{"id":1360121,"date":"2021-05-05T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1360121"},"modified":"2021-05-05T11:32:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T15:32:09","slug":"espns-michael-wilbon-hints-kim-mulkey-left-baylor-conservative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/espns-michael-wilbon-hints-kim-mulkey-left-baylor-conservative\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN\u2019s Michael Wilbon Hints That Kim Mulkey Left Baylor Because She Was Too Conservative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kim Mulkey sent shockwaves through the\u00a0college basketball<\/a>\u00a0world when she announced she was\u00a0leaving Baylor to coach LSU<\/a>. Mulkey spent two decades at Baylor, amassing a 632-104 record and picking up three national championships along the way. Many were surprised by the announcement. The successful coach had not previously given any indication she was considering leaving the Lady Bears program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mulkey\u2019s decision made sense on several levels, but questions remain. The Tickfaw, Louisiana, native is returning to her home state, but not to her alma mater, Louisiana Tech. LSU did make her the highest-paid coach in women\u2019s basketball, but it wasn\u2019t that big a raise from her Baylor salary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESPN\u2019s Michael Wilbon may have helped shed some light on the real reasons behind the move. The\u00a0PTI<\/em>\u00a0pundit hinted that the reason for Mulkey\u2019s departure has more to do with politics than basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilbon suggests Mulkey\u2019s conservative political views are behind the job switch<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"ESPN\u2019s
Kim Mulkey and the Baylor women\u2019s NCAA championship basketball team with President Donald Trump in 2019 | Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Former ESPN Host Jemele Hill Received Her First Death Threats While in College: \u2018That\u2019s When the Lightbulb Went Off\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the April 26 \u201cWhat Day Is It?\u201d episode of the\u00a0Tony Kornheiser Show<\/em><\/a>\u00a0podcast, Kornheiser\u2019s\u00a0Pardon the Interruption<\/em> co-host<\/a>\u00a0joined him to discuss a variety of topics. The conversation eventually turned to the Mulkey news. While Kornheiser expressed shock at the move, Wilbon replied that he thinks there are \u201cother things at work.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think this has to do with basketball. I think there are other things at work with Kim Mulkey. I\u2019ve paid attention. I don\u2019t know that you want to get into politics. \u2026 Look, we have revolts of players now. And when your players aren\u2019t necessarily the same political persuasion as you — and [not just] not the same but object vehemently — if they do, then there\u2019s some movement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Kornheiser supported Wilbon\u2019s take on Mulkey\u2019s politics, saying, \u201cI understand she\u2019s on the right.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the podcast host also commented about the possible player revolt, noting that no one on her team has publicly pushed back against Mulkey\u2019s conservative beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Kornheiser hypothetically compared the situation to the legendary Dean Smith suddenly leaving North Carolina for UCLA, Wilbon responded, \u201cDean Smith isn\u2019t Kim Mulkey. Dean Smith\u2019s politics weren\u2019t Kim Mulkey\u2019s politics. I\u2019m telling you, I don\u2019t believe this has anything to do with basketball. At all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disagreement between conservatives in sports a<\/strong>nd athlete activists <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/Kyle__Boone\/status\/1272553163766317061\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If Mulkey did get forced out by a behind-closed-doors player revolt, it wouldn\u2019t be the first time the political leanings of a prominent sports figure have clashed with players\u2019 views. Recent examples in both college sports and women\u2019s basketball illustrate this phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2020, Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy was pictured on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0wearing a t-shirt with the conservative news network OAN's logo on it. One of his players, running back Chuba Hubbard, responded by tweeting, \u201cI will not stand for this.. This is completely insensitive to everything going on in society, and it\u2019s unacceptable. I will not be doing anything with Oklahoma State until things CHANGE.\u201d Gundy subsequently\u00a0issued an apology<\/a>\u00a0and is still the head coach at Oklahoma State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Players on one WNBA team also recently pushed back on their co-owner\u2019s political statements. According to\u00a0N<\/a>P<\/a>R<\/a>, former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who also co-owned the Atlanta Dream, was pressured to sell by the team\u2019s players. The sale followed her criticism of the WNBA\u2019s support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Loeffler sold her interest in the franchise in February 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

College athlete activists are nothing new<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/BillWalton\/status\/1389826570135629824\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Charli Collier\u2019s Father Launched Her Dallas Wings WNBA Career With a Dying Wish<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

College athletes have become more involved in politics and activism in recent years. This is not a new trend, however, when you look at the history of college athletics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UCLA was home to two of the most prominent college athlete activists in the 1960s and '70s. Bruins big man Lew Alcindor\u00a0boycotted the Olympics<\/a>\u00a0and privately changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar while enrolled at the school. A few years later, another center on the school\u2019s basketball team, Bill Walton, famously needed legendary coach\u00a0John Wooden to bail him out of jail<\/a>\u00a0following his arrest at a Vietnam War protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not players forced Mulkey out because of her conservative political views, as Wilbon suggests, the gulf between the politics of athletes and that of coaches and ownership seems to be widening in some places. That political divide will surely produce more conflict in the coming years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like <\/em>Sports7<\/em><\/a> on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter <\/em>@sports719<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kim Mulkey's surprising departure from Baylor might have more to do with conservative politics than basketball, according to Michael Wilbon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":1360128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4874],"tags":[68500,236608],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nESPN\u2019s Michael Wilbon Hints That Kim Mulkey Left Baylor Because She Was Too Conservative - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kim Mulkey's surprising departure from Baylor might have more to do with conservative politics than basketball according to Michael Wilbon.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/espns-michael-wilbon-hints-kim-mulkey-left-baylor-conservative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ESPN\u2019s Michael Wilbon Hints That Kim Mulkey Left Baylor Because She Was Too Conservative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kim Mulkey's surprising departure from Baylor might have more to do with conservative politics than basketball according to Michael Wilbon.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/espns-michael-wilbon-hints-kim-mulkey-left-baylor-conservative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-05T15:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-05T15:32:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Kim-Mulkey.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Crean\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@twcrean\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Crean\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/espns-michael-wilbon-hints-kim-mulkey-left-baylor-conservative\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/espns-michael-wilbon-hints-kim-mulkey-left-baylor-conservative\/\",\"name\":\"ESPN\u2019s Michael Wilbon Hints That Kim Mulkey Left Baylor Because She Was Too Conservative - 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