Kim Mulkey Attacks Washington Post And Journalism Overall, Threatens Lawsuit...Before A Story Publishes

BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey's anger on Saturday afternoon was as loud and as wild as one of her game-night outfits.

But she was not talking about her next opponent - No. 11 seed Middle Tennessee, which her team faces in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday (3 p.m., ABC). 

No, she was discussing a much more hated rival going back two years - Washington Post writer Kent Babb.

Mulkey, LSU officials, people close to her personally and professionally and other journalists have heard recently that Babb has been working on a supposed "hit piece" to be published soon, probably Sunday.

Many coaches, politicians, business leaders and others have often criticized reporters and their news outlets vehemently for more than 100 years, but usually that is after a story publishes or airs.

Mulkey instead fired a major preemptive, heat-seeking missile and threatened a lawsuit at a press conference here Saturday before the Post has even printed a word. Mulkey's statement may make it one of the most well-read pieces through all of March Madness.

Kim Mulkey Opened Press Conference In Attack Mode

"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 and the lengths he has gone to try and put a hit piece together," Mulkey said to open a routinely scheduled NCAA Tournament press conference.

An LSU source confirmed the Washington Post writer Mulkey is discussing is Kent Babb.

"This reporter has been working on a story about me for two years," Mulkey said. "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?"

LSU beat No. 14 seed Rice on Friday afternoon, 70-60, in front of a sold-out Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 12,957 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

"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. It ain't going to work, buddy."

Mulkey does not realize that a newspaper, TV station or other news entity giving a routine newsmaker and public figure like Mulkey two days notice for comment is actually overly courteous. Often reporters on stricter deadlines ask a coach, politician or business leader for immediate comment.

LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey tends to light up a basketball court with her wardrobe. (Getty Images)

Mulkey already had a problem with Babb, who wrote a feature on then-new LSU football coach Brian Kelly two years ago that Mulkey did not like.

"Unfortunately, this is part of a pattern that goes back years," she said. "I told this reporter two years ago that I didn't appreciate the hit job he wrote on 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 try and get them to call him back - trying to trick these coaches into believing that I was working with The Washington Post on a story."

Kim Mulkey Has Opinions On Washington Post Reporter

That is Mulkey's opinion of Babb's story on Kelly what she thinks happened with him and other coaches. Efforts to reach Babb or a Post spokesperson by OutKick were not immediately responded to on Saturday afternoon.

"When my former coaches spoke to him and found out that I wasn't talking with the reporter, they were just distraught, and they felt completely misled," Mulkey continued. "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."

Sources close to LSU told OutKick Saturday that Mulkey's camp believes Babb may be working on a story concerning Mulkey's stormy relationship with her star player Brittney Griner while the two were at Baylor from 2009-13. Mulkey was Baylor's head coach from 2000-2021, winning three national championships (2005, ‘12 and ’19) before winning the national title at LSU last year in her second season.

With smoke billowing, Kim Mulkey walked to the podium on Dale Brown Court at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on her first day as LSU's women's basketball coach on April 26, 2021. She ripped off the COVID mask to applause when she reached the podium. (Getty Images). 

Other topics may include, according to sources, Mulkey falling out of favor with several high ranking liberal leaders at LSU and throughout the capital city for ripping off a COVID mask once she got to the podium at her introductory press conference at LSU on April 26, 2021, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. 

Mulkey also once took up at a press conference for Baylor football coach Art Briles, who was fired in May of 2016 amid a sexual assault scandal involving his players. 

She also drew criticism from national media, including OutKick, for giving little information about the suspension of star player Angel Reese early this season and for her comments about pushing and shoving from both teams in the LSU-South Carolina SEC Tournament title game on March 10. 

And who knows what else? Or maybe Mulkey is wrong, and Babb is doing a puff piece on her. Or maybe now the piece is being turned into a puff piece.

Then Mulkey, who fancies herself as an expert on media though she has never worked in it for any significant amount of time, lectured media everywhere.

Kim Mulkey Hires Law Firm For Possible Action Vs. Washington Post

"But you see, reporters who give a megaphone to a one-sided, embellished version of things aren't trying to tell the truth," she said, though she was not very open or truthful about Reese's suspension, whereas Reese was. "They're trying to sell newspapers and feed the click machine. 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."

But a hatchet job that no one has yet read. Gosh, it would be hilarious if Babb came out with a piece Sunday morning on just how great a person, coach and media expert Mulkey is. 

"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 with voice and anger rising. 

"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," she said. "Not many people are in a position to hold these kinds of journalists accountable, but I am, and I'll do it. That's all I'm going to say about this right now, and now I'm going to get back to talking about my basketball team and winning this game tomorrow."

(Kim Mulkey is one of the best X-and-O coaches in the country, so what do you think of her strategy concerning this preemptive strike against the Washington Post? Email me at glenn.guilbeau@outkick.com or via X @SportBeatTweet.)