The ESPN star, Stephen A. Smith, called LSU’s female basketball coach, Kim Mulkey, on Monday after his interaction with a reporter student after an Elite Eight defeat against UCLA.
The journalist began his question by pointing out that it was the second consecutive year that LSU had been eliminated in the Eight elite, and Mulkey entered, asking whether that was good or “terrible.” The journalist replied: “Terrible.” Mulkey kept asking: “In how many four finals do you play?”
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LSU Lady Tigers chief coach Kim Mulkey, looks against the UCLA Bruins during the second half of a ELITE ELITE NCAA tournament game at Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington, on March 30, 2025. (Images James Snoak-Imagn)
Mulkey’s exchange went viral, and led to Smith’s reaction in “First Toma.”
“I’m not going to take away the fact that Kim Mulkey is a great coach and a set coach,” said Smith. “We just have to say this about her: it is very rude. It is very, very rude. It is rude, it is condescending and unnecessarily for too many people.
“And she is always with the right one. She does not climb the wrong. It is almost as she knows, Shannon (Sharpe), who to do that already who does not do that. There are certain people to whom they do that, they will applaud. But she is a phenomenal coach, one of the best, but she is a very, very rough person.”
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(Kirby Lee-Imagn images)
Mulkey has some history with reporters in general.
Before the tournament began, Mulkey called a journalist for eating during his press conference after the Tigers lost in the SEC to Texas tournament.
He unlapped a Washington Post reporter last year about a story about how he supposedly treated homosexual players while he was Baylor’s chief coach. He called the journalist “Sleazy.”
Mulkey also called Los Angeles Times for a column that described the Tigers as “villains” and “dirty debutants”, describing the frame as a sexist. The document then edited the column.
The coach of the LSU Tigres, Kim Mulkey, and his team face Florida State in the second round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Scott Clause / Usatody Network / USA Today Network through IMAGN images)
Mulkey is one of the most successful female basketball coaches in NCAA. She has 754-124 of all time with four championships and five final appearances in all four.
