Love her or hate her, there's no denying Kim Mulkey's stature as a giant of collegiate sports and women's basketball.
So much so, in fact, that the Tigers head coach was parodied during the cold open of a recent episode of "Saturday Night Live," with cast regular Heidi Gardner pulling the assignment.
Check out the full segment below. Can't see the video? Click here.
The bit kicks off with a satirical episode of the NCAA Tournament analysis show that features hosts Ernie Johnson (James Austin Johnson), Kenny Smith (Devon Walker) and Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson).
Mulkey, portrayed by Garnder, arrives on the show in one of the coach's trademark looks -- this one a pink jacket with feathers and frills -- and hits jokes that include that she looks like "the Riddler went to Talbots," and has "resting QAnon face," all in an exaggerated Southern accent.
The bit also poked fun at how the men's NCAA Tournament seems to have taken a backseat to the women's tourney, which was won by South Carolina on Sunday. Mulkey's character, along with Barkley's character, made jokes that indicated they weren't even aware who was playing.
Related
The Mulkey star treatment is nothing particularly new, as she's been a polarizing and highly successful figure in women's college basketball for years. But her stewardship of the LSU women's program and some of the many stars in that group, particularly Angel Reese, have drawn headlines and attention at every stop since winning the national title in 2023. This year's group had their title defense stopped in the Elite Eight against Iowa and superstar Caitlin Clark. Mulkey was also the post of a long-form Washington Post article during the tournament, which she threatened with litigation prior to publication should it feature any false claims. She has not stated whether she intended to follow through on that threat.
The team was also the subject to a since-edited L.A. Times column that described both LSU and the Tigers opponent UCLA with sexist and offensive language. That language has since been scrubbed from the article, but not before a stern rebuke from Mulkey and members of the LSU team. Both the writer and outlet have issued apologies.
LSU has also been central to a manufactured controversy surrounding the national anthem that has been pushed by Gov. Jeff Landry, who opposed the idea of teams not being on the court for the National Anthem. The issue was raised after it was pointed out that LSU was not on the court during the anthem prior to their Elite Eight game against Iowa, a practice that has been the case all season as the team readies for its games, and is common across college sports.