Kim Mulkey put on a brave face as she left LSU’s team hotel before the March Madness clash with UCLA, just minutes after the Washington Post finally published its “hit piece” on her.
Amid rumors about the outlet’s plans to publish a controversial story, Mulkey threatened to sue the Post last week if they published alleged information she claims is “false.”
Despite that warning, the story in question was finally published on Saturday morning; and alleges that the 61-year-old woman held a grudge and clashed with gay members of her former Baylor team.
Former Baylor guard Kelli Griffin alleges that Mulkey made her life “hell” after discovering she was gay, while another former player, Emily Niemann, claims he warned her to “be careful” when she was caught with another women.
Not long after the Post published the report, the Tigers coach was seen leaving his team hotel in a multi-colored dress hours before their Sweet 16 matchup against UCLA.
Kim Mulkey put on a brave face just minutes after the Washington Post’s ‘hit article’ about her.
Mulkey accused of clashing with players who show their sexuality in Post story
The 61-year-old threatened the publication with legal action last week if they published it.
Mulkey seemed unfazed as he headed to Tiger Stadium, where his LSU team will continue its defense of its national crown.
Griffin, who played for Mulkey’s Baylor from 2007 to 2010, believes her former coach only attacked her after finding out she was gay.
Despite calling her an “incredible coach” and admitting that he only moved to Baylor to play with her, he claimed that Mulkey drew attention to her clothing and gave her a suspension that would ultimately end her career only after learning of her sexuality. .
Griffin also alleges that he began asking why she was “dressing like a boy” as soon as she arrived on Baylor’s campus, while telling her that “a lady wears a dress” instead of baggy jeans, basketball shorts or sweatshirts.
“Okay, this lady might not like gay people,” he remembers thinking at the time.
Mulkey, a four-time NCAA Division 1 winner, is also accused of having a decade-long feud with Brittney Griner, who was once her star player at Baylor.
Griner, who spent 294 days in a Russian prison in 2022 after entering the country with a vape cartridge containing less than a gram of hash oil, is also a member of the LGBTQ+ community after coming out as a lesbian in 2013.
However, even that experience wasn’t enough to ease the tension between her and Mulkey, the report continues, after the latter allegedly instructed players to hide their sexuality and “keep their business behind closed doors,” Griner wrote in her comments. memories.
Kelli Griffin, who played for Mulkey’s Baylor from 2007 to 2010, claims her former coach made her life “hell” and attacked her after finding out she was gay.
Griffin says the coach also urged her to dress like a ‘lady’ after drawing attention to her clothing.
Mulkey is said to have had a decade-long feud with former Baylor star Brittney Griner, another member of the LGBTQ+ community. Griner spent 10 months in a Russian prison in 2022
Meanwhile, Niemann claims Mulkey once urged her to “be careful” after she was seen in Waco, central Texas, with a woman.
Amid speculation about his sexuality, Niemann remembers his then-coach telling him, “He doesn’t look good.”
Since Baylor is the largest Baptist university in the world and its policies define marriage as between a man and a woman, Mulkey told her to be careful because “the show would be watching.”
Mulkey’s lawyers reportedly denied treating gay players “more harshly or differently.”
The Post’s report on the college basketball icon also alleges that she “called out players if they gained weight” and “instructed the team’s strength coach to conduct weigh-ins in front of the team.”
Griffin and another unnamed player also say they were unable to bring non-basketball issues to Mulkey, meaning they were forced to rely on assistant coaches.
Niemann and many other players, meanwhile, allege that “embarrassment was a frequent tool in Mulkey’s training arsenal, whether during practice drills or in speeches to the team.” Some spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation in the women’s basketball community.
His lawyers described his former players’ allegations as “too vague to respond to.”
Mulkey’s lawyers are said to have described his former players’ allegations as “too vague to respond to.”
However, his legal representatives did not respond to claims that staff at both Baylor and LSU mitigated the risk of his rants being recorded by banning phones from the room.
Mulkey spent more than two decades in charge of Baylor, winning national titles in 2005, 2012 and 2019.
The former Louisiana Tech and USA point guard left in 2021 to join LSU, whom she guided to championship glory last year.