Kim Mulkey, the women’s basketball coach at LSU, is irate over what she calls a “hit piece” about her — which is said to be very close to publication.
During a wild news conference Saturday in Baton Rouge ahead of her team’s second round NCAA Tournament game, Mulkey excoriated the Washington Post — claiming one of their reporters gave her an unrealistic deadline to respond to a series of questions for the article.
“This reporter has been working on a story about me for two years,” Mulkey said. “After two years of trying to get me to sit with him for an interview he contacts LSU on Tuesday as we were getting ready for the first round game of this tournament with more than a dozen questions — demanding a response by Thursday, right before we’re scheduled to tip off. Are you kidding me?!”
The LSU coach said some of her ex-players have alerted her that the Post tried to get them to participate in their report.
“Former players have told me that the Washington Post has contacted them and offered to let them be anonymous in a story if they’ll say negative things about me,” Mulkey said. “The Washington Post has called former disgruntled players to get negative quotes to include in their story. They’re ignoring the 40-plus years of positive stories that they have heard from people about me.”
It seems unlikely that any positive stories will come from one notable Mulkey ex-player — Brittney Griner. Mulkey came under fire after a press conference in 2022 for not offering a public statement of support for Griner — who spent nearly a year in a Russian jail for possessing less than a single gram of hashish oil.
The coach went on to threaten a defamation lawsuit against the Post.
“This is exactly why people don’t trust journalists and the media anymore,” Mulkey said. “It’s these kinds of sleazy tactics and hatchet jobs that people are just tired of. I’m fed up and I’m not going to let the Washington Post attack this University, this awesome team of young women I have, or me without a fight. I’ve hired the best defamation law firm in the country and I will sue the Washington Post if they publish a false story about me. Not many people are in a position to
hold these kind of journalists accountable but I am.”
