ALBANY, N.Y. — Hours before LSU announces its Sweet 16 matchup against UCLA on Saturday, Washington Post She posted her highly anticipated profile of trainer Kim Mulkey, painting a picture of a complex woman with a unique drive and relentless loyalty that alienated some family members and influenced her coaching style.
The story touched on all aspects of her life, including growing up in rural Louisiana, being estranged from her father and sister, her coaching style and the way it affects her players. It also detailed some of the controversies it has sparked — such as Mulkey's relationships with a number of gay players, including Brittney Griner, who was jailed in Russia for 294 days in 2022.
Mulkey was unaware of the story's release 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're the bearer of good news or bad news or however you want to look at it.
“Are you really surprised? Are you really surprised by the timing of this,” Mulkey responded rhetorically. “But I can tell you I haven't read it, and I don't know that I ever will. I'll leave that to the lawyers.”
All eyes were on the newspaper over the past week, after Mulkey threatened legal action against the newspaper in a statement she read before LSU's second-round game against Middle Tennessee.
During that press conference, Mulkey said of reporter Kent Babb: “The effort he put in to try to put a piece together worked. And after two years of trying to get me to sit down with him for an interview, he called LSU on Tuesday as we were preparing for a first-round game of this tournament with more than two Ten questions that beg to be answered… right before launch. Are you kidding me?
“Not many people are in a position to hold this type of journalist accountable, but I will do it.”
The Post cited interviews with former players and news reports describing Mulkey as “known to hold grudges and get into fights with players, including over their appearance and displays of sexuality.”
Greiner is the player she has had the most public disagreements with, and that became even more apparent after Greiner was imprisoned in Russia. Mulkey declined to speak publicly about the situation, except for one instance with a local radio station.
Former LSU players told the newspaper that participants in the program avoided mentioning Griner or commenting on social media posts supporting her.
Mickey DeMoss, Mulkey's former Louisiana Tech teammate, told the newspaper:
“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 animosity between all of you. No one knew how long they were going to last.” To hold her there we were all hoping [Mulkey] You could rise above him at that moment. Just bring her home. But she didn't.”
Through her attorney, Mulkey denied any suggestion that she failed to support Greiner.
Other players have detailed the problems they encountered with Mulkey when they played with her. “Kim Mulkey is an amazing coach; the reason I went to Baylor is because of her,” Kelly Griffin, who played for Mulkey from 2007 to 2010, told The Post. But Griffin also told the newspaper, “You made my life hell” by drawing attention to her outfit. Griffin believes the comment she received was a result of Mulkey finding out she was gay. This suspension ended Griffin's career.
In a letter to The Washington Post, Mulkey's lawyers denied that she treated gay players “more harshly or differently.”
Emily Nieman, who joined Baylor in 2003, told the newspaper that she was called into Mulkey's office for a meeting after seeing her on campus with a woman.
“It's not a good look,” Nieman told the newspaper. Mulkey told her. Nieman eventually transferred, but later wrote in an article for OutSports that she “didn't leave Baylor because Coach Mulkey is homophobic.”
The newspaper also interviewed Mulkey's father, Les, and her sister, Tammy, and visited the farmland where she grew up in Louisiana. The newspaper reported that she had not spoken to her father in 37 years and rejected his attempts at reconciliation. Mulkey also had a falling out with Tammy, though she did not reveal to the newspaper what happened. “I just miss the memories,” Tammy told the newspaper. “I wish I could take it all back.”
Through her attorney, Mulkey said she was upset by the newspaper's contact with her family members, even though she went into detail about them in her 2007 autobiography, “Won't Back Down.”
In the statement she released last week, Mulkey accused Babb of trying to trick her former assistant coaches into speaking with him by giving them the false impression that Mulkey had agreed to do the interview. She added that the former players told her that the newspaper “contacted them and offered to not reveal their identity in the story if they said negative things about me.”
The picture that emerged was not necessarily one that painted me in a completely negative light. There were flattering comments. Nieman told the newspaper that Mulkey's training style was intense and “emotionally exhausting. On the other hand, he gets results.” “She wants perfection. That's what she's always strived for,” Sonya Hogue, her former coach at Louisiana Tech, told the newspaper.
Mulkey is in her third season at LSU, which she signed to a 10-year, $36 million extension after winning her fourth national title as coach last season. She won three titles with Baylor, along with two as a player for Louisiana Tech and a gold medal as a player for Team USA in the 1984 Olympics.
“Student. Incurable problem solver. Amateur baconaholic. Introvert. Infuriatingly humble music fanatic.”