“It’s Not Easy”: Kim Mulkey Breaks Silence Over NIL Chaos at LSU

In 2021, Kim Mulkey arrived at LSU, and it felt like a homecoming. But little did she know, a new kind of opponent was quietly rising. And no, it wasn’t another coaching legend or powerhouse team. It was a two-headed beast in sneakers: the transfer portal and NIL. Together, they promised to revolutionize the game—but instead, they’ve left many feeling like the sport has been engulfed. As Greg Peterson once put it, “It should be a news story when someone doesn’t enter the transfer portal rather than when they do… I don’t think I’m overestimating that there’s more guys in the portal than not.”

Fair enough. With a locker room built on grit and no-nonsense pep talks, the fiery LSU Tigers head coach holds an 85.9% career win rate, with 28 players drafted to the pros, 9 conference regular-season titles, 8 conference tournament championships, and 4 NCAA championships. But as the offseason unfolded, Mulkey watched six players pack their bags—including all five starters. An ouch moment for sure. The sting runs deeper when you remember her 2011–12 Baylor Bears squad that went undefeated, with all but two players sticking with her for their entire college careers. That was the norm back then: recruit them as freshmen and build a legacy together.

So, in a recent conversation with host Gordon on the GetGordon podcast, Mulkey was again candid about the NIL chaos surrounding the Tigers. She was probably even more weary after UConn swooped in and snatched her transfer target Serah Williams. Breaking her silence on the issue, she said, “It’s not easy, but I said to myself if I’m going to stay in this business, you have to surround yourself with youth because we get set in our ways. And yet, I still wanted to win. So, I have to stay abreast of all the changes- I can’t absorb all that, so you kind of delegate that to your coaches. And you have trust in them that they are going to help you stay up to date, keep you in the game longer.”

To be honest, this time, she seemed wearier than before. However, one could also tell that she has no plans of giving up. “I’m not qualified really to talk to a person about collective money. I’m not qualified to do that. I just want to coach, but I understand, as I’ve said many times- I either need to adapt or I need to retire. And I feel like I still have a lot of energy. I feel like I have a lot left in me. So if I’m not going to absorb it and learn all of it, I need to make sure the people surrounding me do when we’ve been successful,” Mulkey added. 

The thing is, when the transfer portal launched in 2018, it wasn’t complete chaos. Players left for all kinds of reasons—most of them rooted in personal growth, fresh starts, or just needing a new locker room vibe. But then came 2021, and with it, the NIL era. Suddenly, it wasn’t just about growth—it was about financial growth. That’s exactly where Kim Mulkey has always raised an eyebrow. “They don’t get in the portal because they don’t like you or they’re not playing. It’s, ‘Hey, got to go get some more money, some better NIL deals. ‘ It’s broken, guys,” she said a few weeks ago. 

Now, whether that’s entirely true or not is up for debate. What’s not up for debate? Out of the eight teams that reached this year’s Final Fours—men’s and women’s combined—seven were No. 1 seeds from Power Five conferences. That’s the NIL effect in swing for you, as many argue. Big schools with deep-pocketed alumni and booster clubs can now, quite literally, buy themselves a better shot at winning. The result? The rich keep getting richer, the poor keep wondering if they still have a shot, and underdog stories might soon be shelved next to fairy tales. As for coaches? They’ll be somewhere under a pile of scouting reports, wondering if passion alone can still win championships.

Sure, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons has a point—he says he doesn’t mind watching top schools battle it out because he’s in it for the quality of play. But what about the madness that makes it March Madness? What makes March Madness truly mad isn’t perfect basketball—it’s that rare, beautiful tournament where David doesn’t just show up… he sometimes dunks on Goliath. And if we lose that? Well, we’re running a risk of being left with March Mildly Competitive.

But what’s keeping Mulkey afloat isn’t just the support from fellow LSU coaches—it’s her players too, the kind that many now call a dying breed.

Kim Mulkey on NIL deals and rising popularity of players

Thankfully, in the world of smart phones, there are some flip phones too. You can take Paige Bueckers, for example. Or if you want someone closer to Mulkey’s heart, then look no further than Flau’jae Johnson and Angel Reese. The kind of players coaches mold, the ones who stick it out and build something real, are becoming harder to find in today’s game. But whatever it will take to keep her program thriving, Mulkey is ready to do it all. And thankfully, she has the recipe down pat.

“Sometimes I have to pinch myself and think about LSU. The number of student-athletes through the years, their brands were formulated at LSU, and they still are used in their careers today. It’s not something you work at; it’s just something about LSU that creates. I think it starts with the fans, the donors, the coaches who allow them to be who they are,” Mulkey said.

Praising Flau’jae Johnson and Angel Reese’s growing popularity on the podcast, Mulkey described how the NIL works. The two were able to transform into celebrities not by jumping ships, but by signing the right brands. According to her, the athletes should create their own brands through the deals provided.

Mulkey especially sees Johnson as the blueprint for what NIL was meant to be: players taking the reins, not leaning on schools to bankroll their fame. “If you were going to write a description of what NIL was really supposed to be about, all you’d have to do is write her name next to it”.

Adding to that, she said, “You’d have to write Angel Reese’s name next to it. Livvy Dunne. Yeah, they don’t have a handout from LSU on ‘give me an exorbitant amount of money’. NIL is- Go and create your own brand- get an agent, in Flau’jae’s case manager, and get these national companies to pay you to represent them. That is what it was supposed to be about. Then collectives got involved, and you’ve got athletes that think it’s supposed to be about what the school pays. So, I have so much respect for what FJ does because it fits her personality, and she’s just taken full advantage of it.“

Whether it is the NIL deals or the transfer portals, the recent attitudes toward staying in a program have been changing in the last couple of years. And it remains to be seen how coach Mulkey and the other NCAA teams will catch up with these changing trends.