Cruisin' for a Cause

Nikki Caldwell is arriving in Knoxville, Tenn., on a motorcycle tonight to wrap up an unusual eight-day recruiting trip. Unlike the ones she normally gets, these pledges aren't coming from star athletes.

Caldwell took a break from the bike to talk with What's Bruin about an important passion in the life of UCLA's new women's basketball coach.

Why are you out on the road?

We're on the road to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. We would like to spread the word as much as we can. Our small gesture of riding across the United States once per year is our way of doing that.

Which organization are your raising money for?

Our foundation is called Cruisin' for a Cause. Last year we raised over $50,000 and we disbursed that between three foundations: Susan G. Komen, Kay Yow Fund (in honor of the coach from North Carolina State), and the Wellness Community in honor of Tom Cronan, who was the athletic director's late husband at Tennessee. He had pancreatic cancer and passed away, so we wanted to do something in his name as well.

How long have you been doing this?

This is our second annual ride. Our goal this year is to double the amount to $100,000.

This year we've got eight total bikes with us, an RV with a few people, and the chase car. We started in Knoxville, Tenn., and we headed southbound [to Key West, Fla., and back] in a matter of seven nights and eight days.

Any really fun experiences out on the road?

I'll tell you what was really, really cool! I'm a Jimmy Johnson and NASCAR fan. A friend of mine who's on the ride with us, Chad, has a buddy who works at Daytona Speedway. He set it up for us to take our motorcycles onto the speedway and we took a couple of laps on the ground level. It was really cool to be right there, front and center, after seeing it on TV. You see those cars going around the track 200 miles per hour, it really puts it in perspective when you're able to physically be out there on that same track!

Holly Warlick, the associate head coach at Tennessee, co-founded Cruisin' for a Cause with me. What really touches our hearts is the breast cancer survivors who we've met and just say to us, "Thank you! We appreciate you doing this and getting the word out." Those are the ones who really, really have touched us, personally. We know family members who have suffered from breast cancers, friends, former Lady Vols. It's really a cancer where everybody in this world knows somebody who's experienced it.

Are you going to keep doing this after your big move to UCLA?

Definitely! The foundation is something that I'm very passionate about. It's a way I can do a little part in giving back, especially with the number of women who have suffered from breast cancer. One of my own player's (at UCLA) mother has passed from it. It's definitely something I'm still going to be involved in; we're just going to be a little more creative with the dates! [UCLA is on the quarter system while Tennessee is on the semester system.]

We pretty much pre-planned this ride a year in advance, so I was committed to it. Dan Guerrero and Petrina Long understand my passion for giving back and doing our part, and they were very supportive of the ride.

To learn more about Cruisin' For a Cause and to make a donation, make sure to check out their website.