LSU Coach Kim Mulkey not Happy with Criticism of her Team

LSU Athletics Photo

Defending national champion LSU will face Iowa tonight in the Elite Eight in a rematch of last year’s championship game and it should be one of the highest rated college women’s basketball games ever.

LSU had to rally to beat UCLA Saturday but after the game controversial LSU coach Kim Mulkey was asked to respond to a story about her that day in the Washington Post and her team’s us-against-the-world mentality despite being the defending national champion.

Q. The Washington Post story about you published today. Have you had a chance to see it, and do you have any comment on it?
KIM MULKEY: No. When did it publish?

Q. A couple hours before the game.
KIM MULKEY: Imagine that. Must have thought y’all would look at it, get some clicks or be a distraction. No, ma’am, I haven’t read it and I probably won’t read it. I probably will have my attorneys communicate with me to see if there’s anything in there that we need to be concerned about.

Q. Kim, your players kind of said it; they’ve kind of embraced this us-against-the-world mentality. Is that something you’ve embraced, as well? Do you tell them to enjoy having the black hat on, enjoy being who you are? What is your message to them in terms of that us-against-the-world thing?

KIM MULKEY: How many of you in here are mothers? Raise your hand if you’re a mother. How many of you in here are grandmothers. Damn, I’m the only one. I hope this kind of answers your question.

These young ladies — I saw an article — I didn’t see it, someone sent it to me. It was a commentary from the LA Times. I’m not sure if that young man is in here.

You can criticize coaches all you want. That’s our business. You can come at us and say you’re the worst coach in America. I hate you, I hate everything about you. We expect that. It comes with the territory.

But the one thing I’m not going to let you do, I’m not going to let you attack young people, and there were some things in this commentary, guys, that you should be offended by as women. It was so sexist, and they don’t even know it.

It was good versus evil in that game today. Evil? Called us dirty debutants? Take your phone out right now and Google dirty debutantes and tell me what it says. Dirty debutants? Are you kidding me? I’m not going to let you talk about 18 to 21 year old kids in that tone. It was even sexist for this reporter to say UCLA was milk and cookies.

Now, you women sit there and you keep your mouths shut if you want. I’m in the last third of my career, but I’m not going to let sexism continue. And if you don’t think that’s sexism, then you’re in denial. How dare people attack kids like that. You don’t have to like the way we play. You don’t have to like the way we trash talk. You don’t have to like any of that. We’re good with that.

But I can’t sit up here as a mother and a grandmother and a leader of young people and allow somebody to say that.

Ms. Armor, I think you asked me the other day and I cut you off, didn’t I? Maybe that’s your story to write. Didn’t you ask me something about a man and I cut you off? Think about what I’m saying, okay?

Because guys, that’s wrong. I don’t even know what dirty debutantes are, but I know when I Googled it, I went (gasps). Growing the game was a part of it. How many of you have been to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, raise your hand, and seen our games? How many of you have been to an SEC game when you played on the road? You want to talk about growing the game? Go see our crowds, people.

I don’t get that. I’m sorry. I come from a different generation. I get it. But I know sexism when I see it and I read it. That was awful.

So I hope I’ve answered your question. We just play hard. We play competitive. It doesn’t matter if it’s my son out there. It doesn’t matter if it was anybody’s brothers out there. We’re out there to kick your rear end, and that’s how they play. It’s how I was taught by the greatest in this business. Look at the people I played for. They’re Hall-of-Famers, legendary coaches. They probably couldn’t coach in this generation.

But that’s who I learned from.

I’m done.