Allie Bernstein, '27
Kimberly Duane Mulkey was born on May 17th, 1962 in Santa Ana, California. She attended Hammond High School, where not only was she the valedictorian of her class, but she also led the women’s basketball team to four consecutive state championships. She went on to play as a point guard at Louisiana Tech University, winning two national championships. After graduating college, she played on the USA National women's basketball team and at the 1984 Summer Olympics. In 1985, Mulkey began her college basketball coaching career at Louisiana Tech, which would go down in collegiate basketball history as one of the most iconic coaching careers ever. During her career, she would be involved in multiple triumphs and controversies.
Mulkey’s first disputed incident had to do with a Baylor basketball player, Brittney Griner, in May of 2013. Griner identifies as a lesbian, and in an article was quoted discussing how she felt that Baylor had policies against “homosexual acts,” and that, “The coaches thought if it seemed like they condoned it, people wouldn’t let their kids play for Baylor.” The “it” mentioned was referring to homosexuality. Mulkey’s only public response to these accusations was to comment on how great of a player Griner was and what an incredible legacy she left behind, but not truly responding to any homophobia allegations. Years later in 2022, when Griner was arrested in Russia and received an unjust nine year sentence, Mulkey made no public statement in hopes that Griner would safely make it back to the United States, even after receiving significant media pressure to do so.
Another controversy involving Kim Mulkey took place in February 2017, regarding Mulkey’s commentary of the recent sexual assault scandal that had taken place at Baylor. Baylor athletic officials had known that multiple football players had assaulted female athletes, but took no action for justice or to even recognize these allegations as truthful. A total of 17 women had accused 19 Baylor football players of sexually assaulting them, and all 17 were being put down by the leaders of their university. In the midst of this ongoing dilemma, Mulkey commented, “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.” Even after much backlash, Mulkey did not apologize for this specific statement.
One of the most recent controversies in the realm of women’s college basketball has been centered around Kim Mulkey and one of her players, Angel Reece. After Reece had four unexplained absences from games, Mulkey refused to offer any other explanation besides calling it a “locker room” issue, along with saying it was an internal issue. However, some of Mulkey’s emails discussing Reece were leaked, and provided some insight as to why she may have been absent. In one email, she said that Reece was one of the players who "stay on that social media crap", and that she also believed that is why Reece was left off an awards list for that year's basketball season. She also commented on Reece’s low GPA in her email exchange, which she later denied in a press statement and claimed that Reece was in good academic standing. Many spectators believe that Mulkey has always had a negative view of Reece, which was amplified when Mulkey stated, “No one wants to see that ugliness, but I can tell you this: I wish [Kamilla Cardoso] would've pushed Angel Reese” after one of her smaller players got pushed around by a member of the opposing team. Many saw this as a snide towards Reece, but others believed it was just an observation that Reece was taller and stronger than the girl who was pushed.
However, none of these controversial events have hindered Mulkey’s ability to win. Currently, she holds 723 wins, five final 4 appearances, and many awarded titles. While this doesn’t negate any of the negative things that Mulkey has said or done, she truly has made a difference in the world of women’s college basketball. In my personal experience, I’ve never kept up with basketball at all. Occasionally an NBA game would be on that I would watch, but I had certainly never been interested in women's basketball. But, when the LSU versus Iowa game started, my whole family sat down together and marveled at the amazing ability of these women to perform at such a high ability. I know that other people experienced the same thing this past March Madness season, and Kim Mulkey is a part of why women's basketball has started to get this recognition.
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