College Basketball Players Give Opinions of Kim Mulkey in Anonymous Poll

Patrick Andres | Apr 3, 2024

Mar 28, 2024; Albany, NY, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey. / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

LSU coach Kim Mulkey may be known for her exacting personality, but it's hard to argue strictly with her on-court results. She's a three-time AP Coach of the Year and the owner of four national championships between her tenures with the Tigers and Baylor.

This may seem like the kind of resume that would entice players to vote for her in a poll asking which coach they would most want to play for, but a Wednesday survey revealed differently.

In an anonymous poll of 95 NCAA tournament players, just two cited Mulkey—whose LSU team lost 94-87 to Iowa in the Elite Eight Monday—as the coach for whom they would most want to play.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, whose Gamecocks play NC State Friday in the Final Four, won the poll in a landslide with 38 votes.

The only other two coaches to receive more than five votes were Connecticut's Geno Auriemma and Kentucky's Kenny Brooks, who was still at Virginia Tech when the poll was taken.

Additionally, Mulkey was also voted the coaches for whom players would least want to play. Her 32 votes far outpaced Oregon's Kelly Graves, the second-place finisher in that category.