LSU’s Kim Mulkey Makes Threat In Response To Report Rumor

Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde on Friday revealed he was "hearing some buzz" about a "big Washington Post story" on Kim Mulkey, with a publish date possibly slated for next week.

The LSU women's basketball coach didn't wait for the story to come out to have her voice heard.

Mulkey held a press conference Saturday, one day before the Tigers' second game in the NCAA Tournament, and addressed the rumor of an impending report.

"I wouldn't normally discuss media rumors about me, but I felt the need to publicly address what exactly this reporter for the Washington Post has been doing the past several years," Mulkey told reporters, as transcribed by the New York Post. "And the lengths he has gone to try and put a hit piece together. This reporter has been working on a story about me for two years. 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?

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"This was a ridiculous deadline that LSU and I could not possibly meet, and the reporter knew it. It’s just an attempt to prevent me from commenting and an attempt to distract us from this tournament. It ain't gonna work, buddy. Unfortunately, this is part of a pattern that goes back years. I told this reporter two years ago that I didn't appreciate the hit job he wrote on (LSU football coach) Brian Kelly, and that's why I wasn't going to do an interview with him. After that, the reporter called two former college coaches of mine and left multiple messages that he was with me in Baton Rouge to get them to call him back -- trying to trick these coaches into believing that I was working with the Washington Post on a story."

Mulkey didn't identify the Washington Post reporter in her press conference, but it was Kent Babb who wrote the aforementioned story about Kelly in 2022. Babb confirmed to the Associated Press he is, indeed, working on a story about Mulkey, and he addressed her "hit piece" allegation via X on Saturday.

The nature of Babb's upcoming story on Mulkey is unclear, but the three-time College Basketball Coach of the Year clearly is bracing for a report that doesn't put her in a good light.

"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," Mulkey said. "Not many people are in a position to hold these kinds of journalists accountable, but I am. And I'll do it."

Mulkey's Tigers will battle Middle Tennessee State on Sunday afternoon with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. The Tigers have the third-shortest odds at FanDuel Sportsbook to win the national title.