THE CALDWELL FILE

Personal Information

Name: Justin Caldwell
Born: Aug. 3, 1989, in Mullens, W.Va.
Hometown: Mullens, W.Va.
High School: Wyoming East
College: Glenville State, 2013
Wife: Kim
Son: Conor

Coaching/Administrative Experience

2012-13:
Wyoming East HS, assistant coach
2013-16:
Glenville State, assistant coach
2016-18:
California (PA), assistant coach
2018-23:
Glenville State, head coach
2023-24:
Marshall, assistant coach
2024-Present:
Tennessee, player development coordinator

Justin Caldwell joined head coach Rick Barnes’ men’s basketball staff at the University of Tennessee as the player development coordinator on Sept. 20, 2024.

A veteran coach, Caldwell possesses 13 years of experience across the Division I, Division II, high school and youth levels, including five as a collegiate head coach. Before coming to Knoxville, Tenn., he 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 upon announcing Caldwell’s hire. “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.”

During his first year at Tennessee, the program had one of its finest campaigns ever. The Volunteers went 30-8 (12-6 SEC), made the Elite Eight and tied for the best finish in program history at fifth in the polls. Tennessee spent the entire season in the top 12 of the AP Poll, including 18 straight weeks in the top eight and five at No. 1 overall. Two Volunteers, Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler, claimed All-America honors.

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.

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. The couple welcomed their first child, Conor, in January 2025.