LSU coach Kim Mulkey rips Washington Post over unpublished ‘hit piece’ and threatens legal action
By Wayne Sterling, CNN
(CNN) — Louisiana State University women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey ripped the Washington Post on Saturday over what she describes as a “hit piece” in which she has threatened legal action if published.
“This is exactly why people don’t trust journalists and the media anymore. It’s these kinds of sleazy tactics and hatchet jobs that people are just tired of. I’m fed up, and I’m not going to let the Washington Post attack this university, this awesome team of young women I have, or me without a fight,” Mulkey said at a news conference previewing the defending national champion’s upcoming NCAA Division I tournament game.
“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. Not many people are in a position to hold these kinds of journalists accountable, but I am, and I’ll do it,” she said.
A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment on Mulkey’s remarks.
Mulkey said the reporter for the newspaper has been attempting to interview her for the last two years.
She claims the reporter contacted the school on Tuesday, sending more than a dozen questions to answer by Thursday, as the team was preparing for its first-round game.
“This was a ridiculous deadline that LSU and I could not possibly meet, and the reporter knew it,” Mulkey said. “It was just an attempt to prevent me from commenting and an attempt to distract us from this tournament.
“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 Brian Kelly [LSU football head coach], and that’s why I wasn’t going to do an interview with him.”
Mulkey, who is in her third year at LSU, guided the Tigers to the program’s first NCAA women’s basketball national championship with a victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes last season.
Prior to coaching the Tigers, the Hall of Fame coach spent 21 seasons at Baylor University where she led the school to three national titles.
“Former players have told me that the Washington Post has contacted them and offered to let them be anonymous in a story if they’ll say negative things about me. The Washington Post has called former disgruntled players to get negative quotes to include in their story. They’re ignoring the 40-plus years of positive stories that people – or they have heard from people about me.”
The No. 3 seeded Tigers face No. 11 seed Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders in the second round of the tournament in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Sunday.
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