Getty Image / Andy Lyons
LSU Women’s Basketball coach Kim Mulkey is one of the most successful coaches in college basketball history. With four national titles encompassing two different schools, she’s no doubt a legend.
That being said, she has a reputation of being a fiery coach that is not the easiest to play for. Mulkey can frequently be seen yelling at her players on the sidelines, and reports of her confrontational demeanor have been circling for decades.
Recently, The Athletic surveyed women’s college basketball players anonymously to gauge what coaches they’d most like to play for. The winners were South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and UConn’s Geno Auriemma, two legends.
They were also asked who they’d least like to play for, and that title went to the controversial Kim Mulkey.
Out of the 95 players surveyed, a whopping 32 said that she was the player they would least want to play for. The next closest coach, Kelly Graves of Oregon, had seven votes.
Last weekend, an article in the Washington Post came out detailing Mulkey’s career that, while seemingly truthful, didn’t paint her in the best light. Though the article was released likely after the survey was conducted, it just goes to show that she has dealt with negative PR for a long time.
But, the fact of the matter is, Kim Mulkey wins. In her 24-year career, the first 21 of which were at Baylor, she has notched 723 wins and has a .860 winning percentage. She’s made five Final Fours, has twenty-three regular season and conference tournament titles, and has the four national titles (three at Baylor, one at LSU last season).
On Monday, her Tigers were defeated in a much-anticipated rematch of last year’s national title game against Iowa in the Elite Eight, with viewership for the game setting records. But, make no mistake, she will have LSU near the top again next year.