Washington Post Drops Mega Piece On LSU Coach Kim Mulkey, And It's Much Ado About Not That Much

If that was a hit piece, it was an infield single.

A much-anticipated profile of controversial LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey published Saturday morning by acclaimed Washington Post sports writer and author Kent Babb. The lengthy and engrossing piece delved into Mulkey's family life, detailing her lost relationship with her father Les Mulkey because of his infidelity outside of marriage. They have not communicated in 37 years, and her sister Tammy also says she has not spoken to Kim in recent years, but hopes to reconcile.

RELATED: Kim Mulkey's Preemptive Attack On Washington Post Writer

The feature covers Mulkey's controversial and supposedly homophobic views in her previous head coaching job at Baylor involving iconic lesbian player Brittney Griner, who was later imprisoned in Russia. 

LSU coach Kim Mulkey called a defense on an upcoming Washington Post story about her last week, and it may have worked. The story published Saturday morning. (Getty Images)

It also dives into her comments about the sexual-assault-riddled Baylor football program while she was there and some cold relationships with former players like Baylor's Emily Niemann.

RELATED: Kim Mulkey Wrong About Previous Post Story On Brian Kelly

It gets personal and also gets into Mulkey's anti-COVID testing and political stands.

But it is not defamatory, regardless of Mulkey's pre-published comments on what it might be last week and that Babb was "sleazy."

Mulkey uncharacteristically kept quiet about the incoming story on Friday at a press conference. Defending national champion LSU plays UCLA today in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 round (1 p.m., ABC) at MVP Arena in Albany, New York.

ESPN's Holly Rowe asked Mulkey about the story on Saturday as she arrived at the arena for the game.

"You're telling me something I didn't know," Mulkey said. "So, you're the bearer of good news or bad news, or however you want to look at it. But are you really surprised? Are you really surprised by the timing of it?"

Coaches and fans often question the timing of stories about coaches, players and teams? But do they want the story done in the off-season? It's a ridiculous viewpoint once again by Mulkey, who still doesn't get it.

READ: Kim Mulkey Still Doesn't Get It 

When is a good time during a season for a story to run? A major feature running on the day of a game is as routine as Mulkey wearing a wild outfit. Think about it. It would be more distracting for the coach and players to run a story in the days before a game when the team is working on the game plan and practicing. By game day, the hay is in the barn, so to speak.

And remember this, had Mulkey not called attention to the story last week, many of her players might not have ever read it. She continues to hurt herself and is just crying out for a media consultant to help her. But then, that would mean she would have to listen to someone.

"But I can tell you I haven't read it," Mulkey told ESPN. "Don't know that I will read it. I'll leave that up to my attorneys."

And maybe the Post toned down the story because Mulkey claimed last week during her anti-journalism-overall-tirade that she had hired a top defamation lawyer in case the story is inaccurate. We may never know if the Post drastically altered Babb's story.

Story Is Flattering In Many Ways Of Kim Mulkey

In the end, the story overall comes across as mostly flattering of a woman who underwent tough times with her father and while a rising assistant coach at Louisiana Tech. But Mulkey, 61, overcame it all to become one of the greatest basketball coaches ever - man or woman - with three national championships at Baylor and one at LSU last year.

Captivating pictures of Mulkey as a youth and young adult appear throughout the story, including with her children and grandchildren. 

Readers will take away their own view from the piece, but it is clearly not completely what Mulkey was describing.

Tony Kornheiser is a former Washington Post columnist who left in 2008, but his comments made on ESPN's "Pardon The Interruption" last week after Mulkey's tirade should mostly ring true as you read the piece.

"Now, Kim Mulkey is a great coach, a terrific coach, and she sees the press as an enemy, which happens a lot in America these days," Kornheiser said. "She is publicly defiant. She is somewhat over controlling. She does not want to be covered in the way that champions are covered, which is depth. Kent Babb has a story coming in the Washington Post. He's a terrific writer and reporter."

Kornheiser's co-host Michael Wilbon is also a former Washington Post columnist.

PTI Promised Story Would Be ‘100 Percent Accurate’

"I know you join me in thinking it will be 100 percent accurate," Kornheiser said to Wilbon. "And it will not be defamatory. It is not going to be defamatory."

Wilbon said, "I don't know what to make of Kim Mulkey, and I've just decided I'm not going to decide everything or speculate on everything. Some things I'm just going to let unfold, and let's just see what happens."

Many national columnists and talking heads thoroughly ripped Mulkey for her preemptive attack on the Post and Babb before the story even came out, and most criticisms were specifically about that. There were few criticisms of her just because she is right wing, but that may have been involved, particularly from some of the more liberal media.

"You're the problem, and the way you're handling it is wrong," Public Relations expert Mike Paul said in a story last week by Front Office Sports' Michael McCarthy. Paul gave Mulkey and her "LSU helpers" an "F" for media management regarding the preemptive strike on the Post.

Front Office Sports also said it contacted several of the nation's top defamation lawyers, and none said Mulkey was being represented by them.