Hiring CNC was a long term gamble by Mack. When CNC came on board she had no recruiting pipeline like a solid D1 hire would have had. It is not uncommon for D1 coaches to begin building relationships with potential athletes in junior high school. CNC was at an immediate recruiting disadvantage the day she stepped on campus.

We have not had an inside presence since Egbo and Smith left the program. This can be contributed to a failure to buy a good post thru NIL and the fact there was not a underclass post player on the roster when CKM left.

This year's team wins when they can over come the height disadvantage they face many nights but struggle when they get out rebounded. We also have a couple turnover prone players (eg D Edwards). If we had just an adequate post around 6' 4" I think we would be at least 3+ in the win column. Let's remember we start 2 guards that are 5' 8" and a post that is only 5'11. We are many nights matching up with guards that are 6' plus which makes getting off open 3's more difficult and enables these taller guards to post up Andrew's and Walker.

Let's hope CNC is able to develop Letty and we possibly can find a couple good international players to improve our ability to match up size wise. You cannot coach size.

If we do not totally collapse this team will make the tournament. We might not go far depending on the match ups but making the tournament is an accomplishment.

Let's hope CNC is given the NIL resources necessary to entice a solid experienced post to join the team because I would not count on Letty being more than an adequate post in her second year.

Close the season strong and win at least one game in the tournament and I think this team has about met expectations given their obvious shortcomings.

BearTiger said:

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Between AP, Blackie and several others on this board there is so much drama and gloom and doom for our WBB. And continuous blame on the previous coaching staff. This is the 3rd year, and we should be past the blame game. Mulkey did not leave a mess, cupboard bare, closed pipeline, etc etc in 2021. Here are 6 of the top 7 Mulkey players who led the team in scoring in 2021-2022 after she left:

Smith
Egbo
Bickle
Andrews
Lewis
Owens

These 6 were fantastic players, they were not a roster mess. Coach N was fortunate these 6 players stayed and not transferred. The rest has to come from Coach N and her staff to fill in where needed, just like every team in the country has to do every year. 5 of these 6 players were starters in 2021-2022. They are a big reason Coach N had a successful first year, 28-7 record, and played in the NCAA Tourney.
Speaking of leaving a mess, cupboard bare, you are 100% correct IowaBear, you did your homework. Mulkey's first year at LSU had 9 players either graduated or transferred away, and she had only 2 returning starters. The rest she had to get from transfers and 2 freshman from recruiting class. Mulkey truly inherited a mess, worked from almost nothing, she did it with no excuses. She had the biggest turnaround in SEC history for a first year coach. Her 2nd year, again only 2 returning starters. Her 3rd year, again only 2 returning starters. A head coach's responsibility is to fill in the blanks where they are needed, recruit well, and get the best transfers. It's also their responsibility to raise funds. The NIL is Coach N and Baylor's responsibility. WE ARE BAYLOR, an elite WBB program with 3 NC's. We should not be making up any excuses.

---

Bear, I don't see any doom and gloom for the program. I think we will be fine, but I don't think there is any quick fix. Seems the doom and gloom is coming from those that started this thread. Now, having said that a lot will depend on who we bring in for next year. The lack of height in the middle is the elephant in the room. Whether it comes from who we have that have not played this year or one from the portal. I suspect they will certainly try to find one in the portal. It hasn't helped in these last several games that Madison has been not able to play. Having 6'3" would certainly be helping.

In the list you presented of players there are two, in the case of Owens who rarely even got on the court when Kim was here and Andrews who did not get meaningful playing time to be ready when DiDi went down. There were plenty of 4th quarter big leads in conference yet DiDi stayed on the court. Apparently Kim was not that confident with either of them or Jordan for that matter. We had enough left to get by for one more year (2021-2022) and then those were leaving. We had a quick exit because legs were shot from our starting five having to play so much. You have to remember when the coaching change took place. Very late in the recruiting and portal periods for the upcoming 2021-2022 season. Players that could make an impact were already committed elsewhere.

I think your last paragraph concerning the rosters left at Baylor and at LSU leave out the prime factor that makes the two situations not really comparable. LSU is where the HOF coach was going. Baylor was where the HOF was leaving. I hate to tell anyone here but the high-level and elite players that we had been getting for the last decade did NOT come here because we are Baylor, the school. They came here because of KM and her past success. Elite players go to a coach, not a school, at least not to a small private religious school in Waco, TX.

Put yourself in the position of a player in 2021 or 2022, HS or portal that is good enough to make a difference in a program. Why would you chance going to a place where the HOF coach just left where the future is at best in doubt and there was lingering concern that existing players would bail versus going somewhere else that is not in that situation. It doesn't matter whether the coach was NC or someone else. We were not going to get an elite level coach. Some of those mentioned on this board because of their then headline success are now nowhere to be found. Whoever took the job was going to be shorthanded and in a bind for players that anywhere remotely resembled what we were used to having. No coach we could have gotten was going to be a magnet for players just because we were "Baylor". On the other hand, the HOF coach could attract players anywhere she went. Without the HOF coach there simply is not a lot to distinguish us from just about any other program in the conference. Our history is not going to win us any games in the future. The catalyst for that success is no longer here. Yes there is a complete difference in the two situations.

Yes, we were left with a roster mess that we are still trying to pull out of. Some of it because we did not have a slew of underclassmen waiting in the wings in Kim's last year and those that were here didn't get a lot of playing time. We were not ready for her departure. I hope that we can get back to that model and not have to rely on transfers that are hit and miss. We were lucky in the pickups we made with Jackson, Cooper and Carrington. But each of them took a spot that could have been going to an elite freshman coming in that had worked their way through the program to be a difference maker at guard.

We'll just have to disagree on why or why not players are coming to Baylor. When you took Mulkey out of the picture you took the overwhelming reason why we got the players we had been getting. Once she was gone, the magnet was gone. I'll leave it at that. Already too long.

FOAB said:

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Hiring CNC was a long term gamble by Mack. When CNC came on board she had no recruiting pipeline like a solid D1 hire would have had. It is not uncommon for D1 coaches to begin building relationships with potential athletes in junior high school. CNC was at an immediate recruiting disadvantage the day she stepped on campus.

We have not had an inside presence since Egbo and Smith left the program. This can be contributed to a failure to buy a good post thru NIL and the fact there was not a underclass post player on the roster when CKM left.

This year's team wins when they can over come the height disadvantage they face many nights but struggle when they get out rebounded. We also have a couple turnover prone players (eg D Edwards). If we had just an adequate post around 6' 4" I think we would be at least 3+ in the win column. Let's remember we start 2 guards that are 5' 8" and a post that is only 5'11. We are many nights matching up with guards that are 6' plus which makes getting off open 3's more difficult and enables these taller guards to post up Andrew's and Walker.

Let's hope CNC is able to develop Letty and we possibly can find a couple good international players to improve our ability to match up size wise. You cannot coach size.

If we do not totally collapse this team will make the tournament. We might not go far depending on the match ups but making the tournament is an accomplishment.

Let's hope CNC is given the NIL resources necessary to entice a solid experienced post to join the team because I would not count on Letty being more than an adequate post in her second year.

Close the season strong and win at least one game in the tournament and I think this team has about met expectations given their obvious shortcomings.

---

Unfortunately, don't think our guards are close to 5'8.

Andrews is maybe 5'5. Walker is 5'4 at best [probably 5'3]. Felder is about 5'6 to 5'7. Van Gytenbeek is 5'4 or less.

We aren't simply undersized at every position but substantially undersized at 3 positions and undersized at the other 2 positions. Collectively give up about at least 18 inches every game.

It shows.

Has Tom moved to Waco?

Their youngest daughter is still in high school so I doubt it. Would think he will move when she graduates.

Blackie and AP, here you go, the players who were 28-7, runner up Big 12 Conference, and NCAA Tourney:

Smith 6'4" avg 21.2 pts
Lewis avg 11.8 pts
Andrews avg 11.1 pts
Egbo 6'3" avg 11.0 pts
Bickle 6'1" avg 7.4 pts

Those could be starting 5 on most teams. So the cupboard was bare and a mess that year 2021-2022 after Mulkey left? That 1st year was the best year for Coach N so far. Those were Mulkey players. When a coach leaves, there's always attrition, should be no blame on anyone. Please don't give an excuse that no good player wants to play at Baylor and a new building. That a player doesn't want to play for a small little Baptist school with minimal resources. That's a bunch of crap. We are not a bottom feeder team. We are elite WBB, well respected, and 3X NC. If you want, go ahead and spread more gloom and doom.

BearTiger said:

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Blackie and AP, here you go, the players who were 28-7, runner up Big 12 Conference, and NCAA Tourney:

Smith 6'4" avg 21.2 pts
Lewis avg 11.8 pts
Andrews avg 11.1 pts
Egbo 6'3" avg 11.0 pts
Bickle 6'1" avg 7.4 pts

Those could be starting 5 on most teams. So the cupboard was bare and a mess that year 2021-2022 after Mulkey left? That 1st year was the best year for Coach N so far. Those were Mulkey players. When a coach leaves, there's always attrition, should be no blame on anyone. Please don't give an excuse that no good player wants to play at Baylor and a new building. That a player doesn't want to play for a small little Baptist school with minimal resources. That's a bunch of crap. We are not a bottom feeder team. We are elite WBB, well respected, and 3X NC. If you want, go ahead and spread more gloom and doom.

---

Are you mentally challenged?

Smith - Senior
Lewis - Grad Student
Andrews - Sophomore
Egbo - Senior
Bickel - Senior

Notice the problem……most sane people would see it immediately.
A roster of 15 [max scholarships] houses 3 to 4 players per class.

Baylor WBB should have been set with a roster of about 11 or 12 players in the Freshman to Junior classification.
There were 2.

Explain that nonsense.

You aren't a good Baylor fan. As your name clearly shows you are simply here to be a Mulkey apologist.
We get it. You love her.

In fairness Mulkey could have left BU 15 All Americans and you would still ***** about her.

AP, stop your nonsense, no one can challenge you because you are always right. You seem to enjoy bashing anyone on this board who disagrees with you. You don't know me nor my loyalty to Baylor. Our multi families are Baylor grads, including my family. We have supported and donated to WBB every year since 1990s when we were bad and no one cared about our WBB. Our families attended games when we were losing, and we had maybe 500 people in the stands. We continue to attend the games this year and donate to WBB and Coach N today. So go ahead judge me AP, according to you, I am not a very good Baylor fan. I'm just not one who believes in bashing former coaches, especially one who put us on the map and put 3 NC banners in our gym. She deserves our appreciation.

It's interesting to hear different perspectives on coaching styles and team progression. While some fans have appreciated Scott Drew approach over the years and the noticeable improvement in players, it seems like you have a different view when it comes to Nicky Collins. It's important for fans to express their opinions and concerns about the team's performance. Each coach has their own methods, and the success of those methods can vary.

Sharon_Lee said:

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It's interesting to hear different perspectives on coaching styles and team progression. While some fans have appreciated Scott Drew's approach over the years and the noticeable improvement in players, it seems like you have a different view when it comes to Nicky Collins. It's important for fans to express their opinions and concerns about the team's performance. Each coach has their own methods, and the success of those methods can vary.

---

Yeah and Scott Drew was here almost two decades before anything meaningful was won. But that is because they were in the absolute bottom and it's a looooong process to build from scratch. There have been maybe two other programs more elite than Baylor WBB in the history of Women's College Basketball. It's hard to compare the two "rebuilds".

But I am glad you made an account today to bless us with that ChatGPT response. Please spell names right next time in the prompt.

You nailed it, amen.

I'm not yet sold on Collen. However, you never want to follow a legend.

If she succeeds, great.
If not, then she took the challenge of following one of the best wbb coaches (I didn't say best person), and we hire someone else.

Noghri said:

---

I'm not yet sold on Collen. However, you never want to follow a legend.

If she succeeds, great.
If not, then she took the challenge of following one of the best wbb coaches (I didn't say best person), and we hire someone else.

---

Fair assessment. For those that think a fast recovery should be expected look at the following programs that lost the elite coach. And while doing so remember that they were well aware in advance that the coach would not be there for the next season. They had time to prepare. We got blindsided and very late in the recruiting cycle for the upcoming season to boot.

Tennessee - still has not recovered and they had arguably the most respected WBB program ever. Not even in the top 25

Notre Dame - didn't make the tournament the year after Muffett retired. Still languishing in the lower half of the top 25. Lost their 7th game last night

Texas - has taken years and three coaches to get back to where they were when Jody retired. They even hired a "name" coach (Goestenkors). She was a complete failure in her new environment

North Carolina - after Kay Yow...anyone see them in the top 25

La Tech - nothing after Barmore

I suspect Uconn will see a similar situation in a few years. Stanford might carry on without too much of a step back because of their academics but that is yet to be seen. Certainly no elite player is likely to go to Uconn because of academics.

I think we will be fine. But I am willing to be patient until I see that things are not going to work out. I am not at that point. I see too many reasons, not excuses, but reasons why we are where we are right now.

Noghri said:

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I'm not yet sold on Collen. However, you never want to follow a legend.

If she succeeds, great.
If not, then she took the challenge of following one of the best wbb coaches (I didn't say best person), and we hire someone else.

---

her wnba teams became progressively worse each season

not sure what mack saw in that, because i didn't see anything worth hiring. she had no track record of sustained success, nor development of players.

what has been the result after her hire at Baylor?

our team has become progressively worse each season

no sustained success and a lack of development of players.

blackie said:

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Noghri said:

---

I'm not yet sold on Collen. However, you never want to follow a legend.

If she succeeds, great.
If not, then she took the challenge of following one of the best wbb coaches (I didn't say best person), and we hire someone else.

---

Fair assessment. For those that think a fast recovery should be expected look at the following programs that lost the elite coach. And while doing so remember that they were well aware in advance that the coach would not be there for the next season. They had time to prepare. We got blindsided and very late in the recruiting cycle for the upcoming season to boot.

Tennessee - still has not recovered and they had arguably the most respected WBB program ever. Not even in the top 25

Notre Dame - didn't make the tournament the year after Muffett retired. Still languishing in the lower half of the top 25. Lost their 7th game last night

Texas - has taken years and three coaches to get back to where they were when Jody retired. They even hired a "name" coach (Goestenkors). She was a complete failure in her new environment

North Carolina - after Kay Yow...anyone see them in the top 25

La Tech - nothing after Barmore

I suspect Uconn will see a similar situation in a few years. Stanford might carry on without too much of a step back because of their academics but that is yet to be seen. Certainly no elite player is likely to go to Uconn because of academics.

I think we will be fine. But I am willing to be patient until I see that things are not going to work out. I am not at that point. I see too many reasons, not excuses, but reasons why we are where we are right now.

---

I would be very curious what and who got a call from Baylor after Mulkey left. Who said no. What stones did they attempt to overturn. And why in the heck was Messer not hired?

bawitdaball said:

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blackie said:

---

Noghri said:

---

I'm not yet sold on Collen. However, you never want to follow a legend.

If she succeeds, great.
If not, then she took the challenge of following one of the best wbb coaches (I didn't say best person), and we hire someone else.

---

Fair assessment. For those that think a fast recovery should be expected look at the following programs that lost the elite coach. And while doing so remember that they were well aware in advance that the coach would not be there for the next season. They had time to prepare. We got blindsided and very late in the recruiting cycle for the upcoming season to boot.

Tennessee - still has not recovered and they had arguably the most respected WBB program ever. Not even in the top 25

Notre Dame - didn't make the tournament the year after Muffett retired. Still languishing in the lower half of the top 25. Lost their 7th game last night

Texas - has taken years and three coaches to get back to where they were when Jody retired. They even hired a "name" coach (Goestenkors). She was a complete failure in her new environment

North Carolina - after Kay Yow...anyone see them in the top 25

La Tech - nothing after Barmore

I suspect Uconn will see a similar situation in a few years. Stanford might carry on without too much of a step back because of their academics but that is yet to be seen. Certainly no elite player is likely to go to Uconn because of academics.

I think we will be fine. But I am willing to be patient until I see that things are not going to work out. I am not at that point. I see too many reasons, not excuses, but reasons why we are where we are right now.

---

I would be very curious what and who got a call from Baylor after Mulkey left. Who said no. What stones did they attempt to overturn. And why in the heck was Messer not hired?

---

We will never know who got called. You never know.....anywhere. And if you think you know you probably didn't talk to the right person. Internet rumors don't count. I for one, would not have been impressed with Messer. So far her record at UCF also doesn't help build a case she would have been a good replacement. I know how these boards work. The outcry would be why didn't we look outside the program, we just wanted to go cheap and not spend a lot of time in a national search. You can talk about how she recruited for Mulkey, but that is the point, it was for Mulkey's team, not one headed by her.

Obviously we will never know but hiring assistants, especially for major programs just does not have a good track record wherever you look. I'm not saying it never works, but I have just seen it fail way too many times. Holly Warlick says hi from Tennessee is probably the best example. And Tennessee had plenty of time to figure out their next move once Pat was diagnosed.

blackie said:

---

Noghri said:

---

I'm not yet sold on Collen. However, you never want to follow a legend.

If she succeeds, great.
If not, then she took the challenge of following one of the best wbb coaches (I didn't say best person), and we hire someone else.

---

Fair assessment. For those that think a fast recovery should be expected look at the following programs that lost the elite coach. And while doing so remember that they were well aware in advance that the coach would not be there for the next season. They had time to prepare. We got blindsided and very late in the recruiting cycle for the upcoming season to boot.

Tennessee - still has not recovered and they had arguably the most respected WBB program ever. Not even in the top 25

Notre Dame - didn't make the tournament the year after Muffett retired. Still languishing in the lower half of the top 25. Lost their 7th game last night

Texas - has taken years and three coaches to get back to where they were when Jody retired. They even hired a "name" coach (Goestenkors). She was a complete failure in her new environment

North Carolina - after Kay Yow...anyone see them in the top 25

La Tech - nothing after Barmore

I suspect Uconn will see a similar situation in a few years. Stanford might carry on without too much of a step back because of their academics but that is yet to be seen. Certainly no elite player is likely to go to Uconn because of academics.

I think we will be fine. But I am willing to be patient until I see that things are not going to work out. I am not at that point. I see too many reasons, not excuses, but reasons why we are where we are right now.

---

A bit of content correction. Muffetts last year she wouldn't have made the tourney. 13-18. 9th in the ACC. So saying Coach Ivey didn't make it, isn't even close to the same as what Mulkey left CNC. Sorry, take that out.

Gametime said:

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blackie said:

---

Noghri said:

---

I'm not yet sold on Collen. However, you never want to follow a legend.

If she succeeds, great.
If not, then she took the challenge of following one of the best wbb coaches (I didn't say best person), and we hire someone else.

---

Fair assessment. For those that think a fast recovery should be expected look at the following programs that lost the elite coach. And while doing so remember that they were well aware in advance that the coach would not be there for the next season. They had time to prepare. We got blindsided and very late in the recruiting cycle for the upcoming season to boot.

Tennessee - still has not recovered and they had arguably the most respected WBB program ever. Not even in the top 25

Notre Dame - didn't make the tournament the year after Muffett retired. Still languishing in the lower half of the top 25. Lost their 7th game last night

Texas - has taken years and three coaches to get back to where they were when Jody retired. They even hired a "name" coach (Goestenkors). She was a complete failure in her new environment

North Carolina - after Kay Yow...anyone see them in the top 25

La Tech - nothing after Barmore

I suspect Uconn will see a similar situation in a few years. Stanford might carry on without too much of a step back because of their academics but that is yet to be seen. Certainly no elite player is likely to go to Uconn because of academics.

I think we will be fine. But I am willing to be patient until I see that things are not going to work out. I am not at that point. I see too many reasons, not excuses, but reasons why we are where we are right now.

---

A bit of content correction. Muffetts last year she wouldn't have made the tourney. 13-18. 9th in the ACC. So saying Coach Ivey didn't make it, isn't even close to the same as what Mulkey left CNC. Sorry, take that out.

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Sorry for the error, no intent to mislead. But this is Ivey's fourth year and ND is still trying to get back. I just looked at the ACC standings and they are sitting in 6th place. Shows once again that it is hard to recover from the loss of the legacy coach. It is not unique to us.

I was really wrong, thank you!

Our men's and women's teams have similar/ identical records 18-6 yet it feels like the men are doing better than the women ? Did we expect both to complete for the league championship?

SirBearALot said:

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Our men's and women's teams have similar/ identical records 18-6 yet it feels like the men are doing better than the women ? Did we expect both to complete for the league championship?

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You have to remember that with the men 4 of those losses would have been prevented had they made just one more basket, a couple of free throws that were missed, or had one less turnover in regulation and they would be undefeated in conference. Of course it works the other way as well. We have had a few one possession wins.

With the women, I figured somewhere between 3rd and 6th. I never thought we had a better team than Texas even without Harmon and thought KSU was going to be a big problem. Then when Kyla was taken out of the picture, Lety was not ready, and Madison getting hurt that lack of height put us where we are.

I am hopeful that our roster a couple of years from now will show at least 60-75 percent or more of "homegrown" talent that has moved up in class from HS recruits as we have with Buggs and Bella and not be so dependent on transfers that are hit and miss and don't provide the continuity that a HS based model provides. But with NIL and the portal and seemingly unlimited transfers that may not ever happen again for most teams and a lot of it is out of the control of the coaching staff.

I think most teams are going to be wildly different from one year to another because there will be so much roster turnover each year. The men are the same way except the one-and-done model makes the men's side even more problematic to predict the roster from one year to the next. It makes it hard on fans and obviously more so with coaches to get excited about the future not knowing who will even be on the team the next year.

How long should we continue to wait?

I would be okay with taking the money out of our women's basketball and putting it back into our baseball

In all fairness Mulk had a lot of luck going her way to win the NC at LSU. Two #1 seeds were knocked out before Mulk could play them. The Final 4 was a weaker field than usual that year.

Winners win, losers make excuses. I could care less who she played. They won 6 straight in March. That's not exactly easy to do.

kbrun said:

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In all fairness Mulk had a lot of luck going her way to win the NC at LSU. Two #1 seeds were knocked out before Mulk could play them. The Final 4 was a weaker field than usual that year.

---

If it was any other coach than I would agree on the luck part but this woman had 3 NC under her belt. She knows how to coach in March

Players go where there is big NIL money. Baylor will never have the NIL money of a state school, especially LSU.

I wonder how much NIL money goes to LSU men's basketball compared to the women. Just a Quick Look at recent attendance and it looks like Kim's teams draw over 12,000 per game, and the men are around 7,800 or so for their last two Saturday home SEC games.

LSU has been very good for Kim and the move probably added another 10 or more very successful years to her career. The combination of LSU, the transfer portal and NIL work very much in her favor

Adriacus Peratuun said:

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Collen bears responsibility for problems with player development and team cohesion but Mulkey left her with a roster mess.

---

This angle always makes me laugh. You aren't the only way to post it, either.

LSU was a mess in 20/21, finishing 9-13 overall and 6-8 in conference.

In KM's first year, LSU went 26-6 and finished 2nd in the SEC with a 13-3 record.

In her second season at LSU, KM won a national title.

We are in year 3 of Collen's tenure and we have become worse each season.

I would like to point out, that her time in the WNBA mirrors her time here - the teams worsened in years 2 and 3.

The comparison is apples to oranges where there is no comparison.

LSU is where the HOF coach went, Baylor is from where she left. Why is it so hard to understand that players will still flock to the HOF coach wherever they go and will take a wait and see approach with a new coach in the environment where the HOF coach left......and left with no advance notice. And with her leaving left the transfers that she had recruited to come to Baylor, leaving us with a top heavy class of juniors and seniors, but nothing much beyond that. Why is it so hard to think Baylor would be any different than any of the other elite programs that lost their HOF coach? Tennessee is still trying to find their way. ND is still not where they had been. It took UT years and multiple coaches to get back.

When our HOF coach left, any ties to potential recruits that were in the Baylor pipeline, which often starts way early in high school, either are blown up or those recruits follow the HOF coach to the new school. It should be completely expected that recruits that even had any interest in Baylor would take a wait and see approach and divert their attention elsewhere. They were drawn to Baylor not by the school but by who was the coach. There was NO pipeline left for Baylor and its new coach. The HOF coach on the other hand has an immediate appeal at a large state school. No reason for recruits not to have interest. Throw in that LSU has essentially unlimited NIL and any player's head can be turned in an instant.

There is no point in going further. If one cannot see the difference between the two situations, there is no point in further discussion because one does not want to recognize the difference, only come on a message board and carp because they don't like the AD. There is no easy quick fix to a HOF coach leaving. Actually compared to the examples of above, we are doing better than those in the past that faced this situation.....and they had advance warning. We had none.

Very much so because she has gone out and hustled up money and support for her program. She had a private donor pay for the 1-million-dollar overhaul of the locker room and coaches offices. In today's NIL world you have to sell yourself and your program.

montypython said:

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Adriacus Peratuun said:

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Collen bears responsibility for problems with player development and team cohesion but Mulkey left her with a roster mess.

---

This angle always makes me laugh. You aren't the only way to post it, either.

LSU was a mess in 20/21, finishing 9-13 overall and 6-8 in conference.

In KM's first year, LSU went 26-6 and finished 2nd in the SEC with a 13-3 record.

In her second season at LSU, KM won a national title.

We are in year 3 of Collen's tenure and we have become worse each season.

I would like to point out, that her time in the WNBA mirrors her time here - the teams worsened in years 2 and 3.

---

Year 1: Mulkey was provided $500K in NIL to build a roster.
Year 2: it was bumped to $645K in NIL.

Give her credit, she spent the $ to get the talent. And was fortunate that Utah shot bricks at the FT line.

Once upon a time every comp was fair: recruiting & coaching v. recruiting & coaching.
But NIL changed everything. Ask UCLA & USC who also bought teams.

As the Baylor fanbase has clearly discovered, Baylor's initial NIL approach was pathetic.

To be fair, Mulkey's first year team was a lot of holdovers from previous regime plus Alexis Morris. NIL had little bearing on overachieving with that team. That overachieving I think set them up pretty good to compete for the best "free agents" in year two.

It's a combo of winning and NIL that gets your players. I still don't believe that if you give a cellar-dweller a ton of NIL money that it would move the needle that much. Baylor has been slow to the NIL game, but if they get it up, the culture of winning is there.