she led Taft to four straight Final Four appearances, including a runner-up finish.
She's a UW graduate, she's a great coach, and you can only imagine what she can do with the resources at the University of Tennessee.
Because it is a private school, Berube's salary is not disclosed.
Cora Hall covers women's athletics at the University of Tennessee. Email cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow us on Twitter @corahall. If you enjoy Cora's coverage, please consider a digital subscription for full access.