2016-17 BAYLOR WOMEN’S BASKETBALL @BAYLORWBB COACHING STAFF Griner became Baylor’s first No. 1 WNBA Draft selection when the Phoenix Mercury selected her in 2013. Young was selected No. 4 by the San Antonio Silver Stars in 2006. In 2007, Bernice Mosby became Mulkey’s fourth first-round WNBA draft pick when the Washington Mystics made her the fourth player selected overall. In 2008, Angela Tisdale was drafted by the Chicago Sky and Jessica Morrow was selected by the Atlanta Dream in 2009, while Brooklyn Pope was drafted in 2013 by the Chicago Sky. In 2013, the Tulsa Shock selected Odyssey Sims was the draft’s No. 3 pick. All told, under Mulkey, 10 players have been drafted by WNBA teams, KIM MULKEY including six first-round selections. HEAD COACH • 17TH SEASON Not only has Baylor’s progress registered on the national level, local LOUISIANA TECH, 1984 fans have taken notice, too. The Lady Bears continue to break all-time attendance records and annually rank among the nation’s top 25 in NCAA Success = Kim Mulkey. No matter what she’s attempted in basketball, women’s basketball attendance, including seven top-10 finishes, rank- whether it be on the court or along the sideline, Mulkey has found success. ing a program-high No. 4 in 2012-13, No. 8 four times (2005-06, 2009-10, In just 16 seasons as a head coach, she has attained 473 career victories and 2013-14 and 2014-15) and sixth in both 2010-11 and 2011-12. For the past ranks No. 2 among the winningest active Division I head coaches (.837) 10 seasons the Lady Bears have eclipsed the 100,000 fan mark at home. In and No. 4 all-time by percentage. Only one person, her mentor Leon Bar- 2011-12, Baylor drew a Ferrell Center record-breaking 166,593 fans and in more, attained the 400-win milestone quicker. It took Barmore 13 seasons 2012-13 set an average attendance record of 9,160 fans per game. In fact, and three games to accumulate 400 wins, while Mulkey achieved it in 13 since Mulkey’s arrival, some 1,797,639 fans have come through the Ferrell years and 32 games. Center doors. When the Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer accepted the position as In her first season as a head coach, Mulkey returned the Lady Bear Baylor University’s head women’s basketball coach on April 4, 2000, few program to the national spotlight. She took a team that was 7-20 in 1999- could have predicted the dramatic and prestigious transformation the pro- 2000 and 12th (2-12) in the Big 12 and molded it into a cohesive, confident gram was about to undergo. Inheriting a program that was 7-20 in the year unit that finished sixth (9-7) in the Big 12 and earned the school’s first-ever prior to her arrival and had registered 13 losing seasons in the 17 previous NCAA Tournament berth. Baylor, along with four other schools, posted years, Mulkey has transformed the Lady Bears into a national power. The the biggest turnaround in NCAA Division I with a 14-game improvement, former Olympic Gold medalist has twice guided the Lady Bear basketball going from 7-20 to 21-9. In addition, the Baylor squad was ranked in the program to the pinnacle of women’s basketball, the 2005 and 2012 NCAA AP top 25 poll for six weeks, climbing as high as No. 20 and finished the national championships, 15 NCAA Tournament appearances, 16, 20-win season ranked No. 23. seasons, 14, 25-win efforts, seven, 30-win campaigns and an NCAA record Baylor’s second season under Mulkey produced even better results. The 40 victories and a perfect 2011-12 season. In addition, over the past 13 sea- team finished 27-6 and ranked No. 7 in The Associated Press’ final ranking. COACHES & STAFF sons, Mulkey has led the Lady Bears to three Final Four appearances (2005, For the first time in program history, the Lady Bears were selected to host ‘10, `12) and a Big 12 record 15 Big 12 Conference titles. NCAA Tournament games. Baylor hosted first and second round games The 2005 national title was Baylor’s first for a women’s team sport, and and set a Lady Bear attendance record when 10,074 fans packed the Ferrell just the second in school history overall. In winning the 2005 title, Mulkey Center for Baylor’s second-round game against Drake. In fact, the Waco became the first person, man or woman, to win a basketball national cham- first and second rounds ranked second nationally in attendance compared pionship as a student-athlete, assistant coach and head coach. to other sites. En route to the 2005 NCAA championship, the Lady Bears won their Her third season proved to be her most challenging. Working with a first Big 12 Conference championship and were the league’s tournament 2002-03 team that returned only one starter and listed only three upper- champion, too. In 2009, the Lady Bears added to the trophy case with an- classmen on its roster, Mulkey guided her young squad to a 24-11 record other Big 12 Tournament crown, claimed both the 2011 regular season and and after being snubbed by the NCAA selection committee, the Lady tournament crowns and captured the 2012 regular season title by a record Bears advanced to the WNIT finals. In the championship game, SEC rival seven games over second-place finishers Oklahoma and Texas A&M and Auburn narrowly defeated the Lady Bears, 64-63. again earned the tournament crown. The Lady Bears duplicated the feat in Year four yielded even more success for Baylor women’s basketball. the 2012-13 season, winning both crowns, and became the first team to win Mulkey guided the Lady Bears to the program’s first-ever NCAA Sweet three straight conference tournament titles and five all-told. In 2013-14, 16, where they lost to tradition-rich Tennessee (71-69) on a controversial Baylor claimed its fourth straight Big 12 regular season title becoming the last-second call. Baylor finished the season at 26-9, was ranked No. 15 in first league school to achieve that feat and claimed its fourth straight and the AP’s final poll and achieved its then-highest finish ever in the coaches sixth overall tournament crown. The 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons have poll at No. 11. produced more hardware for the trophy case as BU swept the regular The 2004-05 season was Mulkey’s breakthrough year. The squad posted season and tournament crowns both years. a 33-3 record and claimed the Big 12 Conference title with a 14-2 mark. In 2012, Mulkey swept all Coach of the Year awards, winning WBCA, En route to the NCAA championship, the Lady Bears defeated three No. USBWA, Associated Press, Naismith and Big 12 Conference honors. 1 seeds. Steffanie Blackmon and Young were both named All-Americans Since coming into the league in 2000-01, Mulkey ranks as the Big 12’s with Young becoming Baylor’s third WBCA All-American. Blackmon winningest coach by both victories (473) and percentage (.837). became BU’s third WNBA draftee when the Seattle Storm selected her. In Mulkey has guided the Lady Bears to 16 postseason appearances, addition to earning Big 12 Coach of the Year honors, Mulkey received the including 15 NCAA Tournaments and a trip to the 2003 WNIT finals. In New York Athletic Club’s prestigious Winged Foot Award. 2004, the Lady Bears made their first trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 and have After losing two starters off the 2005 NCAA championship squad, now played in nine Sweet 16s, six Elite Eights and three Final Fours. In Mulkey guided the 2005-06 Lady Bears to a 26-7 record and a 12-4 Big 12 2001, Sheila Lambert was a Kodak All-American and was awarded the mark, good for a second place league finish and a final AP ranking of No. Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, which recognized the nation’s best 10. Year six under Mulkey also produced the program’s first two-time player 5-8 or under. Odyssey Sims won the award in 2014, Mulkey was the WBCA All-American and Big 12 Player of the Year in Young. award’s inaugural winner in 1984. Fielding a 2006-07 team that featured eight underclassmen on the Under Mulkey’s tutelage, Sophia Young became the program’s first 11-member roster, the team’s 26-7 record was an impressive achievement. two-time Kodak All-American and also the school’s first AP All-American Led by Mosby, the Lady Bears were again selected to the NCAA Tourna- and Brittney Griner garnered the program’s first national Freshman of the ment and finished third in the perennially tough Big 12 Conference with Year honor (2010) and National Player of the Year kudos (2012 and `13) an 11-5 mark. As a team, the Lady Bears led the nation in blocked shots and Sims followed in 2011. Griner also earned the program’s first Honda with 7.2 a contest. Baylor finished the year ranked No. 19 in the AP poll Cup award. Griner and Sims were both winners of the prestigious Wade and No. 20 in the coaches poll. Trophy. In addition, Baylor landed its first-ever players in the WNBA Facing the 2007-08 season with, for the first time, no dominant scorer when Lambert and Danielle Crockrom were each drafted in the first round and rebounder returning, Mulkey guided the squad to an impressive after the 2001 season and Steffanie Blackmon was drafted in 2005.