Kim Mulkey

[triaddukefan]

I was watching the game with a friend who knows pretty much nothing about WCBB. I was trying to explain the whole Kim Mulkey thing. Explained about she was controversial, but she was the second best coach in WBB today. She was amazed when I told her that LSU was horrible 2 years ago, and now they won the national title. My friend asked what kind of outfit she had on and that she doesn't deserve to be paid 2.7 million/per year. I told her that was the going rate for top notch coaches, and she just shook her head.

 

[Bone Dog]

Can argue style but can't argue success.

You can also argue teaching. This is another dimension of being a coach that skin is not good at. It’s the one Geno and CD pay most attention to.

 

[Plebe]

Congratulations to Kim and all the die-hard LSU fans on this forum who have supported their team through the years.
Kim was already cemented as a top 4 All-time and while todays win gives her 4 Titles, I am not ready to move her past Tara at this point who has won significantly more games, been to more Final Fours and been in more tournaments.
Again, congrats to KM and the Tigers!

I've not always agreed with everything Kim Mulkey has said or done, but I have always been a fan, dating way back to her pigtails in baby blue days in the early 80s, playing some of the first women's basketball games I ever watched.

Taking only two seasons to deliver a national title to a program that had been mired in mediocrity for quite some time is an outrageous feat that many coaches wouldn't even dare dream of.

LSU has long been one of my secondary rooting interests, dating way back to the Marie Ferdinand days. So today, I joyously celebrated at the Houston BBQ Festival with some crawfish boudin empanadas (by 1701 Barbecue in Beaumont — yes they were ridiculously yummy).

And I must say, I'm quite okay with Kim leaving egg on the faces of all those (esp. in garnet red and creamsicle orange) who, with ulterior motives, embarked on their twitter smear campaign against her this season.

Geaux Kim. Geaux Tigers.

 

[Ozimoto]

I don't disagree with you about the importance of the teaching aspect of coaching. I value that quite a bit, but there are great coaches out there who are great teachers who have not won a championship and other than a few fully engaged fans of the sport, no one knows who they are. That's just that way the value system of the sport is. And, for the record, I am not a fan of Kim's sideline dramatics and the behavior of one of her players in particular, but she's holding the championship trophy. That can't be taken away from her.

 

[tkaes]

... one must admit she's a great coach...

I for one will never admit any such thing. All evidence suggest she a good recruiter. I've seen too many examples of in-game coaching blunders to agree the former.

 

[Dezoworld]

Top 5 coach in my book. She's such a great one energetic passionate of the sport and well maybe I'll leave her fashion out of it lol

 

[tchalla1]

She's clearly #3 all-time behind Geno and Pat. Geno said you need luck as well as talent to win a Title. LSU proved that this year. They had favorable matchups through the Tourney after a very easy regular season schedule, with not many quality wins.

I like her as well. Say what you want about her personality, beliefs and wardrobes, she knows how to build a program, get buy-in from her players and she can flat out coach.
Congrats to her and LSU.

You're right--LSU's most favorable draw was that they didn't have to face SC in the tourney... they clearly were an inferior team to SC. Luckily for them, Iowa had the firepower that LSU didn't to beat SC and Iowa could not defend the paint or low post area nor the perimeter and LSU had the game of a lifetime shooting 3s..

 

[skilz]

Just another example of weak, diffident, improperly trained officials, letting her get away with clear rule violations in this game. iI's nauseating.

Most coaches have been doing this all year!

 

[skilz]

Not so fast!
Tara 3 Champs 12 FF
Kim 3 Champs 5 FF

Kim 4 Champs

 

[Longtime fan]

1. Like her or dislike her (put me in the former category), one must admit she's a great coach.
2. The "color" she brings to the game adds a huge element of interest, to say nothing of fun. My wife, whose knowledge of, and interest in, sports in general never fails to join me in watching when Kim's involved.
3. As good as she is, she was a huge beneficiary of the portal, which has changed the landscape of the college game completely, and will continue to going forward.
4. 102 points??? Are you kidding me???
5. Finally, I am an old guy. For nearly as long as I've been on the planet, I've been an ardent sports fan (my wife boasts other attributes!). One of the things I've learned over the years is that sport writers, announcers, and so-called "pundits" (the folks we Louisianans refer to as the "expoits") love pat scripts that lead to scripted outcomes. I'm a huge Caitlyn Clark fan, but I've also learned that betting against those much-cherished scripted outcomes is usually a good idea.

In my view, the best team in the nation remains South Carolina. Iowa played a " transcendent " game to beat them. And it is a loss South Carolina will rue for a long time. LSU was deeper and more talented than Iowa and, in my view, would have been better defended by South Carolina, allowing South Carolina to prevail. That LSU guard who put up 21 points in the first half would not have done so against Dawn Staley's team. But that is why they play the game. LSU is the champion.

 

[bovwa10]

In my view, the best team in the nation remains South Carolina. Iowa played a " transcendent " game to beat them. And it is a loss South Carolina will rue for a long time. LSU was deeper and more talented than Iowa and, in my view, would have been better defended by South Carolina, allowing South Carolina to prevail. That LSU guard who put up 21 points in the first half would not have done so against Dawn Staley's team. But that is why they play the game. LSU is the champion.

Reminds me of UConn's 2013 championship when they weren't necessarily the best team that year but got lucky when Baylor lost to Louisville. Also reminiscent of SC's 2017 championship when UConn got upset by Miss State. Sometimes the best team all season doesn't win the championship and that's why the tournament is so great.

 

[Blueballer]

Kim 4 Champs

By virtue of Iowa taking down SC For them. She also has one of the worst losses in Tourney history having a heavily favored team led by Griner beaten by Louisville.

 

[bovwa10]

By virtue of Iowa taking down SC For them. She also has one of the worst losses in Tourney history having a heavily favored team led by Griner beaten by Louisville.

Sometimes it's easier to be an underdog than a heavy favorite. I think SC succumbed to the pressure in the semi-final. That's what makes what Geno has done during so many undefeated seasons so remarkable.

 

[SVCBeercats]

12 FFs and only 3 Titles?? That's not a good stat for her. No one has done less with so much than Tara.

Alicia Silverstone 1995

 

[veryolddog]

I kinda like Kim Mulkey. She is very animated and that may be an understatement. My favorite moment is when she threw her jacket into the crowd and I was wondering and hoping what else she was going to take off.

She is a very good coach and she is a good recruiter who develops a lot of player loyalty. She develops winners and has a good track record of winning. And she seems to manage the ref's very well.

She has the best facial expressions in basketball. Nothing beats it.

 

[Carnac]

Can argue style but can't argue success. The fact that for one night LSU shot out of their minds so they weren't one dimensional on offense certainly was a big part of the success of Kim's game plan. Being too one dimensional was the shortcoming of South Carolinal's game plan and it doomed them.

Dawn's days of dominating the SEC may be numbered...

I think you can include Kim and LSU to what Geno said about not going anywhere. I fully expect Kim and LSU to be around for a while.
She recruits very well, and she knows how to work the portal. Being the reigning national champion makes LSU attractive to high school recruits and college players in the portal. Young up-and-coming WBB players know who Kim is. She has name recognition. When she visits a recruit's home, she DOES NOT have to introduce herself.

 

[hoopsfan22]

12 FFs and only 3 Titles?? That's not a good stat for her. No one has done less with so much than Tara.

Careful where you throw those stones. Some might say Geno who has landed the #1 recruit in the country 5 of the last 7 years and has zero titles to show for it might qualify for doing less with more.

 

[socal613ws]

amazing head coach, knew as soon as LSU got her they were reaching this elite level status. Credit to their ad for spending the money.

 

[Carnac]

I kinda like Kim Mulkey. She is very animated and that may be an understatement. My favorite moment is when she threw her jacket into the crowd and I was wondering and hoping what else she was going to take off.

She is a very good coach and she is a good recruiter who develops a lot of player loyalty. She develops winners and has a good track record of winning. And she seems to manage the ref's very well.

She has the best facial expressions in basketball. Nothing beats it.

Kim is definitely a coaching icon. Most WCBB fans know who she is by sight. I think she like the late sports journalist Howard Cosell. You either loved him, or you could not stand him. Few if any sat on the fence where Howard was concerned. It must be noted that Kim graduated from the Frank Sinatra School of Coaching......."I did it MY way." You can argue her style (outfits on gameday), you can argue her technique (crying to the refs on most calls and constantly being on the court during games), but you cannot argue her success.

 

[Carnac]

amazing head coach, knew as soon as LSU got her they were reaching this elite level status. Credit to their ad for spending the money.

She could have done this for her alma mater, Louisianna Tech, but they weren't willing to pay her what she wanted, so she went to Baylor and now LSU. Louisianna Tech is irrelevant and has been since 1998, the last year they played in the NC game.

The 11 highest-scoring individual performances in March Madness history​

 

[meyers7]

Well we (many of us on this board) will have to admit, Kim's schedule, while full of cupcakes and certainly an embarrassment to basketball, did NOT hurt her team.

I mean as a fan, it was probably painful to watch a lot of those cupcake games. Worse to have to pay to watch them. Talk about getting ripped off. However with a NC now, probably not thinking much about that anymore.

And NO, I do not want UCONN to schedule like that.

 

[hoophuskee]

I'm a fan of Kim. But this stuff making a big deal out of what she did - is super fantastic sure and more unique than anything. And winning a title is extremely super. But it can't be compared to anything from the past to even come close to draw a comparison because the landscape now is sooo different than the past.

Once she got Angel Reese - everything opened up. If a superstar transfers, that team has a chance. If Geno or Dawn or Tara for example transfer, if they take one super superstar - sure they could become a threat.

In the men's game I believe one team that went far was built on transfers in 1 year.

Players follow great coaches.

 

[hoophuskee]

12 FFs and only 3 Titles?? That's not a good stat for her. No one has done less with so much than Tara.

12 FF's and 4 titles is an amazing feat.

 

[GoingPostal]

Like a lot of the posters, I agree that Kim is unquestionably a great coach. As for the rest of the package, wild clothes and outbursts, I think she is trying to take the heat off her players. Look at me and leave my players alone. She pushes the envelope as far as she can and it works.