Kim Mulkey: Washington Post finally publish ‘hit piece’ on LSU coach despite threat of legal action… as former Baylor player claims she made her life ‘hell’ and targeted her after finding out she was gay
Kim Mulkey has been accused of clashing with players who openly display their sexuality and targeting a former Baylor star after finding out she was gay in the Washington Post‘s ‘hit piece’ on the LSU coach.
Rumors first surfaced last week of the Post planning to run a controversial story on Mulkey, who threatened to sue the newspaper if they published information she regards as ‘false’.
Despite the threat of legal action, the story in question was finally released on Saturday – and it alleges that the 61-year-old treated homosexual members of her Baylor team more harshly than others.
Kelli Griffin, who played for Mulkey’s Baylor from 2007-10, claims her former coach made her life ‘hell’ and targeted her after finding out that she was gay.
While branding her an ‘amazing coach’ and admitting she only moved to Baylor to play under her, Griffin suggested that Mulkey drew attention to her clothes and issued her a suspension that would ultimately end her career only after learning of her sexuality.
LSU coach Kim Mulkey has been accused of clashing with players who display their sexuality
Mulkey threatened to sue the Washington Post amid rumors of the publication planning to run a story on her which she insists is ‘false’
Despite the threat of legal action, the Post released their ‘hit piece’ on the 61-year-old
The former point guard alleges that Mulkey began asking why she ‘dressed like a boy’ as soon as she arrived on campus at Baylor, while telling her that ‘a lady wears a dress’ as opposed to baggy jeans, basketball shorts or sweats.
‘Okay, this lady might not like gay people,’ Griffin recalls thinking at the time.
Mulkey, a four-time NCAA Division 1 winner, is also accused of having a decade-long feud with Brittney Griner – once her star player at Baylor.
Griner, who spent 294 days in a Russian prison 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 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 your business behind closed doors’, Griner wrote in her memoir.
Another of her ex-players at Baylor, Emily Niemann, claims that Mulkey once urged her to ‘be careful’ after she was spotted in Waco, central Texas, with a woman.
Amid speculation over her sexuality, Niemann recalls her then-coach telling her: ‘It’s not a good look.’
Given Baylor is the world’s largest Baptist university, and its policies define marriage as between a man and woman, Mulkey told her to be careful as ‘the program would be watching.’
Mulkey’s attorneys 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 weren’t able to take non-basketball matters to Mulkey, meaning they were forced to confide in assistant coaches instead.
Niemann and multiple other players, meanwhile, allege that ‘shame was a frequent tool in Mulkey’s coaching arsenal, whether during practice drills or in addresses to the team.’ Some spoke anonymously out of fear of retaliation in the women’s basketball community.
Mulkey’s attorneys are said to have described the allegations from her former players as ‘too vague to respond to’.
Her legal representatives did not respond, however, to claims that staffers at both Baylor and LSU mitigated the risk of her tirades being recorded by barring phones from the room.
