By [ad_1]
-
Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior Author
ALBANY, N.Y. — Hours earlier than LSU tipped off its Candy 16 matchup towards UCLA on Saturday, The Washington Post printed its extremely anticipated profile of coach Kim Mulkey, portray a portrait of a fancy lady with a singular drive and unrelenting loyalty that has alienated some members of the family and impacted her teaching model.
The story touched on all facets of her life — together with her upbringing in rural Louisiana, her estrangement from her father and sister, her teaching model and the way in which that it impacts her gamers. It additionally detailed a few of her controversies — reminiscent of Mulkey’s relationships with various homosexual gamers, together with Brittney Griner, who was imprisoned in Russia for 294 days in 2022.
Mulkey was not conscious of the story’s launch when she spoke to ESPN’s Holly Rowe earlier than Saturday’s sport. “You are telling me one thing I did not know,” Mulkey stated. “So you are the bearer of excellent information or dangerous information or nonetheless you wish to have a look at it.
“Are you actually shocked? Are you actually shocked by the timing of it,” Mulkey responded rhetorically. “However I can inform you I have never learn it, do not know that I’ll learn it. I am going to go away that as much as my attorneys.”
All eyes had been on the Submit for the previous week, after Mulkey threatened authorized motion towards the newspaper in an announcement she learn earlier than LSU’s second-round sport towards Center Tennessee.
Throughout that information convention, Mulkey stated of reporter Kent Babb: “The lengths he has gone to attempt to put a success piece collectively. After two years of attempting to get me to take a seat with him for an interview, he contacts LSU on Tuesday as we had been preparing for the first-round sport of this event with greater than a dozen questions, demanding a response … proper earlier than we’re scheduled to tip off. Are you kidding me?
“Not many individuals are able to carry these sorts of journalists accountable, however I’m, and I am going to do it.”
The Submit cited interviews with former gamers and information studies that describe Mulkey as being “recognized to carry grudges and conflict with gamers, together with about their appearances and shows of their sexuality.”
Griner is the participant with whom she has had essentially the most public falling-out, and that was made even clearer after Griner was imprisoned in Russia. Mulkey refused to talk publicly concerning the state of affairs, besides one occasion with a neighborhood radio station.
Former LSU gamers informed the Submit that these inside the program prevented mentioning Griner or commenting on social media posts that supported her.
Mulkey’s former Louisiana Tech teammate Mickie DeMoss informed the Submit:
“I actually hoped that Kim would make an announcement. Actually hoping she would. You have received a child that is caught in Russia; I imply, that is larger than any feud that y’all had. Nobody knew how lengthy they had been going to detain her over there. We had been all hoping [Mulkey] might simply rise above it for that second. Simply get her again residence. However she did not.”
By her attorneys, Mulkey denied any suggestion that she did not assist Griner.
Different gamers detailed issues they’d with Mulkey after they performed for her. Kelli Griffin, who performed for Mulkey from 2007 to 2010, informed the Submit, “Kim Mulkey is a tremendous coach; the explanation I went to Baylor is due to her.” However Griffin additionally informed the newspaper, “She made my life hell,” by drawing consideration to her garments. Griffin believes a suspension she obtained was a results of Mulkey came upon she was homosexual. That suspension ended Griffin’s profession.
In a letter to the Submit, Mulkey’s attorneys denied she handled homosexual gamers “extra harshly or otherwise.”
Emily Niemann, who joined Baylor in 2003, informed the Submit she was known as into Mulkey’s workplace for a gathering after being seen on campus with a lady.
Niemann informed the Submit that Mulkey stated to her, “It isn’t an excellent look.” Niemann finally transferred, however later wrote in a bit for OutSports that she “didn’t go away Baylor as a result of Coach Mulkey is homophobic.”
The Submit additionally interviewed Mulkey’s father, Les, and sister, Tammy, and visited the farmland the place she grew up in Louisiana. She has not spoken to her father in 37 years and has rebuffed his makes an attempt at reconciliation, the Submit reported. Mulkey additionally had a falling-out with Tammy, although she wouldn’t open up to the Submit what occurred. “I simply miss the reminiscences,” Tammy informed the Submit. “I want I might have all of it again.”
By her attorneys, Mulkey stated she was upset the Submit contacted her members of the family, although she goes into element about them in her 2007 autobiography, “Will not Again Down.”
Within the assertion she issued final week, Mulkey accused Babb of attempting to trick her former assistant coaches into talking with him by giving them the misunderstanding that Mulkey had acquiesced to being interviewed. She added that former gamers informed her that the Submit “contacted them and provided to allow them to be nameless in a narrative if they’re going to say destructive issues about me.”
The portrait that emerged was not essentially one which painted her in a very destructive mild. There have been flattering feedback. Niemann identified to the Submit that Mulkey’s teaching model was intense and “emotionally draining. However, it will get outcomes.” Her former coach at Louisiana Tech, Sonja Hogg, informed the Submit, “She needs perfection. That is what she was at all times searching for.”
Mulkey is in her third season at LSU, which signed her to a 10-year, $36 million extension after she gained her fourth nationwide title as a coach final season. She gained three titles with Baylor, together with two as a participant at Louisiana Tech and a gold medal as a participant for Crew USA on the 1984 Olympic Video games.
