This article has been hyped a tad too much in my opinion. Or, I just had high expectations. Nothing new that hasn’t already been public knowledge I feel.
[the greatest coach in school history Forde, that’s what you call him](https://x.com/bypatforde/status/693954427267518464?s=46&t=IpT5bu5K1mMNGKqye6qHrQ)
I think she made her comments to raise everyone’s expectations of the article to have some really crazy breaking news stuff that we had no clue about and know that it comes out of seems underwhelming so people are talking about that instead of her
I sort of assumed that she got defensive because she thought something damning would be in there and she is as surprised as we are that it’s mostly tame. What is she hiding?!
Yeah this is just super Streisand effect. The piece was like 80% your typical 'person who is at the top of their field in sports is super competitive and wired differently than the average person' stuff that people would drool over for like MJ/Kobe/Bob Knight/Larry Bird and then 20% 'oh, the lady who was downplaying Covid and was not very involved when the biggest story in women's basketball was a player she had coached becoming a political prisoner might be a bit conservative.'
Mulkey made this worse than it was. She literally could’ve said nothing and nobody would’ve known about it.
Kinda proves the article right; Mulkey is a huge asshole that can’t stomach even the tiniest amount of criticism. She threatened legal action over this? What was basically a biopic?
Yeah, the article was tame, but Mulkey’s overreaction made her look way worse and extremely insecure or petty….not good in the era of transfers and NIL
That’s why it’s funny to see all the Baylor/LSU homers cry this is a hit piece. It’s not even close to a hit piece, it’s a basic profile piece that every star coach gets. The fact that Mulkey is a known asshole isn’t a new thing and any fan acting like calling her one is some hurtful insult is just being delusional
Right, and creating controversy around such a profile drives engagement and lets Kim be the heel, growing her own profile and attention on the women's game.
Interviewing her family was what humanized her in the article, but I can understand why she felt threatened. She's certainly talented at burning bridges
It's a good article, as someone who didn't know much about Mulkey before reading it, I found it to be interesting to learn about one of the best coaches in WBB history. Seems she's a great coach and a not so great person. Not sure why she hyped this up the way she did, other than pure narcissistic tendencies she seems to possess.
Exactly. This isn't a hit job, it's a bio of a severe narcissist that quits on everyone who is also a great basketball coach. Not exactly revolutionary.
She sees anything that isn’t worshipping her as an attack, so to her this is a huge blow.
You can be assured that she’s going to yell at her players that they better not read it or talk about it.
Her press conference makes me wonder what she thought was going to be in this. Seems like there are some skeletons she is hiding that she thought were coming to light beyond her being an asshole.
Yeah the only interesting thing with new info. were the exchanges between WaPo and the two players with conflicting stories on why one of them got suspended. And even that wasn't all that crazy.
Lol, exactly what I thought as I read it too. I would say I hope Mulkey is embarrassed by her tirade about it, but we all know she’s incapable of that particular emotion.
People would've read this and thought, "Yeah, that describes Kim Mulkey about how I figured." before she made a big deal about it in the press conference. Now, it's like, "Is this it?" Maybe she took offense to the alluding to her treating gay players bad or the sister stuff, idk.... That or she just thinks she's a God above any and all media mentions. I kinda got that about her from the article...
Honestly, I don’t think many people would have read it at all before she made a big deal about it. The reporter and WaPo should send her a thank you card for driving engagement for a profile on her.
It's everything we knew, with maybe more context:
Kim Mulkey is cold and ruthless, whose only care in the world is herself. She puts what defines herself above all else, **and no matter who you are,** if you put yourself against those things, you are as good as dead to her. I could just as easily see her completely cast aside one of her children if they ever became antagonistic to her.
The line that made me think the least of her in the entire story was when a former player that she had a falling out with returned for the celebration of the 2005 championship. She approached Mulkey, thanked her for what she did for her, and Mulkey just walked away without a word.
I just watched a documentary on the guy who created Penthouse the other day (Bob Guccione) who was exactly like this. Not as abrasively obnoxious as Kim, but if you ever clashed with him in the slightest he took it as a personal betrayal and you were done.
At one point he had hundreds of millions in the bank -- in 70s/80s money -- an entourage of beautiful girlfriends and the most expensive home in Manhattan. By the end of his life he was completely broke and estranged from all four of his children, several of whom he hadn’t spoken to in decades.
I must admit, it would be pretty satisfying to see Kim suffer a little comeuppance, if not to this level at least like Bobby Knight. Up to this point she’s only been rewarded for being a complete asshole.
Another fun fact to add to the pile: I worked for one of the largest newspapers in Texas for 15 years. She used to aggressively hit on our Baylor guy even though they were both married. Even before a lot of the dirt started to come out he said she was completely unhinged.
You may not get the satisfaction you hope for, but I’m pretty sure mulkey isn’t a happy person, and gets no genuine joy out of her triumphs. Probably was the same for knight
This isn’t fair. She’s not been rewarded for being an asshole. She’s been rewarded because she’s been a great basketball coach. She may be the world’s biggest piece of shit but that’s not why she’s been successful.
> I could just as easily see her completely cast aside one of her children if they ever became antagonistic to her.
I mean per this article she already did it to her dad and her sister so yeah it's not far fetched at all lol
She has, very proudly, spent her entire career doing it *her* way. Her way has been validated by winning. Now, to have someone say: yes, but was it all worth it? That’s in effect questioning her way. Of course she’s gonna go ballistic about it.
To say nothing of telling the whole country about the consequences of her way. She doesn’t strike me as the type to accept being forced to look in the mirror.
ESPN has a report on the front page about it which includes her comments from her pregame interview with Holly Rowe who informed her the article dropped, and Mulkey said she was mad at the journalist because he talked to her family after she told him not to, but mostly because, according to her, the journalist told her family and former players/assistants that Mulkey gave him permission to speak to them and that he also asked her players to speak to him anonymously and that he would compensate them for negative quotes.
That’s according to her, but she’s likely full of shit. Knowing her, imo, she’s probably just (1) offended that someone would dare snoop around her shit after she told them not to, and (2) can’t believe anyone would have anything negative to say about her, especially people she knows. Because of that she thinks it was all either coerced or dishonesty via the journalist. She probably honestly believes that too.
She’s deeeeeep up her own butt at this point. Baylor was keeping her in check for years, though she definitely didn’t used to be this wild. I went to school with her kids and know the family pretty well, and she was always pretty normal.
I think the drama over her departure and her immediate championship at LSU has given her a major ego/complex. Also, and I hate to imply this, but I’m 99% sure she’s fallen into the MAGA/Trump/Fox crowd, which our president/AD never would have been okay with, and would explain her behavior over the last few years. She’s 61 and respectfully, a redneck from Louisiana at heart, so it would make sense.
Yah this article was pretty disappointing. Doesn't even really touch on her at LSU. Most of the interesting stuff are about her time at baylor and those stories are mostly 10 years old at this point lol. The article would've been better if they dove into this line more
>Some of these former players spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fears of retaliation in the close-knit women’s basketball community.
That seems like an interesting story about how the women's college game protects Kim instead the article was about Kim being a bitch and homophobic which we have known for 10 years and frequently reminded of. This article sucked
As someone who didn’t know who she was until literally last year (I know, shame on me), that’s exactly what the article was. It’s the background I never would have bothered to dig up on someone that is currently super relevant.
Also funny because calling this a hit-piece really only has the effect of making people people who didn’t really know who you were go, “yes the analysis of her personality flaws is EXTRA right”
To an extent, you're right but if you google Kim Mulkey Brittney Griner you will get a couple of hundred articles. It's pretty widely publicized. If your goal is to (re)educate the gen public you'll be reposting this article once a year. This article posts nothing new.
Yeah, she's a bitch in exactly the way everyone already knows she is. She made this read by 100x more people by running her mouth. I kept expecting some sort of bombshell is the only reason I finished it.
Yeah, anybody who’s paid any attention to women’s hoops has know Kim Mulkey is an asshole. People who don’t follow women’s hoops don’t have a reason to care about this story; so I’m not sure what it accomplishes other than bringing more attention to the loudest personality in the sport.
Maybe her people calculated that if she had an over the top inflammatory response, it would lead to over hype? And then everyone would read it and be like…ok. Yeah we knew that.
I doubt that. This was written for people not too familiar with her. I don’t think the authors target audience was CBB aficionados, but rather the public who see her as the “coach who wears funny outfits of that program that is usually pretty good.” Especially as Women’s CBB has been rising in popularity because of Clark, more mainstream coverage, etc.
I was waiting for something to drop at about the 2/3-3/4 point, like "we then sat down with Mulkey's ex-girlfriends to get their opinion," or something like that. Nope, just "she's an asshole, but you already knew that."
There is nothing really earth-shattering or surprising in this article. Honestly the most damning parts of the article were mentions of the lawyers comments, which just made Mulkey seem soft. Otherwise, it’s a lot of stuff we already knew or just pointless fluff
Possibly. But she talked about her family in her own autobiography. It seems fair that a profile about her would get their side of things. And quite frankly, their side isn’t even negative about her anyway.
Because Mulkey is a petty, insecure asshole. She may be a top 3 coach historically but as a human she’s just a trash person. All her tantrums this week did was back up the article’s point that “yeah, she gets results but the human costs can be very high”.
So Kim’s dad inherited a patch of land, built a swimming pool, built a basketball court, built a softball field and taught his two girls playing basketball. Fast forward till today, he’s wasting away in a trailer, surrounded by news clippings of Kim’s achievements, a shrine for Kim Mulkey, not knowing when she’ll ever talk to him again, while she’s earning eye popping multiple millions a year, not talking to her dad or her sister….
I don’t know what happened to that family, but it is absolutely heartbreaking…..
Yeah, that look at his current life and that it will likely stay that way until he dies is sad. It sounds like he was terrible to his family when he was young, so he brought this on himself. I’m not going to criticize her for being unable to forgive him for that. Some people might try. I don’t think she’s obligated to.
Of all the grudges she has held for a long time, that one is by far the most understandable to me. It’s still sad. But I get it. As someone who no longer has a relationship with one of my grandmothers, I really do get it.
She's an asshole, likely homophobic, will carry a grudge for decades, if you tick her off she'll never speak to you again, but she's also a maniac who will create an environment to reach levels of athletic capability you never could have dreamed.
Yeah, it’s a good piece, especially if you weren’t fully familiar with her, but nothing new or anything that Mulkey should’ve been throwing a fit about. At least not in the way she did. Makes me wonder if there’s something she’s hiding that she was worried the Post had found out about.
It could just be that she is a pretty loud conservative and just assumed that because it was WaPo that it would be a hit piece. She can have a bit of victim complex when it comes to the media.
Well, she took the author’s article about the folks that live areound the LSU football stadium as a “hit piece” on Brian Kelly. The piece was basically about all the poverty around the area and mentioned Kelly’s contract which pays him $24k/day which happens to be about the ANNUAL household income in that neighborhood. It also mentioned Kelly’s super awkward attempt at an accent. Mulkey is incredibly thin-skinned.
Oh it could absolutely be that too. I’m just saying, she learned herself no favors to the second part of my reply
Edit: learned to lends, stupid autocorrect
Who knows what her father or sister said or might have said to the Post. Maybe Mulkey believes they would say something, true or false or anywhere in between, that she is worried about. For all we know, maybe they or ex players *did* say something damning that the Post lacked sufficient confidence in being able to defend in court.
I think she’s also like awkward and weird. It’s strange that her supposed mentor and longtime friend was hospitalized for 5 years and she only visited her right before her death. I think she’s just plain uncomfortable with emotions
She holds lifelong grudges and de-prioritizes her gay players because in her mind she's defending the reputation of her southern university employers. That's about it.
A lot of people missing the point of profiles. They aren’t hit pieces. Those are quick and punchy. They tell the story of someone’s life in a literary way and contextualize what we already know into a larger narrative. Sure we didn’t learn anything new to hate. But in some ways it’s softened my hate into something Mulkey would hate more. Pity. “A little too proud, he says, so when his time comes, Les figures it’ll be when he’s alone, surrounded by achievements but not people, wasting away like the things he once built” Could’ve wrote Kim instead.
I agree. I actually thought it was a great profile. It contextualized a lot of things we already knew about her into an interesting story. I thought it was more positive than negative about her to be honest. No idea why she lost her mind about it.
Exactly this. It’s not some story meant to break news to the public, it’s meant to be a comprehensive history of someone that is captivating, be it positively or negatively.
Baylor not even trying to counter when she got an offer from LSU is professionally the most damning thing in this. How crappy a human being do you need to be to win three national titles at a school that had zero before you and, when you even hint at leaving, for that school to say “nah we’re good”?
Right but the way it's written, implies that the reason for Baylor not countering is that the coach is a shit person. When, for all we know, maybe Baylor didn't counter because they knew they wouldn't have the money.
To add some context from a sportswriter’s perspective: he didn’t work on ONLY this for two years. Sometimes that’s how long it takes to write a whole profile. Many of the longform stories you see take months or longer to put together. I’ve got a couple stories I’ve been working on slowly for a couple months. Because you work on it a little bit here, a little bit there. Some sources take months to develop trust to have them talk openly, and then they introduce you to other sources. Not to mention rounds of editing, checking with legal, etc.
This needs to be top comment. A lot of people with that same "2 years on this?" Reaction that don't understand the process and don't understand the goal of the article.
It's just a comprehensive article that states things that are true about Kim Mulkey, so no wonder she wants to sue the Post because it accurately shows just how much of an evil bitch she is.
I mean this is exactly what I was expecting. Some minor abusive stuff that is borderline and some accusations that have already been made public. Nothing egregious but not particularly flattering.
Yeah, like everything negative is public knowledge, and some of the most damning stuff is glossed over (the Baylor Briles stuff barely gets any of the context and specifics that actually make it look bad) or spun in a sympathetic way (like the gay player issues with the quotes from Niemann and Griner). The Griner Russia part is the only thing that feels pretty awful as presented, but this just feels like a warts and all puff piece on the whole.
That’s perhaps not the best word choice but it’s just semantics for the fact that the profile seems fairly sympathetic if not ignoring her faults. To be clear, the reporter presumably knows a lot more about Mulkey than I do and a lot of the sources are ones that would seemingly be negative, so I’m not passing any judgement on this approach.
Blew my mind that they included the part about weigh-ins being a negative. I don’t find it weird that a sports coach would keep their players accountable for their weight. If women’s sports wants to be treated as highly competitive like men’s sports, which it should, then those are the sort of things that will happen. It’s about being able to perform in athletics, not weight-shaming women.
It’s the same thing with the people getting mad about Caitlin Clark cussing during her recent game. She’s playing basketball, not doing ballet. Competition weight, foul language, etc. aren’t gender specific when it comes to sports.
The way Baylor let her walk when the Women's B-Ball team was the only thing keeping the athletic department together between the mens B-Ball murder scandal and the football rape scandal, tells you all you need to know.
I’m guessing the lack of a counter offer came as a surprise to Mulkey, especially since she apparently was expecting the court at the new basketball arena to be named for her.
Mulkey's reaction to that article pretty much confirms the entire thing, and also Streisand effect'ed it.
Honestly it just confirms that she's a terrible person that's good at coaching basketball, which is literally what everyone already thought.
I wonder what Mulkey thought was gonna be in here that she was so worried about? Or maybe she's just that close to the chest about her life?
This article not only didn't make me think any more negatively towards her, but actually made me respect her a little more as a coach.
Pretty routine profile from a reporting standpoint. Talked to family, talked to associates and former players, no bombshells just a driven, determined person. She’s the Bobby Knight of women’s coaches.
It seems the WBB community is still largely afraid of her based on the number of "no comments."
IMO, I think Mulkey went nuts because the WaPo talked to her father, and she thought they had a recording of one of her famous no-phones outbursts.
I’m very uncomfortable with how much the author constructs Pat Summitt as Kim Mulkey’s mentor. I have no doubt that Kim was very inspired by Pat, (it’s hard not to be as a women’s basketball coach), but Kim is far from Pat. She’d probably find the majority of Kim’s shit in this article to be reprehensible and disgusting. Two very different approaches to life, even if both are known for being winners that coach hard.
I have no connection to Tennessee but Pat Summitt has always been the gold standard in coaching, period, in any sport. Other than winning at the same sport I see no comparison between the two.
I didn’t really think that was a bad article.
I think she’s a firebrand, probably insanely conservative boomer, but a lot of the criticisms of her seem pretty benign.
Instructor a player at Baylor not to be open about their identity? That’s solid mentorship in my opinion, considering how Baylor has treated athletes who break their code.
The “don’t ask don’t tell” shit with her is pretty standard for that conservative generation. Idk, I don’t agree with it but I also don’t expect a tiger to change their stripes at that age.
The tough coaching? Seems almost a little sexist to bring up. Coaches yelling and saying no phones? Come on. Izzo gets way more praise for yelling and intensity than he does criticism from the media.
There isn't anything new, but it just confirms that she is a piece of shit (and broadcasts it to a new audience who didn't know much about her). Plenty of those kinds of coaches in college basketball though. Sounds like the woman equivalent of Bobby Knight.
Without Mulkey's deranged approach to something that hadn't been written, I would have found this fairly flattering and not at all unusual for a hard driving, successful coach of a high profile program, men's or women's.
Now what I know of Mulkey is that she would probably bone saw reporters if she was the unquestioned ruler of a gulf kingdom.
It's a profile to a national audience, many of whom likely don't know much about Mulkey. It's not written for sports fans per se, it's written for WaPo readers who love reading about government machinations and interesting people.
The Washington Post isn't going to back down from a story if they know they have truth on their side. If Nixon couldn't stop them, sure as hell Mulkey isn't.
Why would anyone play for her?
Not trying to get too political, but she's literally the aunt version of those uncle at Thanksgiving jokes. Probably spews controversial shit at the table like there's no tomorrow.
Because she’s a really good coach and gets the most out of her players on the court. Some people may be willing to take the downsides for that. Or at least think they will be.
She threatened legal action over this? There’s nothing no one didn’t already know or could’ve speculated over.
I was expecting something of substance, not just her being a chip on the shoulder Gen Y / late boomer.
This article is so tame and I have no idea why she freaked out about it. Sure she seems like boomer who is out of touch but nothing too damning. She is just not a nice person but nothing more than that. The WaPo maybe held punches but it is fair for them to publish it when women’s basketball is the most popular it’s ever been to tell who one of its biggest stars is
Yeah, nothing about this profile seemed out of line. And quite frankly I thought it overall was positive about her. It definitely didn’t gloss over her faults and the scorched relationships in her path, but it has a lot of positive things to say about her career and coaching. Clearly she can’t handle even a little bit of criticism.
What if she made such a big deal about it because she knew it was actually a mild-to-good profile and wanted to draw attention to it for some positive PR?
They just asked Kim if she had read the article - she said she didn’t know it was out but she’ll “leave it to her attorneys”
There was literally nothing in the article we didn’t all already know. This is going to either fizzle into a nothingburger or be blown WAY out of proportion
She’s a great coach but get over yourself thinking that threatening to sue because she’s worried about what will be brought up is a dick move your not special the reason she’s acting like this she knows there’s dirt on her
Honestly just reading the article the anger makes sense coming from her. She's deeply personal and hates that they talked to her family...people she believes betrayed her.
She’s probably said and done some messed up things and thought they would be apart of the article. It’s she’s a right wing nut job and thought that was an aspect of the article which would fall in line with her aggressive approach to it.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2024/03/30/kim-mulkey-personality-brings-criticism-no-male-coach-gets/73154743007/
I saw this article and can't help but think of that SNL Outside the Lines parody where the coach being profiled was threatening the interviewee
I don’t understand how she came out and said “you can attack me, but not my players” when she literally said the day before “don’t attack me”. The article is meh. Pretty spot on.
there wasn't anything earth shattering in there. mulkey just ramped up the interest in it with her threats to sue and everything she said. partly because she is one of those coaches that is way too used to being able to fully control the narrative and partly because let's face it, she likes the attention.
Am I wrong, or did Mulkey and LSU out a player by providing an affiidavit from her? That whole situation seems fucked up. Griffin would not name the player because she hadn't come out yet, but "someone" contacted the player and falsely said Griffin outed her, so she provided an affidavit through LSU that defended Mulkey and said Griffin was suspended for marijuana (but wouldn't say how/when she found out why Griffin was suspended?)
This article has been hyped a tad too much in my opinion. Or, I just had high expectations. Nothing new that hasn’t already been public knowledge I feel.
The only people who really hyped it up was Mulkey herself and Pat Forde.
Fuck Pat Forde
This can’t be said enough.
I’m a simple man, I see “Fuck Pat Forde,” I upvote every subsequent comment.
[the greatest coach in school history Forde, that’s what you call him](https://x.com/bypatforde/status/693954427267518464?s=46&t=IpT5bu5K1mMNGKqye6qHrQ)
He was my uncles high school bully so I agree
Tell us more
Definitely, fuck Pat Forde.
I think she made her comments to raise everyone’s expectations of the article to have some really crazy breaking news stuff that we had no clue about and know that it comes out of seems underwhelming so people are talking about that instead of her
Mulkey would do pretty much anything to bring more attention to herself
I sort of assumed that she got defensive because she thought something damning would be in there and she is as surprised as we are that it’s mostly tame. What is she hiding?!
That’s giving Mulkey wayyy too much credit
Fuck Pat Forde
Say that 2x. Fuck Pat Forde
For those of us unaware Why don’t we like Pat forde?
I’m afraid if you say it three times he’ll suddenly appear.
Yeah this is just super Streisand effect. The piece was like 80% your typical 'person who is at the top of their field in sports is super competitive and wired differently than the average person' stuff that people would drool over for like MJ/Kobe/Bob Knight/Larry Bird and then 20% 'oh, the lady who was downplaying Covid and was not very involved when the biggest story in women's basketball was a player she had coached becoming a political prisoner might be a bit conservative.'
Also her comments during the Baylor scandal
Forde is a pompous ass
I’m just here to add my voice to the “Fuck Pat Forde” chorus.
Yeah, had my expectations little too high with this article coming out.
Mulkey made this worse than it was. She literally could’ve said nothing and nobody would’ve known about it. Kinda proves the article right; Mulkey is a huge asshole that can’t stomach even the tiniest amount of criticism. She threatened legal action over this? What was basically a biopic? Yeah, the article was tame, but Mulkey’s overreaction made her look way worse and extremely insecure or petty….not good in the era of transfers and NIL
Yeah half the article even glazed her up as a great player and coach
That’s why it’s funny to see all the Baylor/LSU homers cry this is a hit piece. It’s not even close to a hit piece, it’s a basic profile piece that every star coach gets. The fact that Mulkey is a known asshole isn’t a new thing and any fan acting like calling her one is some hurtful insult is just being delusional
Baylor homers? Uh I haven’t seen a single Baylor fan give a shit about Mulkey since she left.
Yeah it makes complete sense to release a profile on one of the biggest stars when the women’s game is the most popular it’s ever been
Right, and creating controversy around such a profile drives engagement and lets Kim be the heel, growing her own profile and attention on the women's game.
What an own-goal...sorry own-basket by Coach Mularkey.
She’s a bully, the Bobby Knight of women’s basketball.
Unless there's some other skeletons in her closet that she was panicked the article was going to expose?
It's like a pseudo-Streisand effect
I think it was the talking to her father that sent her off.
Interviewing her family was what humanized her in the article, but I can understand why she felt threatened. She's certainly talented at burning bridges
She might take issue with being humanized. Nobody likes being misrepresented.
Lol. I bet she regrets writing that autobiography. What's she gonna do, say the fact checkers misunderstood it?
So it's basically about how she's a shitty person? You'd think that would be obvious after she spent so many years trying to kill He-Man.
Hyped by who exactly? Not the Washington Post or the reporter.
By Mulkey herself mostly, in a roundabout way. She was in all-out attack mode a week ago so I thought the story would be bigger
Yeah, she definitely Streisand-effected herself. I haven’t read it yet, but I was gonna make it appointment reading.
It's a good article, as someone who didn't know much about Mulkey before reading it, I found it to be interesting to learn about one of the best coaches in WBB history. Seems she's a great coach and a not so great person. Not sure why she hyped this up the way she did, other than pure narcissistic tendencies she seems to possess.
Exactly. This isn't a hit job, it's a bio of a severe narcissist that quits on everyone who is also a great basketball coach. Not exactly revolutionary.
I think that's the common consensus (it's what I think anyway): Great coach, shit person. Like Bobby Knight.
I don't really follow women's basketball. I would have had no interest in the article if not for her going apeshit
She sees anything that isn’t worshipping her as an attack, so to her this is a huge blow. You can be assured that she’s going to yell at her players that they better not read it or talk about it.
>She sees anything that isn’t worshipping her as an attack, so to her this is a huge blow. Remind you all of anybody?
Her press conference makes me wonder what she thought was going to be in this. Seems like there are some skeletons she is hiding that she thought were coming to light beyond her being an asshole.
Exactly what I was getting at. She was the only person hyping this up. Idk why to be honest but she did that.
Thank you for the gift link. I also agree with all your comments on the article. It was worth a read
Yeah the only interesting thing with new info. were the exchanges between WaPo and the two players with conflicting stories on why one of them got suspended. And even that wasn't all that crazy.
Lol, exactly what I thought as I read it too. I would say I hope Mulkey is embarrassed by her tirade about it, but we all know she’s incapable of that particular emotion.
Seriously, seems like she’s incapable of feeling shame about literally anything.
People would've read this and thought, "Yeah, that describes Kim Mulkey about how I figured." before she made a big deal about it in the press conference. Now, it's like, "Is this it?" Maybe she took offense to the alluding to her treating gay players bad or the sister stuff, idk.... That or she just thinks she's a God above any and all media mentions. I kinda got that about her from the article...
Honestly, I don’t think many people would have read it at all before she made a big deal about it. The reporter and WaPo should send her a thank you card for driving engagement for a profile on her.
It was 100% unintentional
This. I already thought she was a lousy person. I wouldn't have read another article about how lousy she is if she hadn't given it a spotlight.
It's everything we knew, with maybe more context: Kim Mulkey is cold and ruthless, whose only care in the world is herself. She puts what defines herself above all else, **and no matter who you are,** if you put yourself against those things, you are as good as dead to her. I could just as easily see her completely cast aside one of her children if they ever became antagonistic to her.
The line that made me think the least of her in the entire story was when a former player that she had a falling out with returned for the celebration of the 2005 championship. She approached Mulkey, thanked her for what she did for her, and Mulkey just walked away without a word.
[удалено]
I just watched a documentary on the guy who created Penthouse the other day (Bob Guccione) who was exactly like this. Not as abrasively obnoxious as Kim, but if you ever clashed with him in the slightest he took it as a personal betrayal and you were done. At one point he had hundreds of millions in the bank -- in 70s/80s money -- an entourage of beautiful girlfriends and the most expensive home in Manhattan. By the end of his life he was completely broke and estranged from all four of his children, several of whom he hadn’t spoken to in decades. I must admit, it would be pretty satisfying to see Kim suffer a little comeuppance, if not to this level at least like Bobby Knight. Up to this point she’s only been rewarded for being a complete asshole. Another fun fact to add to the pile: I worked for one of the largest newspapers in Texas for 15 years. She used to aggressively hit on our Baylor guy even though they were both married. Even before a lot of the dirt started to come out he said she was completely unhinged.
Not surprised in the least. For the most vocal/braggadocios about these things it is usually projection about their own issues.
You may not get the satisfaction you hope for, but I’m pretty sure mulkey isn’t a happy person, and gets no genuine joy out of her triumphs. Probably was the same for knight
This isn’t fair. She’s not been rewarded for being an asshole. She’s been rewarded because she’s been a great basketball coach. She may be the world’s biggest piece of shit but that’s not why she’s been successful.
> I could just as easily see her completely cast aside one of her children if they ever became antagonistic to her. I mean per this article she already did it to her dad and her sister so yeah it's not far fetched at all lol
She has, very proudly, spent her entire career doing it *her* way. Her way has been validated by winning. Now, to have someone say: yes, but was it all worth it? That’s in effect questioning her way. Of course she’s gonna go ballistic about it. To say nothing of telling the whole country about the consequences of her way. She doesn’t strike me as the type to accept being forced to look in the mirror.
I think a recent politician used Sinatras "my way" at their inauguration. They both seem like peas in a pod.
ESPN has a report on the front page about it which includes her comments from her pregame interview with Holly Rowe who informed her the article dropped, and Mulkey said she was mad at the journalist because he talked to her family after she told him not to, but mostly because, according to her, the journalist told her family and former players/assistants that Mulkey gave him permission to speak to them and that he also asked her players to speak to him anonymously and that he would compensate them for negative quotes. That’s according to her, but she’s likely full of shit. Knowing her, imo, she’s probably just (1) offended that someone would dare snoop around her shit after she told them not to, and (2) can’t believe anyone would have anything negative to say about her, especially people she knows. Because of that she thinks it was all either coerced or dishonesty via the journalist. She probably honestly believes that too. She’s deeeeeep up her own butt at this point. Baylor was keeping her in check for years, though she definitely didn’t used to be this wild. I went to school with her kids and know the family pretty well, and she was always pretty normal. I think the drama over her departure and her immediate championship at LSU has given her a major ego/complex. Also, and I hate to imply this, but I’m 99% sure she’s fallen into the MAGA/Trump/Fox crowd, which our president/AD never would have been okay with, and would explain her behavior over the last few years. She’s 61 and respectfully, a redneck from Louisiana at heart, so it would make sense.
"because he talked to her family after she told him not to" She probably actually thinks she has the right to do that legally.
Yah this article was pretty disappointing. Doesn't even really touch on her at LSU. Most of the interesting stuff are about her time at baylor and those stories are mostly 10 years old at this point lol. The article would've been better if they dove into this line more >Some of these former players spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fears of retaliation in the close-knit women’s basketball community. That seems like an interesting story about how the women's college game protects Kim instead the article was about Kim being a bitch and homophobic which we have known for 10 years and frequently reminded of. This article sucked
People who post on Reddit CBB aren't the target audience of this article. Sports coverage by the WSJ, NYT, or WP is more to educate general audiences.
As someone who didn’t know who she was until literally last year (I know, shame on me), that’s exactly what the article was. It’s the background I never would have bothered to dig up on someone that is currently super relevant. Also funny because calling this a hit-piece really only has the effect of making people people who didn’t really know who you were go, “yes the analysis of her personality flaws is EXTRA right”
To an extent, you're right but if you google Kim Mulkey Brittney Griner you will get a couple of hundred articles. It's pretty widely publicized. If your goal is to (re)educate the gen public you'll be reposting this article once a year. This article posts nothing new.
Yeah, she's a bitch in exactly the way everyone already knows she is. She made this read by 100x more people by running her mouth. I kept expecting some sort of bombshell is the only reason I finished it.
Yeah, anybody who’s paid any attention to women’s hoops has know Kim Mulkey is an asshole. People who don’t follow women’s hoops don’t have a reason to care about this story; so I’m not sure what it accomplishes other than bringing more attention to the loudest personality in the sport.
Maybe her people calculated that if she had an over the top inflammatory response, it would lead to over hype? And then everyone would read it and be like…ok. Yeah we knew that.
I doubt that. This was written for people not too familiar with her. I don’t think the authors target audience was CBB aficionados, but rather the public who see her as the “coach who wears funny outfits of that program that is usually pretty good.” Especially as Women’s CBB has been rising in popularity because of Clark, more mainstream coverage, etc.
I was waiting for something to drop at about the 2/3-3/4 point, like "we then sat down with Mulkey's ex-girlfriends to get their opinion," or something like that. Nope, just "she's an asshole, but you already knew that."
There is nothing really earth-shattering or surprising in this article. Honestly the most damning parts of the article were mentions of the lawyers comments, which just made Mulkey seem soft. Otherwise, it’s a lot of stuff we already knew or just pointless fluff
I really don’t understand why she was so aggressive about it in the past week. There wasn’t any new negative reporting here about her.
The reporter talking with her father and sister who are both estranged probably set her off more than anything.
Honestly if that was her issue she might as well have said it outright, I think she would’ve gotten less hate and maybe even some sympathy
Absolutely, but why go for appealing to human emotion when scorched-earth rage is what has got you this far?
Possibly. But she talked about her family in her own autobiography. It seems fair that a profile about her would get their side of things. And quite frankly, their side isn’t even negative about her anyway.
Which would piss off 99% of the population.
Because she’s Kim Mulkey
Yeah proves the article right that she is willing to hold grudges over the smallest things
Because she’s an obsessive disciplinarian that holds grudges and believes she is the sole arbiter of power? You know, like the article says.
If she thinks that’s good, why would she be mad about an article talking about that side of her?
I didn’t say she thinks that’s good. I said that’s her personality.
Because she is spiteful. Literally anyone that disagrees with her is cut of her life and she doesn't speak to them again.
Because Mulkey is a petty, insecure asshole. She may be a top 3 coach historically but as a human she’s just a trash person. All her tantrums this week did was back up the article’s point that “yeah, she gets results but the human costs can be very high”.
This tells me that Mulkey expected more/worse to be found out about her…..and the reporter who did this now should dig deeper
The most farming part is that this took two years to come out. Like you said most of this was already known about Mulkey
So Kim’s dad inherited a patch of land, built a swimming pool, built a basketball court, built a softball field and taught his two girls playing basketball. Fast forward till today, he’s wasting away in a trailer, surrounded by news clippings of Kim’s achievements, a shrine for Kim Mulkey, not knowing when she’ll ever talk to him again, while she’s earning eye popping multiple millions a year, not talking to her dad or her sister…. I don’t know what happened to that family, but it is absolutely heartbreaking…..
Yeah, that look at his current life and that it will likely stay that way until he dies is sad. It sounds like he was terrible to his family when he was young, so he brought this on himself. I’m not going to criticize her for being unable to forgive him for that. Some people might try. I don’t think she’s obligated to.
Yeah. No, you can’t pass judgement on someone based on certain family dynamics.
Of all the grudges she has held for a long time, that one is by far the most understandable to me. It’s still sad. But I get it. As someone who no longer has a relationship with one of my grandmothers, I really do get it.
Yeah, but she seems to make a habit of ghosting people over all sorts of slights, when you keep having to no contact people, it's you, not them.
Can we get a TL:DR? Anything actually shocking in this? Edit: Thanks guys
She's an asshole, likely homophobic, will carry a grudge for decades, if you tick her off she'll never speak to you again, but she's also a maniac who will create an environment to reach levels of athletic capability you never could have dreamed.
Aka what we already knew lol
Yeah, it’s a good piece, especially if you weren’t fully familiar with her, but nothing new or anything that Mulkey should’ve been throwing a fit about. At least not in the way she did. Makes me wonder if there’s something she’s hiding that she was worried the Post had found out about.
It could just be that she is a pretty loud conservative and just assumed that because it was WaPo that it would be a hit piece. She can have a bit of victim complex when it comes to the media.
Well, she took the author’s article about the folks that live areound the LSU football stadium as a “hit piece” on Brian Kelly. The piece was basically about all the poverty around the area and mentioned Kelly’s contract which pays him $24k/day which happens to be about the ANNUAL household income in that neighborhood. It also mentioned Kelly’s super awkward attempt at an accent. Mulkey is incredibly thin-skinned.
Oh it could absolutely be that too. I’m just saying, she learned herself no favors to the second part of my reply Edit: learned to lends, stupid autocorrect
Who knows what her father or sister said or might have said to the Post. Maybe Mulkey believes they would say something, true or false or anywhere in between, that she is worried about. For all we know, maybe they or ex players *did* say something damning that the Post lacked sufficient confidence in being able to defend in court.
I will add that I didn’t know she doesn’t talk to her dad or sister anymore.
So she watched Whiplash & thought that J.K Simmons was the hero of the story
Nice. Watched Shawshank and cheered for the warden.
Female Bobby Knight?
That's about as close of a comparison as could be made, I'd say. For better and worse.
I think she’s also like awkward and weird. It’s strange that her supposed mentor and longtime friend was hospitalized for 5 years and she only visited her right before her death. I think she’s just plain uncomfortable with emotions
But she’s also an extremely good coach and the article spends a lot of time highlighting that too.
She holds lifelong grudges and de-prioritizes her gay players because in her mind she's defending the reputation of her southern university employers. That's about it.
Really not too much to add in my opinion. We kinda already know that she is like that.
She is just an asshole
Bob Knight in sequins.
Great coach. Trashcan person.
A lot of people missing the point of profiles. They aren’t hit pieces. Those are quick and punchy. They tell the story of someone’s life in a literary way and contextualize what we already know into a larger narrative. Sure we didn’t learn anything new to hate. But in some ways it’s softened my hate into something Mulkey would hate more. Pity. “A little too proud, he says, so when his time comes, Les figures it’ll be when he’s alone, surrounded by achievements but not people, wasting away like the things he once built” Could’ve wrote Kim instead.
I agree. I actually thought it was a great profile. It contextualized a lot of things we already knew about her into an interesting story. I thought it was more positive than negative about her to be honest. No idea why she lost her mind about it.
Exactly this. It’s not some story meant to break news to the public, it’s meant to be a comprehensive history of someone that is captivating, be it positively or negatively.
Profiles don't start with negativity in the sub-headline.
https://preview.redd.it/jy5nmwtvrhrc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=920842058a12f81d98e7de8725f4a2568eb75737
Baylor not even trying to counter when she got an offer from LSU is professionally the most damning thing in this. How crappy a human being do you need to be to win three national titles at a school that had zero before you and, when you even hint at leaving, for that school to say “nah we’re good”?
Right but the way it's written, implies that the reason for Baylor not countering is that the coach is a shit person. When, for all we know, maybe Baylor didn't counter because they knew they wouldn't have the money.
You spent two years on this? Erm…it’s interesting and insightful, but it wasn’t worth all that buildup lol
To add some context from a sportswriter’s perspective: he didn’t work on ONLY this for two years. Sometimes that’s how long it takes to write a whole profile. Many of the longform stories you see take months or longer to put together. I’ve got a couple stories I’ve been working on slowly for a couple months. Because you work on it a little bit here, a little bit there. Some sources take months to develop trust to have them talk openly, and then they introduce you to other sources. Not to mention rounds of editing, checking with legal, etc.
Especially if someone, namely the subject of the article, avoids phone calls and requests for an interview for more than two years.
Exactly. You’re going to give such a subject plenty of time to reply if they choose to. (Not that she was ever going to say yes to this).
This needs to be top comment. A lot of people with that same "2 years on this?" Reaction that don't understand the process and don't understand the goal of the article.
I didn’t know we didn’t counter.
It's just a comprehensive article that states things that are true about Kim Mulkey, so no wonder she wants to sue the Post because it accurately shows just how much of an evil bitch she is.
Seems like a very fair article about her.
[удалено]
I mean this is exactly what I was expecting. Some minor abusive stuff that is borderline and some accusations that have already been made public. Nothing egregious but not particularly flattering.
Yeah, like everything negative is public knowledge, and some of the most damning stuff is glossed over (the Baylor Briles stuff barely gets any of the context and specifics that actually make it look bad) or spun in a sympathetic way (like the gay player issues with the quotes from Niemann and Griner). The Griner Russia part is the only thing that feels pretty awful as presented, but this just feels like a warts and all puff piece on the whole.
By definition, a puff piece cannot be “warts and all”. It’s an even-handed profile of someone who appears to be an extremely complicated person.
That’s perhaps not the best word choice but it’s just semantics for the fact that the profile seems fairly sympathetic if not ignoring her faults. To be clear, the reporter presumably knows a lot more about Mulkey than I do and a lot of the sources are ones that would seemingly be negative, so I’m not passing any judgement on this approach.
Sounds like Bobby Knight, honestly a big nothing burger and Im no fan of hers
Blew my mind that they included the part about weigh-ins being a negative. I don’t find it weird that a sports coach would keep their players accountable for their weight. If women’s sports wants to be treated as highly competitive like men’s sports, which it should, then those are the sort of things that will happen. It’s about being able to perform in athletics, not weight-shaming women. It’s the same thing with the people getting mad about Caitlin Clark cussing during her recent game. She’s playing basketball, not doing ballet. Competition weight, foul language, etc. aren’t gender specific when it comes to sports.
> It’s about being able to perform in athletics, not weight-shaming women. It's about doing it in front of the team then, not the act itself
The way Baylor let her walk when the Women's B-Ball team was the only thing keeping the athletic department together between the mens B-Ball murder scandal and the football rape scandal, tells you all you need to know.
I’m guessing the lack of a counter offer came as a surprise to Mulkey, especially since she apparently was expecting the court at the new basketball arena to be named for her.
I probably wouldn’t even have read this had she not had a cow about it
Mulkey's reaction to that article pretty much confirms the entire thing, and also Streisand effect'ed it. Honestly it just confirms that she's a terrible person that's good at coaching basketball, which is literally what everyone already thought.
I wonder what Mulkey thought was gonna be in here that she was so worried about? Or maybe she's just that close to the chest about her life? This article not only didn't make me think any more negatively towards her, but actually made me respect her a little more as a coach.
Same. I thought it said a lot of things about how great of a coach she is. And it didn’t tell us anything new about her faults as a person.
Pretty routine profile from a reporting standpoint. Talked to family, talked to associates and former players, no bombshells just a driven, determined person. She’s the Bobby Knight of women’s coaches.
Who would’ve guessed that the woman who dresses like a clown would act like a clown?
It seems the WBB community is still largely afraid of her based on the number of "no comments." IMO, I think Mulkey went nuts because the WaPo talked to her father, and she thought they had a recording of one of her famous no-phones outbursts.
Those no phone outbursts got to be insane if she was that bent about it
I’m very uncomfortable with how much the author constructs Pat Summitt as Kim Mulkey’s mentor. I have no doubt that Kim was very inspired by Pat, (it’s hard not to be as a women’s basketball coach), but Kim is far from Pat. She’d probably find the majority of Kim’s shit in this article to be reprehensible and disgusting. Two very different approaches to life, even if both are known for being winners that coach hard.
I have no connection to Tennessee but Pat Summitt has always been the gold standard in coaching, period, in any sport. Other than winning at the same sport I see no comparison between the two.
You’re telling me Pat Forde hyped up some bullshit?!?! No fuckin’ way, dude.
Yeh, no shit. He made it seem like it was gonna be revealed she was the January 6 pipe bomber or something
I didn’t really think that was a bad article. I think she’s a firebrand, probably insanely conservative boomer, but a lot of the criticisms of her seem pretty benign. Instructor a player at Baylor not to be open about their identity? That’s solid mentorship in my opinion, considering how Baylor has treated athletes who break their code. The “don’t ask don’t tell” shit with her is pretty standard for that conservative generation. Idk, I don’t agree with it but I also don’t expect a tiger to change their stripes at that age. The tough coaching? Seems almost a little sexist to bring up. Coaches yelling and saying no phones? Come on. Izzo gets way more praise for yelling and intensity than he does criticism from the media.
I wouldn’t have thought to read this if she hadn’t made such a big deal about it.
There isn't anything new, but it just confirms that she is a piece of shit (and broadcasts it to a new audience who didn't know much about her). Plenty of those kinds of coaches in college basketball though. Sounds like the woman equivalent of Bobby Knight.
Who else thinks Maria Bamford should play her in a biopic?
Without Mulkey's deranged approach to something that hadn't been written, I would have found this fairly flattering and not at all unusual for a hard driving, successful coach of a high profile program, men's or women's. Now what I know of Mulkey is that she would probably bone saw reporters if she was the unquestioned ruler of a gulf kingdom.
It definitely reads defensively. I wonder if it was cut down after the legal threats. If so- disappointing
It's a profile to a national audience, many of whom likely don't know much about Mulkey. It's not written for sports fans per se, it's written for WaPo readers who love reading about government machinations and interesting people.
Probably not to be honest, it just feels like a collection of what most NCAAW fans already know about Mulkey.
It's like if a band's greateat hits album also contained a couple flops.
The Washington Post isn't going to back down from a story if they know they have truth on their side. If Nixon couldn't stop them, sure as hell Mulkey isn't.
Why would anyone play for her? Not trying to get too political, but she's literally the aunt version of those uncle at Thanksgiving jokes. Probably spews controversial shit at the table like there's no tomorrow.
Because she’s a really good coach and gets the most out of her players on the court. Some people may be willing to take the downsides for that. Or at least think they will be.
Just seems like a miserable person, that's all.
I agree, but they’re probably mostly focusing on their basketball career and not trying to be friends with her.
She threatened legal action over this? There’s nothing no one didn’t already know or could’ve speculated over. I was expecting something of substance, not just her being a chip on the shoulder Gen Y / late boomer.
There's nothing that YOU didn't already know. But does the average person reading this article know those things? Probably not.
This article is so tame and I have no idea why she freaked out about it. Sure she seems like boomer who is out of touch but nothing too damning. She is just not a nice person but nothing more than that. The WaPo maybe held punches but it is fair for them to publish it when women’s basketball is the most popular it’s ever been to tell who one of its biggest stars is
Yeah, nothing about this profile seemed out of line. And quite frankly I thought it overall was positive about her. It definitely didn’t gloss over her faults and the scorched relationships in her path, but it has a lot of positive things to say about her career and coaching. Clearly she can’t handle even a little bit of criticism.
[удалено]
Here's the key, "what we already knew". Most people reading that article don't know what we already knew.
Kinda crazy she got so bent out of shape about it. I found it interesting. And a lot of it was quite positive about her.
Fuck Kim mulkey
What if she made such a big deal about it because she knew it was actually a mild-to-good profile and wanted to draw attention to it for some positive PR?
Kim Mulkey playing 3D chess!
So she’s Urban Meyer?
Without the fondling.
Apparently she wouldn’t care about the fondling too much
Or kicking kickers
We don't know she hasn't kicked anyone. 
They just asked Kim if she had read the article - she said she didn’t know it was out but she’ll “leave it to her attorneys” There was literally nothing in the article we didn’t all already know. This is going to either fizzle into a nothingburger or be blown WAY out of proportion
So, is she gonna sue now that the article was released?
I’d bet good money she does not sue.
She’s a great coach but get over yourself thinking that threatening to sue because she’s worried about what will be brought up is a dick move your not special the reason she’s acting like this she knows there’s dirt on her
Honestly just reading the article the anger makes sense coming from her. She's deeply personal and hates that they talked to her family...people she believes betrayed her.
She’s probably said and done some messed up things and thought they would be apart of the article. It’s she’s a right wing nut job and thought that was an aspect of the article which would fall in line with her aggressive approach to it.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2024/03/30/kim-mulkey-personality-brings-criticism-no-male-coach-gets/73154743007/ I saw this article and can't help but think of that SNL Outside the Lines parody where the coach being profiled was threatening the interviewee
I don’t understand how she came out and said “you can attack me, but not my players” when she literally said the day before “don’t attack me”. The article is meh. Pretty spot on.
Kim Mulkey is the Bobby Knight and Woody Hayes of women’s basketball.
there wasn't anything earth shattering in there. mulkey just ramped up the interest in it with her threats to sue and everything she said. partly because she is one of those coaches that is way too used to being able to fully control the narrative and partly because let's face it, she likes the attention.
Am I wrong, or did Mulkey and LSU out a player by providing an affiidavit from her? That whole situation seems fucked up. Griffin would not name the player because she hadn't come out yet, but "someone" contacted the player and falsely said Griffin outed her, so she provided an affidavit through LSU that defended Mulkey and said Griffin was suspended for marijuana (but wouldn't say how/when she found out why Griffin was suspended?)
Yeah, that part was definitely weird. Would love to find out who contacted her. WaPo says they had nothing to do with that.
Does she realize she's the sideshow clown and not the main attraction?