Profile of LSU’s Kim Mulkey details family, player rifts،
ALBANY, N.Y. — Hours before LSU tips off its Sweet 16 game against UCLA on Saturday, the Washington Post published its highly anticipated profile of coach Kim Mulkey, painting a portrait of a complex woman with a singular drive and implacable loyalty that alienated some. members of his family and had an impact on his coaching style.
The story touches on every aspect of his life, including his upbringing in rural Louisiana, his estrangement from his father and sister, his coaching style and the impact it has on his players. It also details some of his controversies, such as Mulkey's relationships with a number of gay players, including Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia for 294 days in 2022.
Mulkey was unaware of the story's publication when she spoke to ESPN's Holly Rowe before Saturday's game. “You’re telling me something I didn’t know,” Mulkey said. “So you are the bearer of good news or bad news, or however you want to see it.
“Are you really surprised? Are you really surprised by the timing,” Mulkey responded rhetorically. “But I can tell you I haven't read it, I don't know if I will. I'll leave that to my lawyers.”
Speaking after the game, a 78-69 LSU victory, Mulkey reiterated that she hadn't seen the story and again asked when it was published. When told it was a few hours before the alert, she replied: “Imagine that. You must have thought you were going to watch it, get a few clicks or be a distraction. I haven't read it and probably won't read it. …I'll probably have my lawyers contact me to see if there's anything in there that we need to be concerned about.
All eyes were on the Post last week, after Mulkey threatened to sue the newspaper in a statement she read before LSU's second-round game against Middle Tennessee.
During that press conference, Mulkey said of Post reporter Kent Babb: “Everything he put into trying to put together a hit song. After two years of trying to get me to sit down with him for an interview, he contacted LSU Tuesday as we prepared for the first round game of this tournament with more than a dozen questions, demanding an answer…just before the The expected time of the alert.
“Few people are in a position to hold these kinds of journalists accountable, but I am and I will.”
The Post cited interviews with former players and news reports describing Mulkey as “known for holding grudges and clashing with players, including over their appearance and displays of their sexuality.”
Griner is the player she has had the most public spats with, and that became even clearer after Griner's arrest in Russia. Mulkey has refused to speak publicly about the situation, except for one instance with a local radio station.
Former LSU players told the Post that members of the program avoided mentioning Griner or commenting on social media posts that supported her.
Mulkey's former teammate at Louisiana Tech, Mickie DeMoss, told the Post:
“I was really hoping Kim would make a statement. I was really hoping she would. You have a child stuck in Russia; I mean, this is bigger than any feud you've ever had. Nobody didn't know how long they were going to stay to hold her there. We all hoped [Mulkey] might just rise above it for this moment. Just take her home. But she didn’t.”
Through her lawyers, Mulkey has denied any suggestion that she did not support Griner.
Other players detailed the problems they had with Mulkey while playing for her. Kelli Griffin, who played for Mulkey from 2007 to 2010, told the Post: “Kim Mulkey is an amazing coach; the reason I went to Baylor is because of her.” But Griffin also told the newspaper, “She made my life hell,” drawing attention to her clothing and issuing a suspension that Griffin believes she received after Mulkey found out she was gay. This suspension ended Griffin's career.
In a letter to the Post, Mulkey's lawyers denied that she treated gay players “more harshly or differently.”
Emily Niemann, who joined Baylor in 2003, told the Post she was called into Mulkey's office for a meeting after being seen on campus with a woman.
Niemann told the Post that Mulkey told him, “It’s not pretty.” Niemann eventually transferred, but later wrote in an article for OutSports that she “didn't leave Baylor because Coach Mulkey is homophobic.”
The Post also interviewed Mulkey's father, Les, and sister, Tammy, and visited the farmland where she grew up in Louisiana. She hasn't spoken to her father in 37 years and has rebuffed his attempts at reconciliation, the Post reported. Mulkey also had a falling out with Tammy, although she wouldn't reveal to the Post what happened. “I miss the memories,” Tammy told the Post. “I wish I could have it all back.”
Through her lawyers, Mulkey said she was upset that the Post contacted her family members, even though she wrote about them in detail in her 2007 autobiography, “Won't Back Down.”
In the statement she released last week, Mulkey accused Babb of trying to trick his former assistant coaches into talking to him by giving them the false impression that Mulkey had agreed to be interviewed. She said former players told her the Post “contacted them and offered to remain anonymous in a story if they said negative things about me.”
The portrait that emerges is not necessarily one that paints her in a completely negative light. There were flattering comments. Niemann told the Post that Mulkey's coaching style was intense and “emotionally draining. On the other hand, it gets results.” Her former coach at Louisiana Tech, Sonja Hogg, told the Post: “She wants perfection. That's what she's always strived for.”
Mulkey, 61, is in his third season at LSU, which saw him sign a 10-year extension worth $36 million after winning his fourth national title as coach last season . She won three titles with Baylor, including two as a player at Louisiana Tech and a gold medal as a player for Team USA in the 1984 Olympics.
