A Kim Mulkey To Love
Kim Mulkey presents a polarizing persona.
Uber successful. Ultra competitive.
Unlikeable, at times, eliciting enough swagger for her team and two more.
Often uncut and unedited.
Those last traits were on full display Saturday night inside Gallagher-Iba Arena, when the Baylor women's coach fired up and fired off on her candidacy for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, shortly after her team's win over the Cowgirls on Sutton Court.
Actually, she offered to step aside, if it meant Eddie Sutton goes in, at long last.
“I’ll tell you what I think,” Mulkey started, opening what became a candid and strong plea for Sutton’s inclusion, adding that it’s about dang time. Mulkey doesn’t mince words and doesn’t dodge questions. Her answers aren’t always met with warmth.
But these were, although these surely will be by OSU fans:
“Eddie Sutton needs to be the first (person) taken in that class. Obviously, Kobe Bryant, we all know will be, and rightfully so. But Eddie Sutton is long overdue.
“And to see his name on that court touched my heart. And if I have to step aside for a man like that to get it, I’d tell those voters, ‘You vote for Eddie Sutton.’ I’m not up against Eddie Sutton, he’s on the men’s side, but that’s how much I think of that man…
“He was one of the greatest coaches. He guarded people. And I have the utmost respect for that man and I can’t believe it’s taken them this long to make him a finalist, and I’m rooting for him.
“I don’t have a vote, but I have a voice.”
And this time, it’s a voice well spoken.
Sutton, of course, has been a finalist before, six times before. Each time, he’s been left on the outside.
This year’s group of finalists is stout: Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tamika Catchings, Tim Duncan, Barbara Stevens, Rudy Tomjanovich and Mulkey. Inductees will be announced during the Final Four in Atlanta in April.
Sutton obviously has the goods, including 806 career victories, three Final Four appearances, eight National Coach of the Year awards and a bounty of bids to the NCAA Tournament. He’s got some warts, too, but who doesn’t?
It seems like momentum for Sutton could be growing, with more and more members of the basketball royalty speaking out in his favor.
I am so happy Eddie Sutton is a finalist for the Hall of Fame . Hope 2020 is the year it happens as the @Hoophall will announce at the Final 4 !
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) February 14, 2020
Kobe, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan headline finalists for 2020 Naismith HOF. hopefully this is the year four-time NCAA coach of the year Eddie Sutton gets his due.
— Dick Weiss (@HoopsWeiss) February 14, 2020
Will the voters listen, finally?
It’ll take 18 votes among the unidentified 24 on the Naismith panel. Surely, seven is his lucky number. Heck, seven times a finalist should warrant automatic entry, don’t you think?
Mulkey is rooting for him. Same for so many others.
The time is now.
