Kim Mulkey to LSU [merged thread]

[oldude]

To me, this is now a tale of 2 programs-LSU with sunshine and smiles and Baylor with clouds and consternation.

As one of our Baylor acolytes stated, anger, frustration and even outright hostility is occurring in the forum and with the athletic department over how did this happen.

I am less interested in the post-mortem than I am in “what’s next” for both?

While I light heartedly chided @SECbbfan24 for being greedy on wanting all 3 of his wishes to come true (1. Nikki gone 2. Experienced coached hired 3. To transfers and recruits arriving in BR immediately) when satiating the 1st should have sufficed; they are right that how soon will Kim revive this program and how soon will she be contending with Dawn for the title every year. Those that think Dawn will always remain supreme obviously did not pay attention after A’ja Wilson left and Vic led the SEC for the next 2 years and Kim is by far a better coach than Vic. Not to denigrate Vic, but to rightly elevate Kim as a top 3 coach (with Geno and Tara). While Dawn has top talent now, with transfers aplenty and her recruiting skill, Kim will immediately close that gap and within 3 years Kim will win a regular season SEC or a conference tournament title. Mark my words.

Now, on to Baylor. The AD, rightfully or not, created a sticky situation for himself. He now has a divided fan base, a team adrift and an athletic department of subordinates concerned. He needs to act quick and get a new coach to satiate his boosters and his women’s team before a mass exodus occurs. The exodus may still occur but the Sooners sooner he acts the sooner the new coach can at least have meaningful discussions. I wish so many people would stop denigrating Waco as frankly many, many college towns are isolated or less than ideal than what many call glamour locales. If that was the case, why aren’t UCLA, USC, San Diego or Miami elite programs? Don’t even try to sell me on Cori Close. She’s not elite. My gut is Baylor promotes Sytia Messer who they might feel brings continuity and recruit and transfer portal knowledge (and $1.7 million cheaper!)
The effects of this will be a slow attrition to the Baylor program as we saw at Tennessee and at LSU even. What level will this plateau at is the question..
Like I said, I am fascinated to see this play out...

While I agree with your overall assessment of the situation, I would point out that AD Rhoades has much bigger problems than a handful of disgruntled alums who are upset about WBB. Baylor football under new HC Dave Aranda was 2-7 last season, just one year after Matt Rhule left for the NFL following an 11-3 season. WBB and even Baylor’s MBB National Championship team are both a distant second to college football in Waco, TX.

 

[jazz]

I believe that Geno's current contract averages $2.4M per year, but is currently at $2.7M this year.

I thought with that salary that maybe GA could have figured out how to beat Arizona this year and ND and Miss state in previous years when he was the heavy favorite and loaded with AAs.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Kim gets the chance to finish her career in the state where her it all started. Not far down the road from Hammond where family and friends are as well. If she is able to win it all at LSU, that would be a unique feather in her cap to win it at multiple programs

 

[Gamecockfan77]

If I understand your concept, you are suggesting that if Baylor was in the SEC with the same personnel they had in the Big 12, they would still be successful. I agree. But that’s an alternate universe scenario that doesn’t exist.

If Kim makes the move, we will see how she does with an LSU program that hasn’t seen the kind of success as Baylor and hasn’t generally been a school that makes the final list for most top WBB recruits.

I have been trying to think of any situation where a top CBB coach left a perennial top-5 program in their prime to go to a lesser school and was able to repeat their success. Maybe somebody else can come up with someone, but I am at a loss.

I don't understand why you think it will be hard for her to build a strong LSU team myself.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I understand your position. However, Baylor was only successful because of Kim Mulkey. The only reason Baylor is a perennial top-5 program is Kim Mulkey. She’s brought Baylor from a doormat to a perennial top-5 program. That’s not because she was in the Big12, its because she’s an excellent coach. Much like Mississippi State lost its shine because Schafer left. With her resources, she was dominating Louisiana recruiting at Baylor. Now she’s in her home state. Kim Mulkey does not need Baylor to succeed. Also now we get Staley vs Mulkey twice a year which makes wbb that much more interesting. And maybe this opens up the Big12 for Texas to dominate.

Mulkey is one of the few that hasn't scheduled Dawn in the past.

They faced off twice in 2018-2019 with Mulkey's title winner easily winning both matchups against an outmatched Carolina squad. That was Big 12-SEC challenge and the NCAA T.

Then Dawn's freshmen beat Baylor in one of the Caribbean tournaments the following year.

Mulkey leads 2-1.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

The question is whether Kim is running home to Louisiana , or running away from battling Vic Schaefer in Texas for the best talent. Mulkey is a great coach and will certainly elevate LSU. But at the same time Baylor will suffer from her absence and Schaefer's presence at U. of Texas.

Either way, it seemingly is working out great for Texas.

 

[oldude]

I don't understand why you think it will be hard for her to build a strong LSU team myself.

Clearly Kim has built a perennial national powerhouse at Baylor over her 21 years in Waco. But I don’t think she will necessarily be able to replicate that success in Baton Rouge. If it happens, It’s not going to happen overnight. Time will tell.

 

[Rb335]

I get the criticism of her lack of championships with Griner, but she went 135-15 during Griner's four years. That's winning at 90%. The downfall was that Kim was only able to recruit Sims. Otherwise, Griner didn't play with very much WNBA talent while she was at Baylor (First Round: Sims, Jones...Third Round Pope, Johnson)

Compare that to Stewart (151-5 97%), who overlapped with the following first round draftees: Faris, Dolson, Hartley, KML, Stokes, Jefferson, Tuck, Williams, Nurse, Samuelson, Collier. Not to mention third round Saniya Chong.

Both Stewart and Griner were the all world level players, but you can't deny that Geno simply surrounded Stewart with exponentially better players. One of Geno's best qualities has been his ability to consistently recruit very well. Kim's recruiting definitely improved after that second championship.

 

[Go/huskies]

Clearly Kim has built a perennial national powerhouse at Baylor over her 21 years in Waco. But I don’t think she will necessarily be able to replicate that success in Baton Rouge. If it happens, It’s not going to happen overnight. Time will tell.

But LSU has always been able to get decent players in and some kids from Texas has landed in Baton Rouge, Kim has been able to get some of the best players from Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee. I can’t imagine Kim not having a 2022 class with at least one or two high school All Americans.

 

[Cuango]

There are so many erroneous assumptions in your post that it will take a while to straighten things out.

1. Her hometown is a backwater, but Baton Rouge is not a backwater, and it is not her hometown.
2. Dallas has nothing to do with Baylor or Ms. Mulkey. Baylor is in Waco (or Hueco si prefieres).
3. Why do you say that Baylor, a school with a strong religious affiliation, and LSU, a land grant university, are roughly comparable?
4. Criticism by Griner? That was years ago. Ms. Mulkey has had no trouble recruiting since then.
5. Money does not appear to have been an issue for either school, which leads one to believe that it wasn't the reason for the move.
6. If you read the many threads on the Baylor WBB forum, it seems that there is ample bad blood between the coach and the AD at Baylor. The details are there for you to peruse.

In all probability, Kim was swayed by LSU's guarantee of an airborne haberdashery allowance.

I would add one more thing; some people would actually rather live in a less hectic, chaotic, pressure packed environment. I’m always amazed at the number of people who seem to think anywhere but the big city life is somehow a step backwards and a lesser way of life. I for one, would never want to live in a big city environment! Having said that, I see that Waco’s population is only 140,000 so I guess as Baton Rouge is 220,000, she is actually moving to a bigger city! Never mind!

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Clearly Kim has built a perennial national powerhouse at Baylor over her 21 years in Waco. But I don’t think she will necessarily be able to replicate that success in Baton Rouge. If it happens, It’s not going to happen overnight. Time will tell.

I mean, I wouldn't necessarily expect LSU to challenge for the SEC next year....but who is to say that they might not land say ... Sarah Andrews, Nalyssa Smith, Jordan Lewis, and Kamilia Cardoso out of the portal and do just that?

I don't think it's going to take her four year to build a decent team and she begins her LSU tenure with legend status twice over.

Whether she's going to have a better team than South Carolina or UCONN or Stanford in the short term...on paper that's hard but it would have been hard at Baylor. And we don't necessarily know how good those teams will actually be.

 

[HopJim]

Either way, it seemingly is working out great for Texas.

Not sure of your point but Texas has had issues in women's basketball for several years. While they did a great job recruiting Collier out from under UConn, they have lost solid players to out of state schools for many years. Suspect Baylor will hire a strong coach and double down on recruiting so my assessment is not much will change for Texas. They invested in coaching last year so the upcoming 2 years will determine if their relevance grows in WBB.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

But LSU has always been able to get decent players in and some kids from Texas has landed in Baton Rouge, Kim has been able to get some of the best players from Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee. I can’t imagine Kim not having a 2022 class with at least one or two high school All Americans.

LSU is not a difficult place to recruit for uhh lots of reasons.

If anything, she's got more access to the East Coast without necessarily losing much in Texas.

 

[oldude]

But LSU has always been able to get decent players in and some kids from Texas has landed in Baton Rouge, Kim has been able to get some of the best players from Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee. I can’t imagine Kim not having a 2022 class with at least one or two high school All Americans.

It’s not like turning on a faucet when you go from one school to another as a HC. Let’s see how Kim does and whether she can in fact duplicate her success at Baylor in Baton Rouge.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Not sure of your point but Texas has had issues in women's basketball for several years. While they did a great job recruiting Collier out from under UConn, they have lost solid players to out of state schools for many years. Suspect Baylor will hire a strong coach and double down on recruiting so my assessment is not much will change for Texas. They invested in coaching last year so the upcoming 2 years will determine if their relevance grows in WBB.

I can't see how Mulkey leaving the state is bad for UT-Austin.

 

[Cuango]

I thought with that salary that maybe GA could have figured out how to beat Arizona this year and ND and Miss state in previous years when he was the heavy favorite and loaded with AAs.

Yeah, maybe he should send opposing coaches a copy of his paycheck right before each game! That’ll show em! I think it’s pretty clear based on the number of millionaires and billionaires that do and say monumentally stupid things, that money does not make you smart! Two of the games you refer to were won on buzzer beaters and they simply played bad in the other game. I don’t see those games as representing some sort of coaching failure by Geno and his staff. I doubt Geno’s percentage of bad games over the years would be much less impressive than his success rate! Sometimes (very rarely in Geno’s case) the other team just plays better, a player has a career game, they make a once in a lifetime shot, and yes, the coach can get outcoached.

 

[SCspur]

To me, this is now a tale of 2 programs-LSU with sunshine and smiles and Baylor with clouds and consternation.

As one of our Baylor acolytes stated, anger, frustration and even outright hostility is occurring in the forum and with the athletic department over how did this happen.

I am less interested in the post-mortem than I am in “what’s next” for both?

While I light heartedly chided @SECbbfan24 for being greedy on wanting all 3 of his wishes to come true (1. Nikki gone 2. Experienced coached hired 3. To transfers and recruits arriving in BR immediately) when satiating the 1st should have sufficed; they are right that how soon will Kim revive this program and how soon will she be contending with Dawn for the title every year. Those that think Dawn will always remain supreme obviously did not pay attention after A’ja Wilson left and Vic led the SEC for the next 2 years and Kim is by far a better coach than Vic. Not to denigrate Vic, but to rightly elevate Kim as a top 3 coach (with Geno and Tara). While Dawn has top talent now, with transfers aplenty and her recruiting skill, Kim will immediately close that gap and within 3 years Kim will win a regular season SEC or a conference tournament title. Mark my words.

Now, on to Baylor. The AD, rightfully or not, created a sticky situation for himself. He now has a divided fan base, a team adrift and an athletic department of subordinates concerned. He needs to act quick and get a new coach to satiate his boosters and his women’s team before a mass exodus occurs. The exodus may still occur but the Sooners sooner he acts the sooner the new coach can at least have meaningful discussions. I wish so many people would stop denigrating Waco as frankly many, many college towns are isolated or less than ideal than what many call glamour locales. If that was the case, why aren’t UCLA, USC, San Diego or Miami elite programs? Don’t even try to sell me on Cori Close. She’s not elite. My gut is Baylor promotes Sytia Messer who they might feel brings continuity and recruit and transfer portal knowledge (and $1.7 million cheaper!)
The effects of this will be a slow attrition to the Baylor program as we saw at Tennessee and at LSU even. What level will this plateau at is the question..
Like I said, I am fascinated to see this play out...

So in 2024-2025 Kim will win the SEC? Bet.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

So in 2024-2025 Kim will win the SEC? Bet.

Or the conference tournament which is quite a hedge.

I think it's possible.

 

[Charliebball]

I thought with that salary that maybe GA could have figured out how to beat Arizona this year and ND and Miss state in previous years when he was the heavy favorite and loaded with AAs.

no that would have taken three million dollars a year...........didn't you read his contract............?

 

[Plebe]

I don't think LSU will top SC but it will be a battle between those two teams. I know you Huskies give the SEC hell about being overrated but it's a war every single week. Vanderbilt, Florida, and Auburn really were the only teams without a pulse this past year. Missouri and Ole Miss were figuring it out by the end of the year with young teams. Everybody else just beat up on everybody else. The winner is always the team that is the most consistent, but there's very rarely EVER a team that goes through the conference slate undefeated. MSU did it in 2018 and SC did it 2019. I'm sure Tennesee did it at some point but it's not easy. It will be a challenge for everybody - that's for sure.

You're sure Tennessee did it "at some point"???

Good grief. Under Pat they did it like 10 times or something like that. Please tell me you're very very young because that could be the only excuse.

I get it. The SEC people never tire of patting themselves on the back about what a wonderful conference they play in because it helps to paper over the fact that their stock of national championship trophies is actually quite paltry (as in, a grand total of one) once we factor out the historical unicorn that was Pat's tenure at TN.

 

[Littlemin]

So why exactly did Mulkey leave for Louisiana? I know she says she loves her hometown. But come on! It's a little backwater! After coaching in Dallas (Baylor's in Dallas, right?), and seeing the country and the world, why exactly do you give up a huge job on a big state with great success, leaving your players behind, and go to a roughly comparable university? What gives?

I wonder whether Mulkey wasn't stung by the criticism leveled against her by Britney Griner for having forced Griner to keep her sexuality secret at Baylor, which officially considers homosexuality a sin. Did that make Mulkey think that it would be harder for her to recruit gay athletes for her team at Baylor?

Is she getting a little more money? If so, would Baylor really not have matched LSU's offer sheet? Can't believe they wouldn't have shelled out a few more bucks to retain her.

I don't get it. Doesn't add up.

Doesn’t add up for you but the “little backwater” comment says it all.

“Well I try my best
To be just like I am
But everybody wants you
To be just like them”

Maggie’s Farm
Bob Dylan

 

[DeeHusky]

“LSU has been a hard place to recruit talent”..

Well who the ____ would want to play for a coach that didn’t win in 10 seasons?

 

[TC22]

You're sure Tennessee did it "at some point"???

Good grief. Under Pat they did it like 10 times or something like that. Please tell me you're very very young because that could be the only excuse.

I get it. The SEC people never tire of patting themselves on the back about what a wonderful conference they play in because it helps to paper over the fact that their stock of national championship trophies is actually quite paltry (as in, a grand total of one) once we factor out the historical unicorn that was Pat's tenure at TN.

Did I say we are a wonderful conference? I said it is difficult to go through it undefeated. I should have said at this time because "now" is what I was referencing. I know how great Tennessee was but what they did wasn't relevant to the point I was trying to make. I apologize for not looking their accomplishments up. The stock of national championship trophies in the last 20 years in ANY conference that doesn't have UConn in it is paltry so I really don't get your point there. What's the deal here? Why the attack? I'm discussing a topic on the message board that happens to concern the SEC.

 

[Happydad745]

Without Mulkey, Baylor will fade as a top five powerhouse....leaving UConn to battle it out with S. Carolina, once in awhile with Stanford, and the new pretenders to the big dance floor. I know I left out some other good teams, but for consistency it is really only a few teams.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Kim Mulkey Introduction Press Conference. :