Kim Mulkey's Comments about Scandal

[bags27]

Reading the Baylorfan.com site, one gets the definite impression that neither Kim nor any of the posters give any credence to the commissioned report, and do not attach any importance to the firing of Briles, Starr, et al, preferring to believe that "the whole thing was blown way out of proportion" and that all of the cases involved were simply "he said, she said". Several posters have even proposed Kim as the new chancellor.

true; all except for one intrepid contributor who actually thought Kim better be careful And you ought to read what they say about the Boneyarders.

 

[Wbbfan1]

ESPN Sports Reporters

Kim's comments may have played well at Baylor but most of the rest of the country are condemning her. Comments also made the Washington Post.

 

[UConnNick]

Reading the Baylorfan.com site, one gets the definite impression that neither Kim nor any of the posters give any credence to the commissioned report, and do not attach any importance to the firing of Briles, Starr, et al, preferring to believe that "the whole thing was blown way out of proportion" and that all of the cases involved were simply "he said, she said". Several posters have even proposed Kim as the new chancellor.

That is not surprising in the least. Baylor is part of an entrenched, big time college football culture that has existed for a number of decades. I've lived in parts of the country where CFB is really the only sport the big time athletic factory schools care about. That's why Kim's comments and the general attitude of the Baylor fanbase is dismissive. It's the Penn State syndrome all over again. Nothing shall be tolerated which will diminish the image of dear old Baylor.

The real fault here is the huge amounts of money being thrown at the athletic departments of the P5 conference schools. Money has corrupted collegiate athletics to a point I'm afraid we will never recover from. It's appalling. These schools will protect their reputations at all costs. They're protecting multi million dollar investments in athletics. Baylor has to preserve it's membership in the big boy's club. They only made it into the Big 12 in the first place because Ann Richards, a Baylor alum, happened to be Governor of Texas at the time the Southwest Conference disbanded. She brokered a compromise deal to get them into the Big 12, which didn't want them.

As recently as a few years ago, Baylor faced the real possibility of suffering the same fate UCONN has. If the Big 12 had broken up in 2011 or thereabouts, which was a real possibility, Baylor would have become the UCONN of the Southwest, tossed out of a BCS power conference with no place to go. You're talking about a loss of tens of millions in revenue to the athletic programs. Unless you take big money out of the equation, the stuff that has happened at Baylor is just the tip of a huge iceberg. Baylor remains more vulnerable than most of the other P5 conference schools, and their alumni and fanbase know it.

 

[Zorro]

The Waco Tribune reported Mulkey's remarks without comment.

 

[UcMiami]

These two sentences in your post seem to contradict each other.

"but people need to realize that the sexual assault numbers at Baylor are not out of line with numbers reported by conscientious colleges and universities around the country."

"or Kim for failing to recognize that the situation at Baylor is way out of line with issues at other institutions".

The distinction I am making is between the existense of sexual assaults and rapes on every campus in the US (and around the world), and the fact that Baylor's athletic department and administration actively worked to subvert the reporting, to intimidate the victims and to cover up and protect the perpetrators is something very unique to Baylor. When Kim says 'it happens everywhere', she is correct that the crimes happen everywhere, but she is ignoring the reason Baylor is a national story - the actions of the coaches and administration after the crimes were reported to them - that is not happening everywhere.

 

[DefenseBB]

As strong a position as Mulkey is in as a coach, as a representative of a university, she is quite vulnerable. She cannot be perceived as insensitive to the issue, because it would be easy to make her into a scapegoat by an administration under pressure.

Bags, sorry to disagree with you as even though we both understand her fiery competitive attitude, her own outspoken comments pregame and postgame brought this upon her head. You seem to be qualifying her behavior. She is and has been acutely aware of her LEAD ROLE as a representative of the University and due to this facts she needs to be admonished by the current administration (and rightly so) as well as be realize all the other points you make. I understand her having to constantly listen to the criticism which is probably very wearing on her. Lashing out like she just did and during the event that she did is illogical. She has a long history of being indignant and unabashed. I truly hope she continues to take severe criticism until she ultimately realizes how poor and hurtful those comments were. If she does so in a genuine fashion, we will forgive. I wonder if Big Monday's Games on ESPN tomorrow will have allowed for a better perspective by the ESPN crew to be more opinionated on it.

 

[Plebe]

I few weeks ago Geno made a comment (I believe it was in an ESPN interview), referring to KLS, that "we had to beat the California out of her". Some tone-deaf people chose to take that literally, and were offended by it.

I don't like, agree with, or approve of Kim Mulkey's comments, but I certainly don't think they should be taken literally, any more than Geno's comment should have been interpreted that way.

Not "beat." The phrase was "knock some of that California out of her."

However, Geno's comment was not about something as grave as sexual assault and rape culture. He was talking about player development.

I have no doubt that Kim was speaking figuratively. Her intent was not to encourage acts of violence. But this is a case where perception becomes reality.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

A qualification to your post: As I understand it, the Baylor allegations concern alleged assaults by football players, and not the totals for all student reports. I may be mistaken about that. But if that is correct, if one wants to compare Baylor's numbers to the numbers at any other university, then you have to separate out the numbers for football players at that other school for the comparison to be legitimate. And you have to do that year by year, or grouping the same years together. Maybe our statistics friends can help with such a comparison. But whatever those numbers turn out to be, the biggest issues are the Baylor cover-ups and mistreatment of victims by university administrators.

Yes, it is the number of women sexually assaulted by members of the Baylor football team. And the numbers are derived from the cases of women whose names were included in court filings. And those women were the ones whose cases were either ignored, or who were discouraged from pursuing action. The number is not for the university as a whole.

This is about the football team's sexual assaults, including a Kavanaughed, and the university's actions in protecting the football players and the program from legal and other consequences.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Just in case people have forgotten how current this thing that Mulkey call's over is in fact: Baylor Sanctioned By Big 12 After New Revelations About Sexual Assault Controversy

That's this February folks and we are still in it. She's something of a misanthrope.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

I beg to differ. 17 victims involving 19 football players, including four gang rapes, since 2011 CANNOT be "in line" with "numbers reported by conscientious colleges and universities". Can you provide comparable statistics for any university?

Sure. This should do it:

Baylor rape lawsuit alleges 52 rapes by football players in 4 years
PUBLISHED: January 27, 2017 at 5:34 pm | UPDATED: January 28, 2017 at 6:39 am

"WACO, Texas (AP) — A former Baylor University student who says she was raped by two football players filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the school that alleges there were dozens more assaults of women involving other players. The lawsuit by the student, who is listed in the documents only as 'Elizabeth Doe,' alleges at least 52 rapes by more than 30 football players over a four-year period. It also alleges a 'culture of sexual violence' and describes her 2013 attack by two players. It doesn’t detail the other alleged attacks, but says some were recorded by the players, who shared them with friends.

"Fifty-two assaults would dramatically increase the 17 reports of sexual and physical attacks involving 19 players since 2011 previously acknowledged by Baylor officials. The school faces at least five lawsuits from women who allege they were attacked and that the school failed to protect them or ignored their complaints....

"An internal investigation last year found that the football program operated as if it was “above the rules” and that assistant coaches and staff interfered or stifled investigations into alleged assaults by players."

 

[bags27]

Kim is getting knocked around badly right now for her further comments on ESPN2 in the transition to the next game.

As I said in my first couple of posts, they needed to take her out of the live performance bit on this, and they needed to speak for her via electronic media, where they can vet and control the message. But now, Kim's 2nd shot at this only made it worse, and you only get 1 chance to walk back what you said the first time. No longer can she claim that she misspoke initially.

Who knows how this is going to end now?

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Sure. This should do it:

Baylor rape lawsuit alleges 52 rapes by football players in 4 years
PUBLISHED: January 27, 2017 at 5:34 pm | UPDATED: January 28, 2017 at 6:39 am

"WACO, Texas (AP) — A former Baylor University student who says she was raped by two football players filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the school that alleges there were dozens more assaults of women involving other players. The lawsuit by the student, who is listed in the documents only as 'Elizabeth Doe,' alleges at least 52 rapes by more than 30 football players over a four-year period. It also alleges a 'culture of sexual violence' and describes her 2013 attack by two players. It doesn’t detail the other alleged attacks, but says some were recorded by the players, who shared them with friends.

"Fifty-two assaults would dramatically increase the 17 reports of sexual and physical attacks involving 19 players since 2011 previously acknowledged by Baylor officials. The school faces at least five lawsuits from women who allege they were attacked and that the school failed to protect them or ignored their complaints....

"An internal investigation last year found that the football program operated as if it was “above the rules” and that assistant coaches and staff interfered or stifled investigations into alleged assaults by players."

These colleges have the most reports of rape

Here's an interactive database on "reported" campus sexual assaults from Washington Post. Baylor ranks as one of the lowest absolutely, and in terms of crimes reported per student body. Four were reported for this latest year. But keep in mind how Baylor treats women who dare to report these crimes.

"At Stanford, there were 26 reports of rape in 2014. At Baylor, there were four. Having a low number of rape reports is not necessarily a sign that all is well. Baylor’s governing board last month demoted the school’s president, Kenneth Starr, and fired its football coach following an investigation that found the school had failed to respond effectively to reports of sexual assault involving football players and others.

“'Universities need to stop trying to treat this as a PR problem, and treat it as the civil rights and public safety issue that it is,' said Lisa Maatz, vice president for government relations at the American Association of University Women. 'It’s happening on their campuses, undeniably. There’s no use putting their heads in the sand.'”

 

[UConnNick]

Kim is getting knocked around badly right now for her further comments on ESPN2 in the transition to the next game.

As I said in my first couple of posts, they needed to take her out of the live performance bit on this, and they needed to speak for her via electronic media, where they can vet and control the message. But now, Kim's 2nd shot at this only made it worse, and you only get 1 chance to walk back what you said the first time. No longer can she claim that she misspoke initially.

Who knows how this is going to end now?

What did she say? Were these comments made by her today?

 

[bags27]

What did she say? Were these comments made by her today?

I didn't listen carefully until she nearly finished and then got trashed by the ESPN crew, which included Rebecca who was, typically, more circumspect. Mulkey apparently gave a press conference in which she said that she didn't literally mean punching someone, but otherwise told people to kiss off in attacking Baylor; that people don't know what they're talking about when it comes to what's happening at Baylor.

Even though she did, IIRC, walk back the threat to punch people, the rest of what she said was so pugnacious that the ESPN crew still talked about her punching threat. In other words, no change in tone, no indication that she thought she may have been wrong.

Maybe someone can find this on the internet?

 

[UConnNick]

I didn't listen carefully until she nearly finished and then got trashed by the ESPN crew, which included Rebecca who was, typically, more circumspect. Mulkey apparently gave a press conference in which she said that she didn't literally mean punching someone, but otherwise told people to kiss off in attacking Baylor; that people don't know what they're talking about when it comes to what's happening at Baylor.

Even though she did, IIRC, walk back the threat to punch people, the rest of what she said was so pugnacious that the ESPN crew still talked about her punching threat. In other words, no change in tone, no indication that she thought she may have been wrong.

Maybe someone can find this on the internet?

That doesn't sound like it even qualifies as a non-apology apology. More like she just poured gasoline on an already blazing three alarm fire.

 

[j66kicker]

...Baylor's athletic department and administration actively worked to subvert the reporting, to intimidate the victims and to cover up and protect the perpetrators is something very unique to Baylor. When Kim says 'it happens everywhere', she is correct that the crimes happen everywhere, but she is ignoring the reason Baylor is a national story - the actions of the coaches and administration after the crimes were reported to them - that is not happening everywhere.

Some places it is - like Florida State. Only there the local and county cops also cooperated in ignoring rape complaints against Jameis Winston... (Who infamously last week addressed an elementary school assembly, had the boys stand up for a "Rah Rah - Be tough and strong" speech, while asking the girls to remain seated and be quiet).

 

[j66kicker]

Not "beat." The phrase was "knock some of that California out of her."

However, Geno's comment was not about something as grave as sexual assault and rape culture. He was talking about player development.

I have no doubt that Kim was speaking figuratively. Her intent was not to encourage acts of violence. But this is a case where perception becomes reality.

"Knock" - Kim's exact word. IMO neither was meant to be taken literally.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I've never cared for Kim Mulkey, but this takes it to a new level. Winning basketball games does not take precedence over prosecuting sexual assaults.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Just went over the checked out Baylorfans.com. 27 posts in two threads on the topic, every damned one of them highly approving!

It's a cult of denial.

 

[UConnNick]

"Knock" - Kim's exact word. IMO neither was meant to be taken literally.

I agree. It was a figure of speech, though an unfortunate choice. Geno has certainly been guilty of saying some pretty controversial stuff himself, and other fanbases pick up on it and take it literally, ignoring his usual sarcasm. He said just as many Duke graduates are waiting tables as UCONN graduates. He obviously had no clue whether that was true or not at the time, he just said it for effect. It worked out pretty well because we trashed them on their home court shortly thereafter, with everybody in the media focused on him and his quote, not on our team.

 

[bags27]

okay, found it. if you look here, and scroll down, it's the presser after the game. So, really, she didn't have a lot of time to process the significance of what she had said before the game. And maybe she didn't even walk back the "knock" comment:

Baylor coach on safety criticism: ‘Knock them right in the face"

“I’m just tired of hearing it,” she said. “I’m tired of people talking on it on a national scale that don’t know what they’re talking about. If they didn’t sit in those meetings and they weren’t a part of the investigation, you’re repeating things that you’ve heard. It’s over. It’s done, and this is a great institution, and I would send my daughter here, and I’d pay for anybody else’s daughter to come here.

“I work here every day. I’m in the know, and I’m tired of hearing it. This is a great institution. The problems we have at Baylor are no different than the problems at any other school in America, period. Move on. Find another story to write.”

Kim Mulkey needs to have an intervention by wiser and cooler heads....

 

[RockyMTblue2]

"Since then, several prominent alumni and donors, and even the school's former Title IX coordinator, have asked for further investigation into how other Baylor employees -- most notably senior administrators and some members of the board of regents -- handled reports of sexual assaults and compliance with Title IX, the federal law that requires schools to investigate sexual assault complaints."

Baylor's Mulkey sounds off on scandal scrutiny

Hmmmm. Think about Mulkey's reaction. Hmmmmm. A little self preservation peak? Look away. Look away.

 

[huskiemaniac]

She's a WOMEN's basketball coach...this is extremely disturbing and disappointing. That alone would make me not want me to send my daughter to play for her! If she felt she had to make a statement to help with her recruiting, there were many better options she could've chosen.

By making the university sound like the victim here, she is in effect blaming the victims. She really hasn't softened her stance either. Baffling!

 

[Carnac]

Bad form by a nationally recognized WBB Coach... the answer to sexual abuse of women on a college campus is to physically abuse those who voice concern about the safety of their daughters attending school there?????? She will regret these comments in the coming days.

There's an old saying.............."Out of the mouth, the heart speaks".

 

[Charliebball]

Kim's remarks were insensitive, and I agree she should apologize for having trivialized the seriousness of what happened at Baylor, but I think it's quite a leap from that to accusing her of defending rape. I'm reasonably sure she probably intended her remarks to refer to the present day situation at Baylor, not the past. You can argue the semantics, but I doubt her intent was along the same lines as former Texas gubenatorial candidate Clayton Williams, who had the election wrapped up until he said this only a week before election day: "If rape is inevitable, why not just lie back and enjoy it?"

And Kim was correct about one thing. There are other schools that have a very bad track record of handling rape cases. Many schools, including UCONN, have come under fire for attempting as much as possible to cover up or minimize publicity regarding rape investigations, to the detriment of the victims. Many collegiate rape victims have won large settlements against these schools. No school wants to be in Baylor's shoes, becoming known as Rape U. On the positive side, many schools, like UCONN, have revised their rules for handling rape accusations, and are doing a much better job of effectively dealing with the problem.

Bingo!!!! All she had to say was that Baylor was doing it's best to prevent this episode from ever happening again and that now parents should feel comfortable with their kids attending the school..........don't know whether that is true but it's as simple as that

 

[Jeff H]

okay, found it. if you look here, and scroll down, it's the presser after the game. So, really, she didn't have a lot of time to process the significance of what she had said before the game. And maybe she didn't even walk back the "knock" comment:

Baylor coach on safety criticism: ‘Knock them right in the face"

“I’m just tired of hearing it,” she said. “I’m tired of people talking on it on a national scale that don’t know what they’re talking about. If they didn’t sit in those meetings and they weren’t a part of the investigation, you’re repeating things that you’ve heard. It’s over. It’s done, and this is a great institution, and I would send my daughter here, and I’d pay for anybody else’s daughter to come here.

“I work here every day. I’m in the know, and I’m tired of hearing it. This is a great institution. The problems we have at Baylor are no different than the problems at any other school in America, period. Move on. Find another story to write.”



Kim Mulkey needs to have an intervention by wiser and cooler heads....

I hope she eventually realizes how this sounds. Women were raped at my institution... "I'm tired of hearing about it...move on"

 

[UConnNick]

Bingo!!!! All she had to say was that Baylor was doing it's best to prevent this episode from ever happening again and that now parents should feel comfortable with their kids attending the school.....don't know whether that is true but it's as simple as that

Yes. She should have at least acknowledged that there were problems, but the school administration has addressed the situation, and proper steps have been taken to insure nothing like that ever happens again. The problem with that is the Big 12 Conference is witholding 25 percent of Baylor's conference revenues until it is satisfied they have taken all necessary steps to be in compliance with their new standards. I don't think the conference has made the call yet on that, so she arguably couldn't defend her stance even if that was her intent. If she's presenting the idea that it's now safe to send your daughter to Baylor, then why hasn't the Big 12 decided they're doing what they're supposed to be doing so they can release several million dollars in athletics revenue to the university?

 

[Plebe]

Baylor's Mulkey expresses regret over remark

 

[UConnNick]

Baylor's Mulkey expresses regret over remark

It's difficult to acknowledge on one hand that they need to get to the bottom of what happened, but on the other hand encourage parents to send their daughters to Baylor. It seems to me if they are still unsure about how to prevent what occurred from occurring again, you can't believe an unqualified statement that it's now perfectly safe for women at Baylor.

I guess it's as close to an apology as she's going to get.

 

[easttexastrash]

Completely love it. She defended her program in a similar manner to the way Geno defended the WNBA concerning the charge of Bullying. She said what every Baylor fan has been thinking. The football scandal has been addresses and people fired. If you don't like it, don't come to Baylor. The only thing I didn't like about her speech was that she didn't flip the bird.

People can continue to talk about it for as long as they want.