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Kim Mulkey, the pinnacle coach of Louisiana State College‘s ladies’s basketball workforce, was on the defensive Saturday, threatening authorized motion towards The Washington Submit for what she described as a forthcoming “hit piece,” the most recent controversy Mulkey has discovered herself within the heart of.
LSU basketball coach Kim Mulkey threatened authorized motion towards the Washington Submit was a narrative the … [+]
AP/Gerald HerbertKey Information
Earlier this yr, Mulkey appeared to criticize Caitlin Clark—the Iowa College star and all-time NCAA scoring chief—saying LSU didn’t have gamers “taking pictures 40 instances a sport,” and whereas Mulkey didn’t point out Clark, it appeared clear she was speaking in regards to the rival participant on one other high workforce.
LSU and the College of South Carolina brawled throughout an SEC championship sport earlier this yr, however whereas South Carolina’s head coach apologized for her workforce’s habits, Mulkey didn’t, and as an alternative stated she wished South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso, who pushed an LSU participant, had shoved LSU’s Angel Reese, who is way taller.
In March 2021—because the pandemic nonetheless raged—she criticized the COVID-19 testing coverage put in place throughout the March Insanity event that yr and argued the event ought to “dump” the testing protocols in order that the entire gamers may compete within the event’s closing video games.
A month later, throughout her first press convention as head coach at LSU, Mulkey dramatically ripped her “rattling masks” off, saying she had “lots to say.”
In 2017, Mulkey then publicly dismissed a sexual misconduct scandal at Baylor College, the place she was coach, saying “the issues that we’ve got at Baylor are not any totally different than the issues at every other faculty in America,” however after many criticized her remarks as insensitive to victims, she later apologized.
In 2013, ESPN printed a report that stated Mulkey urged her former basketball participant, Brittney Griner, to cover her sexuality whereas she performed at Baylor College, with Griner telling the sports activities outlet, “the coaches thought if it appeared like they condoned it, folks wouldn’t let their youngsters play for Baylor.”
When Griner was detained in Russia whereas enjoying in a world basketball league Mulkey refused to touch upon her former participant’s detention.
Information Peg
Mulkey learn a ready assertion Saturday forward of LSU’s NCAA event sport accusing a Washington Submit reporter of making ready a adverse piece on her, of tricking her former assistant coaches into talking with him, and providing anonymity to former gamers who “say adverse issues about [Mulkey].” The LSU coach stated she employed a regulation agency to sue the Submit if “they publish a false story about me.” She accused the reporter of imposing a “ridiculous deadline” on her and LSU to reply questions for the story they might not meet due to NCAA finals. Although she didn’t identify the reporter, Submit reporter Kent Babb confirmed to the Related Press he was engaged on a narrative about Mulkey.
Essential Quote
“It’s these sorts of sleazy techniques and hatchet jobs that individuals are simply bored with,” Mulkey stated.
Tangent
Mulkey has been the pinnacle coach at LSU for the previous three years and helped earn the college its first nationwide title in both males’s or ladies’s basketball in 2023. Earlier than that, she spent greater than 20 years at Baylor College as a head coach and received three nationwide titles. In 2020, she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame.
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