Days before it was ever published, the article from Kent Babb of The Washington Post regarding LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey drew a lot of commentary. That’s continued since it’s been published — including from people who didn’t read it.
While Mulkey was the women’s basketball coach at Baylor, the Bears were one of the top programs in the country. From the 2010-11 season through 2020-21, Mulkey led Baylor to two national championships and (not counting 2020, when no tournament was held) made the Sweet 16 or better every year. Mulkey headed to LSU for the 2021-22 season. Babb’s article said, “Baylor is no longer among the sport’s upper tier, another structure abandoned and left to wither.”
It’s easy to see how anyone currently associated with the Baylor program may not like such a comment. Nicki Collen, the current head coach of the Bears, is one such person. Following Baylor’s Sweet 16 loss to USC on Saturday, Collen made her feelings known.
“I’m not afraid to say I was really offended by the article that came out,” Collen said in her postgame press conference (via Brenna Greene, KOIN).
Collen then continued to comment on the article, despite not actually reading it: “I didn’t read any of it. Don’t know what happened. Didn’t read the article. But nothing’s withering in Waco. Nothing is withering in Waco. We’re gonna do it our way. And it’s gonna be just as good. But nothing is withering.”
Today in the article about Kim Mulkey, Kent Babb said after Mulkey left the Baylor program was "left to wither" and "no longer among the sports' top tier".
Unprompted, Baylor HC Nicki Colleen had some thoughts about that postgame:
"I'm not afraid to say I was really offended by… pic.twitter.com/NzxKXEE21l
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) March 31, 2024
“We are not not a first-tier team and you can’t say we are. You can’t get to the Sweet 16 and take a No. 1 seed down to the wire in a one possession game and say anything is withering in Waco. There’s a lot blooming. I’m gonna say not withering; there’s some stuff blooming in Waco. If he wants to come do an article and come to Waco and write about it next year, he’s welcome.”
Again, we can easily understand her taking exception to Baylor being called “no longer among the sport’s upper tier” and “withering.” The Bears have gone 74-28 in her three seasons leading the program. They have also made the NCAA Tournament — and won at least one NCAA Tournament game — every season. Those aren’t the results of a program in decline, at least not a hard decline. And regardless of the results of the last three seasons, that’s quite a stray to catch in a so-called “hit piece” on Mulkey.
But why say that you were offended by an article moments before acknowledging you didn’t read it? If someone told Collen about that one line and she didn’t like it, something like, “I haven’t read the article yet but was told about this line and that bothers me” would make more sense.
[The Washington Post, Photo/Video Credit: Brenna Greene on Twitter/X]
