“We just have a personality within this team that people wanna turn a TV on and watch for a lot of different reasons.”
That was LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey’s assessment of her national championship-winning Tigers during her appearance on WWL Radio with Newell Normand, and the numbers back her up.
LSU’s national championship game matchup against Iowa absolutely crushed the former record-high ratings for women’s college basketball and flew past some other major sporting events as well.
The game’s 9.9 million viewer average on ABC and 12.6 million viewer peak across all platforms even bested several of last college football season’s major bowl games.
Normand asked Mulkey if some of that was due to her own personal flashy style while coaching.
“We are reaching people that don’t give a flip about sports or even women’s basketball, but if it will sell a ticket, if it will have them look at a game, then I’m doing my part,” Mulkey said, adding, “As they grow into following me and whatever I’m wearing, I hope they learn something about the game of basketball.”
There’s no doubt that Mulkey’s Tigers were a masterclass in melding strong mindsets to reach a team goal, with the vast majority of players new to the team this season.
“We did it somewhat our way, but we did it the right way,” Mulkey said. “I’ve got some strong personaliies on this team, but they knew they were coming to play for a strong personality coach that was gonna hold them accountable, discipline them, but not take away their opinions, not take away their beliefs, and not take away who they are.”
You can hear Mulkey’s entire chat with Newell Normand by clicking the link above.
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