Bill Ferrara was handed a monumental task as a graduate assistant on Carolyn Peck’s staff at Florida in 2006.
One of their assistant coaches got sick leading up to the game against Lady Vols basketball, and Peck asked Ferrara to help with the Tennessee scout. It was the first scout he had ever done, and the Lady Vols were led by redshirt freshman phenom Candace Parker.
Advertisement
Florida won the game 95-93 in overtime on Feb. 26, 2006.
“(It) was crazy. It’s one of the best games I’ve ever been a part of,” Ferrara said when he met with the media May 13. “I learned more about the game of basketball in that week preparing for Tennessee and preparing for one of Pat’s teams than I ever did in all those years leading up to that.”
And that’s coming from a guy who was a video coordinator for former Florida coach Billy Donovan before joining Peck’s staff. But that week of preparation for Parker and the Lady Vols made the Ferrara feel like he actually knew nothing about basketball.
He was struck by how hard Summitt’s teams played and the passion they played with, how they made you earn every single basket. They forced you to box them out every possession or they’d grab an offensive rebound.
Advertisement
It’s that tradition of Tennessee that made it a no-brainer to pick up when Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell called Ferrara about joining her staff, regardless of how last season ended.
Ferrara has been familiar with Caldwell throughout her career, and he said he has always respected her as a coach. The fact that they’re aligned with their offensive philosophy is “just a cherry on top” to him. He also said he wanted to be at a program where he had a chance to go to a Final Four.
The Lady Vols haven’t been back to the Final Four since 2008, when Parker led them to their second straight national championship. But Ferrara said he thinks that’s “a pretty cool thing to chase.”
After getting to work up close with Caldwell for the last six weeks, Ferrara called her a “laser-focused” leader with a vision who isn’t scared to do the hard things.
Advertisement
“I’ve worked at a lot of places, worked with a lot of great leaders. For me to see from the inside, somebody who took a lot of heat for what happened over the past year, do an about-face and get back to herself, has been one of the coolest things for me,” Ferrara said. “That is one of the hardest things to do as a leader, which she did, made some tough decisions, and has really just built it the way she wants it built now.”
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Bill Ferrara wanted to join Kim Caldwell’s Lady Vols basketball staff
