Kim Mulkey goes on lengthy rant over social media after national championship

LSU basketball coach Kim Mulkey helped cement her legacy by winning a national championship with the Tigers. That doesn’t necessarily make her popular, though. However, if it was said on social media, she also says that she has no interest in it.

This topic of social media came up after Mulkey was asked whether it was good for the women’s game that there was a lot of online debate about things like the referees.

“Look, are you basically asking me what I think of social media?” Kim Mulkey said. “I like y’all better than I do social media. So if you’re on social media and hiding behind a computer, I don’t like you. If you want to face me eyeball to eyeball and disagree with me on things, I respect you more.”

Mulkey didn’t go full Bill Belichick and pretend she didn’t know what different social media websites are called. However, she did emphasize how little she cares about them.

“I know nothing about Twitter, Facebook. I have accounts. You’ll see I have accounts. I don’t touch those. My coaches do it for me. So I can’t help you in any area of what was said,” Mulkey said.

“I looked at Alexis and go, what did she say? What is the blowup about? And quite frankly, I don’t care. I waste no time on all that stuff. It’s the world we live in, but guys, I’m too old. I’m too old to worry about all that stuff. Now, if she does something or we’re doing something that embarrasses the program, my coaches and my administrators usually help me address that.”

Kim Mulkey said all of this, despite the question not really being about social media. It was more about how the women’s game is gaining in popularity. Mulkey, of course, knew this and did point out the team’s popularity on campus.

“But to answer your question about the game, I love the fact that they told me our tickets were more expensive than the men’s tickets. There you go. Talk to me along those lines. I like that,” Mulkey said.

“You know what else, Taylor Swift’s in town, and we still sold this place out. Give kudos to the four teams that were here. Those four teams’ fan bases are unbelievable. You think about it, they showed up. And that’s what you want to see.”

Paul Finebaum on Kim Mulkey and her legacy

After the championship, Paul Finebaum spoke about Kim Mulkey’s legacy in women’s basketball, even putting her on the Mount Rushmore of the sport’s coaches.

“I think Geno [Auriemma] and Pat [Summitt] are the two standalone figures in the history of women’s college basketball, but I do think if you’re doing a Mount Rushmore, and you have two spots out you have to give Kim Mulkey one of them right now,” Finebaum said. 

“And I think because she did it in an era of Dawn Staley and I think I mean, let’s not forget this was going to be one of the long runs in college basketball history, but I think Geno can tell you how difficult it is. You know two years in a row I think he gets beat on the buzzer in a semifinal and a national championship game.”