Tennessee Coach Sets the Record Straight About Kim Mulkey's LSU Onesie Baby Gift Quip

Tennessee Coach Kim Caldwell got honest about the baby gift Kim Mulkey got her, and addressed whether said gift included an LSU onesie.
LSU women's basketball coach, Kim Mulkey, during their game against Grambling Sunday afternoon, December 8, 2024, at the Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City.
LSU women's basketball coach, Kim Mulkey, during their game against Grambling Sunday afternoon, December 8, 2024, at the Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City. / Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Before the LSU Tigers women's basketball team's January 9 game against Tennessee, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey was seen giving Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell (who is currently pregnant with her first child) a gift bag with the word "baby" on it.

After the game (which LSU won 89-87, Mulkey was asked when compelled her to give Caldwell a baby gift and said, "I'm a big family person. Kids just touch me," per an X post from Mike Scarborough of TigerBait.com.

"And when I watch coaches that are going to try to coach and be a mama, we need more of that. Pat Summitt was gracious to me when I was an assistant at Louisiana Tech, and basically mentored me and said, 'You can do this. Don't you get out of the business. You can have a baby and you can raise a child and you can be a great coach.'"

According to a January 9 X post from The Advocate columnist Scott Rabalais, when Mulkey was asked what her baby gift was she said, "It was an LSU onesie," before adding, "That's a joke. Just a joke."

Despite Mulkey making it clear that she was kidding, her response still prompted a media member to ask Caldwell what exactly Mulkey got her (and whether it was an LSU onesie) on January 14.

"She did not get me an LSU onesie," Caldwell said with a laugh, per an X post from Full Disclosure Productions' Paige Dauer. "Her gift was very nice. She got me some baby towels, some lotion and bath stuff, and then a onesie that was very neutral. It was not LSU."

Caldwell seemed very touched by Mulkey's thoughtful gift. It's the effort that counts, after all — even if the onesie had been purple and gold.


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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.