(CNN) Muffet McGraw is in her ninth Final Four as Notre Dame's head women's basketball coach. She has won two national championships, including a thriller last season. On Thursday in Tampa, she spoke about much more than basketball, talking at length about women's issues. "I'm getting tired of the novelty of the first female governor of this state, the first female African American mayor of this city," McGraw said. "When is it going to become the norm instead of the exception? How are these young women looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future? We don't have enough female role models. We don't have enough visible women leaders. We don't have enough women in power. "Girls are socialized to know when they come out, gender rules are already set. Men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. It's always the man that is the stronger one." McGraw directs a practice session Thursday in Tampa. The Fighting Irish face UConn on Friday. McGraw, in her 32nd season as head coach of the Fighting Irish, was later asked why she was coming forward and speaking up so strongly now. Read More<doc-sep>TAMPA, Fla. — Kim Mulkey started this remarkable day. The Baylor coach was the most intense of All-American point guards back in the day at Louisiana Tech. She knows plenty about the perils of competition. So when Mulkey was asked about Geno Auriemma and Muffet McGraw, the fiercest rivals in women’s college basketball, she was quick to underscore how striving to be the best can create animosity. “Listen, we would all be best friends if we weren’t coaching,” said Mulkey, who was later in the day named AP Coach of the Year. “Hell, some of us may be married to each other if we weren’t coaching.” “I could see us being friends, but I could not see us being married,” McGraw said. “So the answer is no, if he’s proposing.” Geno wasn’t proposing. “You think Tom Izzo has to deal with this crap?” Auriemma said. “I don’t think Coach K was ever asked a question like that at the Final Four … “I wouldn’t marry me either.” If you are looking at the smoothest transition from silly to serious, from individual relationships to sweeping societal issues, you’ve come to the wrong column. Yet to avoid any of it is to lose the texture of this Thursday, to miss out on what drives the Type A personalities of the human species to be great and contentious, funny, petty and, when put in front of sports media asking disparate questions, capable of scattering a national conversation in several directions. Auriemma said he learned to speak English at age 8 and never shut up. Back then nobody listened to him. Now people do. They listen to another national sports figure, too. Given the ineloquence of her simple “no” when asked by ThinkProgress whether she would ever hire a male for her staff — a criticism I stand by — it’s important to give McGraw’s full response to a question concerning her hiring practices and the gravity of her intent. The Notre Dame coach shook down the thunder. “Did you know that the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced in 1967 and it still hasn’t passed?” McGraw said. “We need 38 states to agree that discrimination on the basis of sex is unconstitutional. We’ve had a record number of women running for office and winning and still we have 23 percent of the House and 25 percent of the Senate. “I’m getting tired of the novelty of the first female governor of this state, the first female African-American mayor of this city. When is it going to become the norm instead of the exception? How are these young women looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future? We don’t have enough female role models. We don’t have enough visible women leaders. We don’t have enough women in power. “Men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. It’s always the man that is the stronger one. When these girls are coming out, who are they looking up to, to tell them that’s not the way it has to be? Where better to do that than in sports? All these millions of girls that play sports across the country, we’re teaching them great things about life skills, but wouldn’t it be great if we could teach them to watch how women lead? “This is a path for you to take to get to the point where in this country we have 50 percent of women in power. We have right now less than 5 percent of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. When you look at men’s basketball, 99 percent of the jobs go to men; why shouldn’t 100 or 99 percent of the jobs in women’s basketball go to women? Maybe it’s because we only have 10 percent women athletic directors in Division I. People hire people who look like them. That’s the problem.” I don’t believe in 100 to 0 in hiring practices, all or nothing, forever or never, McGraw’s “no.” Two wrongs will never make a right. Yet this was a moment when even the most jaded would admit that a national sports figure, her voice shaking, took a national stand. It was impressive. “Women across the country in the last few years have just said enough,” McGraw said. “Time’s up. It is our turn. “We have the Equal Pay Act. Women are making 77 cents on the dollar. That’s just white women. Women of color are lagging way further behind. We need more diversity in our game.” McGraw had gained control of the day’s serious narrative. Geno knew it. On the silly stuff, the conversation had strayed too far for his taste. And he let it be known. “I find (it) a little bit disconcerting the attention is always taken away from the game and the players and it’s turned onto the personalities of the involved coaches,” he said. “God forbid one coach is a man, the other coach is a woman. There always has to be some kind of friction, tension. “I think it’s crazy. It’s like when you watch a women’s basketball game on TV, they talk more about the shoes that the coach is wearing. We want to be taken seriously. Let’s talk about the game. Let’s not talk about the other nonsense that’s on TMZ.” Auriemma insists people place disproportionate importance on what he thinks. “I don’t understand that,” he said. “It’s like people putting their whole life on Instagram. ‘I’m in the supermarket, look what I’m buying.’ Who gives a spit?” We’re mixing the absurd and the profound here, something Auriemma is wont to do, and we need to be careful. He stressed he supports those who speak up in favor of advancing a segment of the community. He points out he never has had a male assistant coach. “But I just like to think that there’s a way to do one without the expense of another,” Auriemma said. “What are we saying, Oregon (shouldn’t) advance women’s basketball or women by hiring Kelly Graves? They should have just found the best available woman? “I just think they should hire good coaches. If your preference is only to hire women, that’s fine. If your preference is only to have an all-male staff, that’s fine. Do what’s best for your program.” McGraw said women don’t do what’s best for themselves. “Guys have that down,” she said. “They help each other. They know how the system works. We don’t. Women need to have more confidence and apply for jobs. We wait to be asked. It goes back to high school when you’re waiting to be asked to the prom. We want somebody to pursue us rather than really going for it.” At one point, the subject had turned to golf. McGraw said they once played together and Auriemma is really good. “I don’t think we kept score,” McGraw said. “Probably each kept it individually in our heads and we both won.” “She gets so mad if she can’t hit the ball by me,” Auriemma said back at the 2001 Final Four. “And then she goes, ‘Man, I killed it. I’m 20 yards past you.’ I go, ‘Muff, the (women’s) tee you’re playing from is 60 yards in front of mine.’ She doesn’t care. If she makes a double-bogey and you make eight, she’s thrilled. At least she beat you.” In a recent espnW story, McGraw said Auriemma needed someone to “bully.” She said Auriemma tried Pat Summitt and then her. The UConn coach bristled. “I think if I was that type, I think it would have come up a lot sooner than now,” Auriemma said. “I would challenge anybody anywhere in America to dig up somebody that says, ‘Coach Auriemma bullied me.’ I dare you. Bring it up and tell me their name.” jeff.jacobs @hearstmediact.com; @jeffjacobs123<doc-sep>
Charles Curtis For The Win On the verge of possibly coaching the Irish to back-to-back women's NCAA basketball championships, Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw was asked a question by a journalist that led to a powerful two-minute speech on women's equality at Thursday's Final Four news conference in Tampa. McGraw, who recently vowed never to hire another male coach, was asked, "How important, as your career has gone on and we've lost (former Tennessee coach) Pat Summitt, how seriously do you take being that voice?" McGraw, whose Fighting Irish face Geno Auriemma's No. 2 seed University of Connecticut, nodded, took a moment and leaned into the microphone to deliver this answer that proved just how serious she was: "Did you know that the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced in 1967 and still hasn't passed? We need 38 states to agree that discrimination on the basis of sex is unconstitutional. We've had a record number of women running for office and winning, and still we have 23 percent of the House and 25 percent of the Senate. "I'm getting tired of the novelty of the first female governor of this state, the first female African-American mayor of this city. When is it going to become the norm instead of the exception? "How are these young women looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future? We don't have enough female role models, we don't have enough visible women leaders, we don't have enough women in power. Girls are socialized to know when they come out, gender roles are already set. "Men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. It's always the men that is the stronger one. And when these girls are coming up, who are they looking up to to tell them that that's not the way it has to be? And where better to do that than in sports? All these millions of girls who play sports across the country, they could come out every day, and we're teaching them some great things about life skills. But wouldn't it be great if we could teach them to watch how women lead? This is the path for you to take, to get to the point where, in this country, we have 50 percent of women in power. Right now, less than 5 percent of women are CEOs in Fortune 500 companies. "So yes, when you look at men's basketball and 99 percent of the jobs go to men, why shouldn't 100 or 99 percent of the jobs in women's basketball go to women? Maybe it's because we only have 10 percent women athletic directors in Division I. People hire people who look like them, and that's the problem."