Kim Mulkey Slammed As Coach Players Least Want To Play For In New Survey

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Many college basketball players don't apparently have much interest in playing for LSU coach Kim Mulkey.

Mulkey and Tigers were bounced from the NCAA Tournament by Caitlin Clark from Iowa in an Elite 8 shootout that was absolutely awesome.

Let's be honest, many fans weren't exactly sad to see LSU go home and Clark advance. It seems like there's always distractions that follow the Tigers. Whether it's Angel Reese playing the victim card or Mulkey constantly going to war with the media over nothingburger stories, the Tigers don't do themselves many favors.

Well, it turns out that it's just not fans who might be rubbed the wrong way. It's also players.

Kim Mulkey voted coach players least want to play for.

The Athletic ran a survey of 95 players in the NCAA Tournament who they'd most and least want to play for, and the results weren't close.

Mulkey received 32 first place votes for the coach players least would want to suit up for. Oregon's Kelly Graves was an incredibly distant second with just seven votes.

That's a hell of a gap! The coaches players most want to play for are South Carolina's Dawn Staley and UConn's Geno Auriemma.

What's interesting is that Mulkey, Staley and Auriemma all win at an insanely high level. All three are elite coaches. Yet, Mulkey is the one players by far and away don't want to play for.

Many players don't want to player for Kim Mulkey. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Below are some of the comments made anonymously to the Athletic:

  • "It just seems like there’s always extra stuff going on that takes away from the basketball."
  • "For me, just personally, I don’t know if I would react well to the extraness and the fire. I think the right type of player would love that."
  • "Off the court, too, I don’t know if I would vibe with her."
  • "I wouldn’t want to play for her. As cool as it would be, I think it’d be really traumatizing."

Translation: Mulkey doesn't pass the vibe test for many players.

There's no question Mulkey is a hell of a coach. She wins and wins at a high level. The LSU coach is just one year removed from winning the national title.

Yet, players seemed rubbed the wrong way with all the drama that comes with her and her reputation for being incredibly tough on players. Honestly, that latter issue should only inspire people to want to play for her. It's the nonsense distractions that surround LSU and Mulkey that should justify driving players away - not her coaching tactics.

Below are a few of LSU's hits over the past year:

That's a lot of unnecessary distractions, even if the team wins a lot. However, I don't want to hear anything about Mulkey being too tough. Save that loser mentality for someone else. Hit me with your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

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David Hookstead is a reporter for OutKick covering a variety of topics with a focus on football and culture. He also hosts of the podcast American Joyride that is accessible on Outkick where he interviews American heroes and outlines their unique stories. Before joining OutKick, Hookstead worked for the Daily Caller for seven years covering similar topics. Hookstead is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.