Fans have higher expectations for Lady Vols basketball than UT administration does

March once was Tennessee’s month in women’s basketball. That’s when the Lady Vols confirmed their elite status on a postseason stage.

It's anything but UT’s month now. Instead, it’s a reminder that Lady Vols basketball isn’t what it used to be.

And it’s time to brace yourself if you’re a Lady Vols fan. You can guess what’s coming.

What’s coming isn’t the Final Four, which once included Tennessee on a regular basis. Former coach Pat Summitt led it to 18 Finals Fours and eight national championships.

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That’s a distant memory.

UT didn’t make the Final Four in Summitt’s last five seasons and hasn’t made a Final Four in five seasons under Holly Warlick. 

The Lady Vols don’t have to reach the NCAA tournament to underachieve, though. They can do that in the SEC tournament this week in Nashville.

They were one-and-done in last year’s conference tournament, losing to Alabama after drawing a first-round bye. And, there’s a greater chance of Tennessee losing its tournament opener Thursday than cutting down the nets Sunday.

Because the results haven’t measured up to the Lady Vols tradition or the number of McDonald’s All-Americans on the roster, Warlick understandably gets much of the blame.

The 2016-17 team, which included six McDonald’s All-Americans, lost 14 games. UT’s 2015-16 team lost 12 games despite having seven McDonald’s All-Americans.

The current team has two All-SEC-caliber players in Jaime Nared and Mercedes Russell, and freshmen from the nation's No. 1-ranked recruiting class. A team with that much talent had no business losing to Alabama at home or blowing a 23-point lead in a loss to Notre Dame.

While such results bewilder and infuriate fans, there’s no indication that UT’s administration is concerned about the state of the Lady Vols. And when you consider the overall state of Tennessee athletics, why would it be?

Tennessee talks a good game when it comes to athletics. But it doesn’t press coaches to compete for championships.

Warlick’s program is faring far better than most at Tennessee. She has averaged 25 victories per season, never won fewer than 20 games and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament three times.

She also is recruiting well. In fact, she’s recruiting better than she did in her first few years as head coach.

Something else to consider: her salary. She’s making $665,000 year with a contract that expires March 31, 2019.

Could you get a better coach? Sure. But do you think Tennessee would be willing to offer Kim Mulkey $3 million a year to leave Baylor?

Mulkey and UConn’s Geno Auriemma both make over $2 million a year. Other active women’s basketball coaches who have won a national championship all make more than $1 million a year. I wonder if UT would even pay that much for a women’s basketball coach

It seemingly prefers to pay its coaches more not to coach. For example, it owed football coach Butch Jones about $8 million when it fired him last year.

Jones' last team lost two-thirds of its games. Warlick has won almost 75 percent of her games as a head coach.

And last Sunday, at UT's regular-season finale, Warlick was honored for her 150th career victory. By Tennessee's current standards, that's quite a milestone.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: Twitter.com/johnadamskns.