A Life
The Washington Post had a long profile of Kim Mulkey yesterday: The Kim Mulkey way: The LSU coach holds grudges, battles everyone — and keeps winning. But at what cost?
There's a paywall on that article if you don't have a subscription.
Mulkey is the basketball coach of LSU's women's team. She was previously the coach at Baylor. She is famously old-school. "Passionate" (a bully, in other words). She also wears outrageous outfits on the sideline. Just imagine Bobby Knight in an aluminum pantsuit. She has the same political leanings, too.
She's been very successful, as a coach.
It's sad, though, how the only positive thing anyone says about her in the article is "she unlocked my athletic potential." Nothing about her kindness, or how she cares about her players, or how she made them better human beings.
If you cross her, even once, you're out of her life forever. It's a pattern she's repeated with friends, fellow coaches, and her family. She hasn't spoken to her father in over 30 years, her sister in over 6.
I was struck what what a sad life she's led, by how empty it must feel to win so many games and have nothing else. Coaching does this to people, or maybe it's this kind of person who's driven to coach.
It's hard to live as an army of one.
<< Home