 | | Head women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson will stop by for a live chat Tuesday, April 25 at 11 a.m. |
Ever since Baylor University named Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Kim Mulkey as Baylor's fourth Lady Bear head coach on April 4, 2000, the former All-American and Olympic gold medalist has brought repeated national prominence to Baylor University and the women's basketball program. In just her fifth year at program's helm, the Lady Bears achieved the ultimate prize each NCAA Division I team covets, a NCAA National Championship. In doing so, Mulkey-Robertson became the first women's basketball coach to win a NCAA national championship as both a player and a head coach. She joins former North Carolina coach Dean Smith and Texas Tech's Bobby Knight as the only members of that elite group. This past season, Mulkey-Robertson guided the Lady Bears to a 26-7 record and their third straight Sweet 16 appearance. Senior Sophia Young became the program's highest WNBA draft pick (No. 4 by San Antonio) and became the first two-time All-American. Under Mulkey-Robertson, she set several Big 12 records, including all-time points and rebounds, and rewrote the Baylor record book. After just six seasons as a head coach, Mulkey-Robertson has taken the Lady Bears to six postseason competitions, including five NCAA Tournaments, which includes the school's 2005 NCAA national championship, a national ranking of No. 1 and the championship (2005) in the toughest women's basketball conference in the nation, the Big 12. She has accumulated an impressive 157-45 (.777) career record at Baylor. Mulkey-Robertson continues to add to her impressive list of achievements. She was named one of the Top 50 Female High School Athletes of the 20th Century, National Coach of the Year by Real Sport magazine and Big 12 Coach of the Year by the Dallas Morning-News and Waco Tribune-Herald. In 2003, Mulkey-Robertson was inducted into COSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame and was a unanimous choice for Big 12 Coach of the Year honors in 2005. She will, along with North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, received the New York Athletic Club's famed Winged Foot Award. As a player, Mulkey-Robertson led the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters to a 130-6 record, two national titles and four Final Fours from 1980-84. During that time the 5-foot-4 playmaker, known for her spectacular passes and French braids, also led Louisiana Tech to its first two national championships (1981 and 1982) and was a part of the USA's gold medal-winning team at the 1984 Olympics and the 1983 Pan American Games. Mulkey-Robertson averaged 6.38 assists and 1.56 steals per game and ranks second on Tech's all-time list in assists and 12th in steals. In addition, the summa cum laude scholar was a two-time Academic All-American. |
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 |  | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: Good morning everyone. Thanks for joining me for today's chat. |
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| Dwain-Waco: Which of your new recruits do you think will make an immediate impact on this next season? |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: I hope all of them, but I will not be able to answer that until I see all of them on the floor and that will not be until the fall, when school starts. |
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| elizabeth,dallas: With Bill Brock leaving to go to Texas Tech, how will you go about finding a replacement for him? |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: First of all, let me say how much I love and respect Bill Brock. I will take my time and make sure it's a staff that can help us continue to compete at the highest level. |
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| John (Katy, TX): Coach: Thanks for another great season. Looking to next year, with the front court losses of Young and Wabara, I'm assuming Bernice Moseby is going to be heavily counted on to step in immediately, given her experience and past performance at the Division 1 level. How has she handled the "off year" this past season and do you think she'll be ready to "step up" in '06 - '07? |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: She practiced with us the entire season and was playing against Abi and Sophia everyday. She brings three years of college experience from the SEC and we hope that she will play a big part on next year's team. |
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| Andy Sulsar (Denver, CO): I'm a big fan and I love what you're doing with the Baylor program. The loss of Sophia will obviously be a huge gap to fill. How do you anticipate making up for the offensive power that will be lost with her departure? Do you anticipate relying on the returning starters or do you think you will rely more heavily on the new crop of recruits? Thanks! |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: With only two seniors and one junior returning, we must rely on everyone. We will primarily be a team that is very young, mostly freshmen and sophomores. |
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| Andy Sulsar (Denver, CO): A lot of comparisons have been made between you and Brenda Frese after she took an underdog to a national title. What are your thoughts on those comparisons? Also, what are your thoughts on the strength of Oklahoma next year based on their returning starters and highly ranked recruiting class? Thanks! |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: I can tell you that parity in women's basketball is very obvious, with us winning last year and Maryland winning this year. Having lost to Maryland in the playoffs, I have an up-close and personal memory of just how good they are. Oklahoma is going to be so good the next two or three years, it's scary. |
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| Shawn (San Antonio): I know I speak for all Baylor fans when I say thank you for building a successful national program that has given Baylor something to be Extremely proud of over the past six years........my question is this....Can we hope to see more of Rachel Allison as a starter next year? Now granted I only saw her play on games that were televised, but everytime I saw her play, she seemed to out play and out hustle almost everyone she played against. |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: Please know that starting means absolutely nothing at this level. You want to be in the rotation of players that play the majority of the minutes and Rachel was in that rotation as a fresham. Rachel Allison was subbing for an All-American (Sophia) and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year (Abi). Without question I agree with you, she hustles, defends and rebounds, that's what got her the playing time. She must continue to be an offensive threat and we will work very hard on that end of the floor. |
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| Michele (Waco): How do feel about producing 3 possibly 5 WNBA players in just 6 years as head coach for Baylor Womens Basketball? |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: I feel very proud, but I must also give credit to those around me. The coaches that work with me and the players that came to Baylor to help us build this program. |
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| Malakoff: Do you seriously look at high school players that come to your summer camps to showcase. If so, what camp do you recommend them to come to? and if there is some interest do you let them know? |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: Whether it is summer camps, AAU or high school games, coaches are constantly looking for players. |
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| Joshua Garraway (Houston): Who will we have coming in as freshman next year? |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: Since it's such a large class, instead of me going on about each of them, please visit the website - www.BaylorBears.com - where you can find information on each one. I will say that we are very excited about this class! |
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| Arc( TX): Hello Coach, I've watched the majority of the games the Lady Bears have played this past season and realized the biggest flaw of the team is consistent 3-point shooting. How do you plan to address this issue in the off-season? Thank you, Go Bears! |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: We will try to continue to recruit perimeter players who are great shooters and continue to develop those we have into better shooters. |
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| John_Waco: Do you feel that the team will use Sophia's departure as a crutch, or use it as an opportunity to step up individually and continue to play Baylor basketball?" |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: We're going to miss her, without question. How do you replace a Sophia Young? You don't. Just like any senior class that leaves, we must continue to uphold the standards that we have established in this program. I don't know if we have a Sophia Young in the bunch next year, what I do know and what will never change as long as I'm coaching, is that these players play extremely hard. What we lack in some areas, we will make up for in our effort. |
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| Mo'esha (Lorena): Coach, is there a process for trying out to be a walk-on? |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: I choose who I want to be a walk on. I invite people to play to be a walk-on only after I have seen film on them or seen them play. We do not hold any type of tryouts. |
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| Cody (Waco): Coach, thanks for such a great season and I hope there are many more to come! With such a highly ranked recruiting class coming in, do you feel any pressure to take next years team as far as past teams have been into the post-season? |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: Not at all. Next year's team is made up of players that have to learn our system. As time goes on, they will get better and better. |
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| James (Commerce): I know Bill Brock has left to go be at Texas Tech but what did he bring to the basketball game that you will miss? |
| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: Bill brought lots of experience being a head coach at the junior college level. He held the title of recruiting coordinator and was in charge of defensive matchups. I will miss his friendship the most and I hope someone will give him an opportunity to be a head coach at this level, he so deserves it. |
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| | Kim Mulkey-Robertson: Let me wrap this up, I have another commitment I need to go to. If you come to Waco and Baylor, please see the construction of our practice facility. We are so excited about this new facility. Take care and keep supporting Baylor women's basketball. |
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