Kim Mulkey gets brutally honest on her true priorities

LSU Tigers women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey offered her perspective on how she would navigate the current state of amateur basketball. Mulkey, who has been a coach since 1985 (assistant coach at Louisiana Tech), shared some pointers while talking with Ashley Roberts on the “It’s Just Different” podcast. 

On Friday, Roberts shared an excerpt of her interview with Mulkey, in which the Tigers’ coach discussed how she would approach raising a daughter in today’s basketball world. 

The 63-year-old coach noted that several factors, especially when it comes to NIL deals, can make things more complex depending on one’s location.

“It’s different both at the high school and college (level) because now you’re dealing with NIL, and you have some states who can do NILs in high school and some that cannot. … It would be certainly different from when I played or my children played. But, you know, parenting is parenting. You love your child, you support your child … (but) don’t live through your child. Let your child navigate it by themselves with help from you, and they’ll do great,” she said

Kim Mulkey recalled her parenting mistakes 

Mulkey, who has been with LSU since 2021, revealed what mistakes she made as a parent. She married Randy Robertson in 1987, with whom she had two kids, Kramer and Makenzie.

Kim Mulkey

“I can tell you what I did as a parent,” she told Roberts. “I was a single parent. I never missed hardly anything they ever participated in. I always have a philosophy that my career is not more important than my children. And I made sure that I was there every time they played. Sometimes, I would go watch their practices just because I love sports.”

NIL deals are changing the landscape of college sports, but their impact is apparently transcending competitions.