The inspiration behind Muffet McGraw's viral moment from 2019

We now know what lit the fuse that rocketed former Notre Dame women’s basketball head coach Muffet McGraw into a different stratosphere when it comes to speaking loudly and proudly for the equal rights of women.

>Before the disclosure, some details from that day seven years ago.

>It was April 2019, backstage at Amalie Arena in downtown Tampa, Florida. Notre Dame was making its ninth NCAA Tournament Final Four and was two wins from repeating as national champions. The day before yet another memorable meeting with Connecticut in one national semifinal, McGraw was asked a two-part question during her media session.

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>Someone wondered about the hiring practices around women’s college basketball, then asked if the game needed a strong voice since the 2016 death of Tennessee coaching legend Pat Summit. McGraw opened with a comment about the Equal Rights Amendment. She talked of sex discrimination. She mentioned the number of women who had run for office and won.

>She didn’t know what she was saying.

>“Yeah, that surprised even me,” McGraw told the Tribune in an exclusive early-May 2026 conversation that touched on a wide variety of topics before, during and after her 38-year college coaching career. “I had read some report earlier that year about women in leadership and had all these stats. I don’t know what I was preparing for, but it was all in my head.”

>It was about to come rushing out like a faucet turned on full blast — water everywhere. Words everywhere. The opening remarks were already stunning given the stage, but she was just getting started.

>“I didn’t know where that was going,” McGraw said. “In the middle of it, I was like, ‘How am I going to get off this topic? How will it end?’”

>With strong words from a strong advocate of equal rights for women. Sitting at the front of the room under a bank of bright/blinding lights, McGraw never blinked. She doubled down. Tripled, even.

>“I’m getting tired of this novelty of the first female governor of this state, the first female African American mayor of this city,” McGraw said that day. “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.”

>The video clip went viral almost immediately. One day before beating Connecticut for the 13th and final time in her career, four days before taking her team to the national championship game for a seventh and final time, this was McGraw.

>Blame it on her husband, Matt. Kind of.

>Earlier this month, McGraw explained how the Irish traveling party had arrived in Tampa that 2019 day. Notre Dame had some down time before being required to be at the arena for media obligations, so the McGraws checked into their room at the Tampa Marriott Water Street.

>When they entered their suite and turned on the television, a message appeared on the screen.

>“Welcome Matt McGraw.”

>That was it. Not “Welcome, Muffet McGraw” or “Welcome Hall of Fame Coach.” Or even “Welcome Notre Dame.” She may have settled for “Welcome, McGraws.”

>Welcome, Matt McGraw.

>It was a sign that it still was a man’s world and that she was just living in it.

>“I lost it,” McGraw said. “That was the catalyst.”

>Honestly, it may have been the final piece to the equal rights puzzle. For 18 years, when Notre Dame was a member of the Big East, the McGraws traveled to the spring meetings in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. And every year when they checked into their room, it was the same situation as Tampa.

>Welcome, Matt McGraw.

>“There had always been little moments like that,” McGraw said. “But that one that day in Tampa was the topper.”

>Eventually, the conversation was steered back to basketball, but McGraw’s message was clear. If there was something to say about gender equality, she was going to say it. She did that day. She believes in it to this one.

>That day, McGraw’s voice became the norm, not the exception.

>Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com

>This was part three of a three-part series of stories on Muffet McGraw as part of an ongoing "America 250" celebration by USA Today Company, spotlighting sports figures who have made an impact in the communities we cover. The first part covered her Hall of Fame career as Notre Dame women's basketball head coach, with part two being a wide-ranging Q&A about current sports and world topics. You can find both parts online at southbendtribune.com and ndinsider.com.

>This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Muffet McGraw women's equality speech from 2019, revisited