WaPo: Sally Jenkins says Mulkey dropped the ball...

....on protecting the game's integrity.

"But that’s why the list of petty abuses she committed is so aggravating. Mulkey is positioned as the new standard bearer and bright coaching star of women’s basketball — a role she clearly wants, judging by her glittering outfits — but she just dipped the flag in the mud."

LINK

Daniel Webster comes to mind.

And Jenkins shows us why the NCAA's lack of effort protecting the game smacks so much of politics.

"There is another situation in the NCAA report that illustrates how Mulkey treated the rules. She used her position as a parent to make improper contact with the Griner family when her daughter played with Griner on the same Texas AAU summer team, DFW Elite."
"Mulkey’s defense is that she was in a difficult situation as both a mother and a coach, and that’s a fact. But here are some other facts: In 2006, at around the same time she was cultivating the Griners at summer games, Mulkey hired DFW Elite’s coach Damion McKinney to her staff. McKinney is the assistant who made many of the improper calls and texts detailed by the NCAA, more than 300 of them in 2011 to a current DFW Elite coach."

This was the ignored issue. One wonders how many hundreds of coaches with students athletes for children had to walk that narrow line before her.

The question is not one of difficulty...it is one of followong the rules. All coaches would like to initiate and maintain contact whenever they felt like it.

The difficult image needs to be removed from her deck of recruiting cards...

That`s the article that I wanted to see someone write. In order to get a once in a lifetime player and a NC, Mulkey played the questionable side of the recruiting gray area and now will the young want- to-be`s say to themselves "if she can do it, why can`t I?".

IIRC the article called the violations "major recruiting violations". it was bad all over the map and for a long period of time, not some individual isolated incident. UCONN and Tennessee have both been cited for 1 single secondary violation each. UCONN for the staffer calling ESPN to set up the tour (something Maya could have done just as easily), and Pat for inappropriate contact with Meighan Simmons while recruiting her in Texas.

That's a far far cry from over 1,000 "illegal" (i use that term from the NCAA's perspective, not the law) in addition to inappropriate contact with the family. i get the NCAA rules and am not in favor of making Griner ineligible or anything like that, but it was gross misconduct on Mulkey's part.

Other coaches can look at that and say "BFD" - all those major infractions, and all they get is probation and lose 2 or 3 schollies for a couple of years? that's hardly a punishment that will deter anyone...

Boo hoo hoo...

These players OBVIOUSLY came to Baylor for it's reputation for having an outstanding Health, Human Performamce and Recreation program.

"The Slippery Sloap" Major Recruiting Violations.Did the NCAA, choose to miss an opportunity to do what was right?
These are the kinds of things that have been allowed to go on in mens high school, college major sports for many years. It
has allowed John Calipari to be on top of the College BB World,inspite of a"colorful"history at U Mass,Memphis and now
at Kentucky the perfect place for a devil to call home!

You continually ignore the obvious in the case that the reason Griner committed to Baylor so early and prior to most recruiting and without taking any official visits is exactly the kind of rule breaking KM did to ingratiate helself. Kim was smart she got a commitment long before anyone else manage to be able to have any official contact. Everyone outside of Waco sees it, including numerous sports wrtiers. Like it or not the behavior was a problem and provided an unfair recruiting advantage. It is the integrity of the sport that is at risk because of her actions. Jenkins understands. The NCAA had a chance to slam the door and not let WCBB become the runaway train it has allowed in football and men's basketball but instead they took the easy way out.

Is "ignored" the right word, 'bear? As Mechelle pointed out, the NCAA simply doesn't have enough enforcement staff to track down and/or investigate complaints/reports.

The facts that Jenkins is citing is after the fact knowledge. In the past, folks have howled at AAU coaches being hired (Purdue) because it gives a college program an inside track (as if student-athletes are pigs being led to slaughter w/ no will of their own). Should there be a rule that no AAU coach should be allowed to join a college staff in their state, thus preventing that narrow line from being walked? Should they self-report possible violations?

I'm not excusing or diminishing Mulkey's twisting, bending and breaking of the rules. I'm simply pointing out that the prime folks at fault here live in Waco, not Indianapolis.

I don't see how NCAA staffing limitations kept them from levying more appropriate punishment. The facts of the violations were known.

It is over and done with. Time to move on.

If the "punishment" is reasonable, every coach should text or call as they see fit for the extraordinary candidate...it is worth it.

So move on.

Go ahead.

I, for one, enjoy unmuted moral outrage and a good grudge from time to time.

LOL. I like it

If it doesn't fit, you must acquit

I just wonder about the outrage if it had been UConn who had so many inappropriate and illegal texts and phone calls. I remember the hoop-to-la when one of UConn staffers picked up the phone and called ESPN and arranged a tour of the facility. This was a tour mind you that was open to the public (anybody is allowed to tour the facility) and Maya's mother could have simply placed the call and arranged it herself. The staffer apparently thought they were doing a courteous thing for an out-of-town guest. Totally inadvertent as opposed to these violations which were deliberate and calculated.

I guess we can take solace in the fact that the complaint against us was only 33 pages while Baylor's was 66...

Feel free.