University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Holly Warlick had just finished her gracious acceptance of her 2017 Tennessee Woman of Distinction honor at the Chattanooga Convention Center on Tuesday when the luncheon's master of ceremonies - Channel 3 news anchor Cindy Sexton - made a hard-to-argue observation.
"She probably has the most difficult job in the state of Tennessee," Sexton said.
Warlick won't admit as much, of course. Her fifth season as the Lady Vols coach in the books following the 2012 retirement of the late legend Pat Summitt due to Alzheimer's, she told the audience of 1,000 or so, "Why would you not love to do the thing you do? Why would you not be passionate?"
But the season just passed also saw the most passionate opposition to Warlick's performance yet, at least in part because her team was too seldom passionate against the programs it should have beaten. Having lost to a mediocre, at best, Alabama squad during the regular season, Tennessee also lost its first Southeastern Conference tourney game to the Crimson Tide. Having reached at least the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 in each of Warlick's first four seasons in charge, the Lady Vols fell in the round of 32 this time around.
In this Feb. 23, 2017, file photo, Tennessee coach Holly Warlick directs her team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Florida, in Knoxville, Tenn. Now that Diamond DeShields and Mercedes Russell have decided to return for their senior years, Tennessee should head into the 2017-18 season with arguably its most talented roster since Warlick took over the program in 2012. (Brianna Paciorka/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP, File)"We beat three of the four teams in the Final Four," said Warlick, recalling regular-season wins over Stanford, Mississippi State and national champion South Carolina. "So it's not about the level of talent. We were passionate about the teams we weren't supposed to beat. But we lost too many games to teams we were expected to beat."
Those inconsistencies led to a 20-12 overall record, a 10-6 SEC mark and a fifth-place league finish prior to the postseason. Moreover, Warlick remains perplexed why her players don't always exhibit the same enthusiasm for the game as their head coach.
"I don't have an answer for that," she said following the luncheon. "It's hard to put a finger on."
When viewing Warlick in a setting such as the 32nd annual Chattanooga Women of Distinction luncheon, which does so much to benefit the American Lung Association, it's hard to put a finger on why her program has appeared to go the wrong way of late.
After all, this is a woman who graduates 100 percent of her players, gives a large portion of her time to charity - especially Summitt's foundation to fight Alzheimer's - and can shift from witty to wise to touching in a span of three or four minutes.
After watching a brief video of her career, including her time as a walk-on point guard under Summitt who wound up being the first UT athlete - male or female - to have her jersey retired, the 58-year-old Warlick asked the audience, "Am I the only one who noticed that all the pictures of when I played were in black and white?"
Recalling Summitt, a long-ago Women of Distinction honoree, Warlick said: "She's looking down on me saying, 'What took you so long?'"
Remembering a phone call to the basketball offices from a fellow in Arkansas who wanted to give $10,000 to the Lady Vols program, Warlick said the man asked to speak to "the head hog of the trough."
Initially unsure of whether or not to put the call through to her boss, as soon as the secretary heard the amount of money involved, she told the man, "Hold on, sir. Miss Piggy's just coming through the door."
Warlick also spoke of her sister, who's previously beaten breast cancer and is now fighting Parkinson's disease.
And when she was asked about the significance of star players Diamond DeShields and Mercedes Russell electing to return to school next season instead of jumping to the WNBA - as well as whether such early moves to the pros might become more likely in the future - she said, "The money's not that high yet in the WNBA. It's nowhere near the difference in the men's game and the NBA. Our players are getting a stipend and a free education. That's pretty good money."
In this March 18, 2017, file photo, Tennessee head coach Holly Warlick talks to Diamond DeShields (11) during a first-round game against Dayton in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament in Louisville, Ky. Now that DeShields and Mercedes Russell have decided to return for their senior years, Tennessee should head into the 2017-18 season with arguably its most talented roster since Warlick took over the program in 2012. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)She should have more than a pretty good team next season with the return of DeShields and Russell, as well as a highly touted recruiting class of Evina Westbrook, Anastasia Hayes, Kasi Kushkituah and Rennia Davis.
"We needed more numbers," she said of the recruiting class. "We needed a deeper bench."
Of course, she also said, sounding not unlike the late Summitt, "We've got work to do. We've got to know each other better as teammates."
Warlick was clearly frustrated this season with her team. Of the players she coaches today as opposed to the ones with whom Summitt won most of her eight championships, she said of today's mindsets, "They're different. We're all so consumed with technology, so in love with the internet that we've lost that personal touch with each other."
It is the lament of parents and teachers the country over, regardless of why the subject is initially broached.
Yet as Warlick was addressing her captive audience, she also said, "I don't think I've reached everything I want to give. I'm teaching basketball, but I hope I'm also teaching these young women how to be good citizens and lead productive lives."
If she can find a way to defeat two teams in the Final Four next season instead of beating three of four before the NCAA tourney begins, she just might become the most difficult employee to replace in the Volunteer State instead of the one with the most difficult job.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.