Monica Lake | Lariat Photographer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Baylor basketball coach Kim Mulkey was suspended for her team’s next NCAA tournament game for criticizing the officiating following a loss to Louisville last spring.
The NCAA on Monday also reprimanded Mulkey and withheld Baylor’s team championship per diem from the regional round.
After Louisville upset top-seeded Baylor 82-81 in March, Mulkey said the game was far too physical and she singled out the officials.
“I thought that all three of them, if they go past this round of officiating, it will be sad for the game,” she said then. “I thought the two critical calls at the end of the game were really bad.”
The NCAA said it was issuing a more severe penalty because Mulkey is a repeat offender. She was reprimanded in 2011 for criticizing the NCAA for the decision to put the Lady Bears in the same tournament bracket with Texas A&M, a team it had faced three times already that season. The Aggies beat Baylor on their way to the national title.
The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee said the “latest misconduct act by Mulkey” warranted the more stringent suspension.
“The committee unanimously felt that the behavior of Coach Mulkey was unacceptable and has no place in the women’s basketball championship,” said Carolayne Henry, committee chair and senior associate commissioner for the Mountain West Conference.
