Baylor’s director of athletics addresses Kim Mulkey rumors

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Baylor Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades recently spoke with SicEm365Radio about rumors that Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey is being considered for the head coaching position at LSU. The conversation follows a report that LSU’s current head coach Nikki Fargas is in negotiations to become president of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces.

When asked to address the rumors, Rhoades responded with the following comment:

Kim is transparent and honest and I’d like to think we in the administration are as well…As far as I can tell, LSU still has a women’s basketball coach; I’ve not seen any type of official resignation at least to this point in time. Obviously it’s an intriguing story because of where Kim’s from and [Louisiana] is [her] home. If that opening does eventually occur and LSU has interest, we’ll handle it appropriately. We’ll be transparent.

Baylor Athletics supports women’s basketball at a really, really high level…I know the data; I know the numbers. I don’t think anyone supports it at the level we do. That commitment was made long before I got here and we’ve continued it.

Last Friday, when asked on the Louisiana-based radio show The Jordy Culotta Show about the possibility of a return to her native Louisiana, Mulkey didn’t outright deny it.

It doesn’t matter where my career takes me, you always go back to your roots. My children were born in north Louisiana, my son played there at LSU. You always listen, you always are talking to people who are connected to Louisiana. I just heard this yesterday about coach Fargas leaving and not coaching. To answer your question, I had opportunities to leave Baylor, but timing in one’s life is always the reason you make career decisions.

When asked if he’d spoken with Mulkey since her comments last week, Rhoades said, “Yeah, we’ve talked about a lot of other things. I think the LSU thing — at least at this point in time — is a non-story.”

Mulkey, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the 2020 class, will be presented by Michael Jordan in next month’s enshrinement ceremony. Mulkey’s induction will be as a coach, and she has been nominated as both a coach and player on numerous occasions. A native of Tickfaw, Louisiana, Mulkey won back-to-back national championships as a point guard for Louisiana Tech with an AIAW title in 1981, followed by the inaugural NCAA championship in 1982. She served as an assistant coach for Louisiana Tech and captured another NCAA title in 1988. In 2000, she became head coach at Baylor, where she has built a national powerhouse and won three NCAA championships.

Mulkey’s current salary at Baylor is a reported $2.27 million per season, while LSU coach Nikki Fargas is making $700,000 per season, not including incentives and bonuses.

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Editor’s note: This story initially said that Mulkey was an assistant coach at Louisiana State, but she was actually an assistant at Louisiana Tech, her alma mater. The Next apologizes for the error.