There are great players who become terrible coaches, there are mediocre players who turn out to be championship coaches…and then there is Kim Mulkey, the first person in NCAA basketball history to win titles as a player, assistant coach, and head coach. After winning 4 straight Louisiana high school titles, she won back-to-back national titles as a PG at Louisiana Tech in 1981/1982. She won a gold medal with team USA at the 1984 Olympics, then became an assistant at her alma mater to Coach Leon Barmore while helping the Lady Techsters win another title in 1988. She became head coach at Baylor in 2000, where she won a pair of titles in 2005/2012 and is favored to make her 4th straight trip to the Elite 8 next month. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Mulkey about having a 4.0 GPA in high school and going 40-0 in 2012.
You won 4 state basketball titles at Hammond High School while receiving a 4.0 GPA: how did you balance your success on the court with your success in the classroom? It is really all I never knew: go to school and play ball. I knew my schedule every day and loved to compete both in the classroom and on the floor. I probably did not have the best study habits because I needed more sleep!
As a PG at Louisiana Tech you went 130-6, won a pair of national titles, lost another title game by 2 PTS, and lost a Final 4 game by 5 PTS: how was your team able to be so dominant, and how close did you come to winning 4 straight titles? We came very close as you can see by the close scores of those 2 losses. Our practices were more competitive than some of the games we played. We recruited the best players and got the best results: I do not know if there will ever be another era like that at Louisiana Tech.
In 1984 you were the 1st winner of the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (given to the nation’s top college senior under 5’6″): did you consider your size to be an advantage or a disadvantage on the court? I did not view it either way: I think size is overrated in all sports. You see some very successful players in the NBA/NFL who are short: it does not matter.
In the 1984 Olympics you played for team USA: what did it mean to you to win a gold medal? At that time it was the ultimate prize. When you stand for the anthem and they put the medal around your neck you realize how special it is, even more so because it was in Los Angeles.
In the 1988 NCAA tourney as an assistant to Coach Leon Barmore at your alma mater you had a 2-PT win over Auburn to clinch the title: what made Leon such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He has always been able to make players better. He taught me to pay attention to detail and make sure that your team plays defense no matter how good they are on offense. He gave us everything he had so we wanted to give him everything we had in return
In 2000 you were inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? I was humbled and honored but none of us enters sports with that as our goal. We love to compete and win championships: all the individual accolades will happen if your team is successful.
In 2005 you became the 1st person in college basketball history to win a national title as a player, assistant coach, and head coach: how does winning 1 as a player compare to winning 1 as a coach, and do you think that anyone else will ever accomplish that trifecta? I do not compare championships: they are all the same and all mean a lot. I am sure that someone else will do it in the future: why not? There are lots of great players who become great coaches so I think that it will eventually happen.
In 2012 you were named national COY, won your 2nd NCAA title as a head coach, and became the 1st coach to ever finish a season 40-0: how were you able to keep your team focused for every single game that year, and where does tourney MOP Brittney Griner rank among the best players that you have ever seen? It is very difficult to go undefeated: you have to stay hungry and make your players understand that practice is important. Brittney will go down as 1 of the best players in the history of women’s basketball.
Your son Kramer plays baseball at LSU and your daughter Makenzie played basketball/softball at Baylor: who is the best athlete in the family? They would each say that they are the best and they are certainly better than I am! We had a lot of competition around our house when they were growing up in all kinds of sports from ping pong to pool. They think the world of each other.
After inheriting a 7-20 team at Baylor you are on pace to win at least 21 games in each of your 17 seasons as a head coach: what makes you such a great coach, and how long do you plan on sticking around for? You are only as good as the players/coaches who take care of you. My assistants are loyal and have stuck with me for a long time. If I stay healthy then I think I will stay in it for a while. It is a tough business with a lot of demands on your time so I cannot put a time frame on it: I will just keep coaching as long as I am effective.