Baylor women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey was apologetic for her controversial comments this weekend in which she said of the school's critics to "knock them in the face."
Following her 500th career victory, which saw Baylor down Texas Tech for its 27th win of the season to clinch the Big 12 title, Mulkey was handed a microphone to address the crowd in attendance. She showed frustration with the school's national blackeye that stemmed from the football program's sexual assault scandal, which cost ex-football coach Art Briles and many others their jobs.
"If somebody around you and they say, 'I will never send my daughter to Baylor,' you knock them right in the face," Mulkey said to a crowd of Bears' faithful on Saturday. "Because these kids are on this campus. I work here. My daughter went to school here...And it's the damn best school in America."
Mulkey told espnW.com that the "knock them in the face" comment was "not literal" and that her postgame remarks "did not express exactly what I was trying to say."
"I was trying to make a point, to be firm in what you are saying back at them. I'm not a violent person. I apologize for the very poor choice of words," Mulkey said.
Mulkey's comments, while out of pride for the school she's worked at for the past 17 years, were likely fitting for her audience — of Baylor's alumni and fanbase — but outside that sphere she was harshly criticized due to the gravity of the sexual assault scandal. Among the most recent lawsuits included allegations of more than 50 acts of rape by dozens of football players in four years, Briles asking why an alleged rape victim would hang out with "bad dudes," and coaches encouraging female students in a hostess group to have sex with recruits.
Kim Mulkey sounds off on recent national scrutiny about #Baylor and female student safety on campus after Lady Bears' win. pic.twitter.com/Jy8YUDhtBW
— John Elizondo (@JohnElizondo25) February 25, 2017
"Not only do I sympathize with victims, I am angry about the way victims were treated at this university," Mulkey told espnW. "It is horrible, horrible anytime someone does not take care of a victim. Even one sexual assault is too many."
She further clarified her intent, saying: "My point was, 'Please don't paint, with a broad brush, the women at Baylor. I didn't think about what I was going to say. I looked at my players, and the little girls and the women who are cheering for them. And I spoke with a lot of emotion."
Mulkey's subsequent postgame remarks also were controversial. She told espnW.com those were based off a reporter digging for a story in the news conference.
"Just tired of hearing it. I'm tired of people talking about it on a national scale," she said Saturday. "They don't know what they're talking about. If they didn't sit in those meetings and they weren't a part of the investigation, then you're repeating things that you've heard. It's over, it's done. And this is a great institution. And I would send my daughter here. And I would pay for anybody's else's daughter to come here. I work here every day. I'm in the know. I'm tired of hearing it. This is a great institution. The problems we have at Baylor are no different than the problems of any other school in America. Period. Move on. Find another story to write."
Mulkey further clarified her intent, saying: "My point was, 'Please don't paint, with a broad brush, the women at Baylor. I didn't think about what I was going to say. I looked at my players, and the little girls and the women who are cheering for them. And I spoke with a lot of emotion."
Mulkey said she did not intend for the remarks to mean that the victims should "move on."
"Nobody is dismissing what happened here. I want us to get to the bottom of it," Mulkey said. "I will never, ever support anybody at this university that dismisses what happens to victims or who doesn't help victims. ...But I don't think that everybody at Baylor should be put under an umbrella as all being a part of the things that happened. I can't fathom anybody not helping someone who is a victim of that type of crime. I don't condone it."
