How was she a traitor? Please explain. There are multiple versions of the story in circulation. One is that she wanted a 5 year guaranteed contract, we were only willing to give 4. We didn’t and she left for Baylor and the rest is history. What is the other side? What did Tech gain by not meeting her stipulations?
Where's that dead horse! Oh! there it is....kick it again.
We go through this annually. You are either a Kim fan or not. I can tell you my opinion. I think Kim was looking for a way out, not because she didn't love Tech, but because it was too scary taking over after Barmore. It was easier to go to a losing program with a lot of money to invest. She could look like a winner, even if she just got them to the tournament. If she just got us to the 2nd round, it would be considered a failure. It wasn't about money and she knew that 5th year for retirement would be given, even if Louisiana law did not permit it on the contract at that time. That said, it is obvious that she surpassed every expectation and is a winner in every aspect. She has done a tremendous job at Baylor and is to be congratulated. She is a hero for that community and they worship her. She would have been the same for Tech. AND, with success, she would have stayed forever. She had been here since high school and wasn't going anywhere, unless she believed she was in danger of not being treated as #1.
As for Tech fans, I don't get the obsession with Baylor, though. I couldn't care less how Baylor does in any sport. Some act like Baylor is an extension of Tech because of her. I know some people that just flipped to supporting Baylor when she won that first NC and have supported them since that time. That is the definition of a bandwagon fan. I wish her all the luck, but am not cheering for another program over Tech (or even just as much as Tech).
I have moved on. I do think Tech would have stayed among the top programs with her, but that is over and she is gone. It is time we moved on and try to figure out how to make OUR program as good as it can be.
Good post champ. And I posted that theory some years back. pigtails was Barmore's assistant for 15 years then suddenly she was facing the prospect of being the HEAD coach, no Leon on the bench. It scared her chitless. so afraid of failure she is. So...she chit all over Tech looking for any and every excuse to get out. Some posters excuse her with "didn't she have the right to leave for another coaching gig?" Yeah. But it's not the "leaving" that is the issue, it's "how, when, and why" she left. And the very fact it left Tech in a lurch. So much so that the REAL HERO of Techster lore, Coach Barmore, had to step up and coach another year. And all this BS about blaming Tech for her knee-jerk, scared decision is ridiculous.
If pigtails had no intention of following Barmore as HC, and clearly she didn't, then she should have departed Tech 10 years earlier allowing Barmore to groom another replacement.
And all this "Baylor love" is revolting. I only care about Tech. And that will always be true, no divided loyalties for me.
.....you keep going "through this annually"because Kim Mulkey keeps winning national championships and Big XII titles. Meanwhile, your Lady Techster program is a dumpster fire. It's not a stretch to say the "Mulkey non-hiring mistake" by Louisiana Tech's leadership is probably the single worst hiring mistake in the annals of Women's basketball history. Literately nothing tops it in women's basketball history.
The easiest thing Kim Mulkey could have done was stay in Ruston. In her last season as a LA Tech Asst. coach (1999-2000), the Lady Techsters finished 31-3, 16-0 in the Sunbelt conference, and made the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament. (The Lady Techsters would go on to finish 31-5, and 16-0 again, with another appearance in the Elite 8 the following year after Kim left.) The point is, things were still rolling in Ruston.
Meanwhile, the Baylor program Kim Mulkey took over in Waco finished the previous season 7-20 (1999-2000) and dead last in a Big XII conference that was loaded with good teams. The conference was stacked with good teams, including two previous national champions (Texas & TX Tech), as well as rising programs at OU & OSU.
So, stop whining about "Baylor love"....get out of your fetal position, and quit sucking your thumb. Kim's decision to move to Baylor didn't look very smart at the time. She was walking away from a great program, ad into a bad program that was a perennial loser. Plus, one of her previous mentors (Sonja Hogg, with two NC's on her own resume) had failed there. It was only the ignorance of Dan Reneau that made it all happen.
I seriously hate that Kim left, but we never ever could have paid the money that Baylor did. It is insane to believe she owed TECH to stay. We all go to TECH to set ourselves up for our career. I would say TECH did a great job and doing that for Kim, and she moved on to a big pay check. Unlike many, I am happy for her- as I am for all TECH graduates that do well. Hopefully all of us will return some of that money back to TECH one day. It would be nice if this didn't keep coming up. She is no longer our coach or on our staff. She is no different than any other TECH player that left the program.
Last edited by Cal&Ken; 04-10-2019 at 10:38 AM.
Again...for the extremely slow-witted out there....Hello HD!
There is no reasonable thing Tech (Reneau) could have offered to keep her here. I say "reasonable" because perhaps if the offer at been $10 million/year guaranteed lifetime contract, she might have stayed. But, staying in the realm of possibility, the offer made was VERY generous. Any tweaks to it...i.e. a guaranteed 5th year upfront...would have evoked another demand. That demand met, and she'd been on to something else as an excuse.
And she had had other opportunities to jump ship and get that bigger paycheck but she passed on them, until the 11th hour when Barmore was retiring and now both parties were facing a pressing deadline to get a deal done. She took the coward's way out. Yes, she had that right, and she exercised it, but she shouldn't be lauded for it. Anymore than, after the fact, people see Benedict Arnold's point of view.