LSU coach Kim Mulkey watches as the defending national champion Tigers hold on for a win against Rice. Syndication: USA TODAY
By Sean Keeley on

Kim Mulkey might not know exactly what’s in the upcoming Washington Post article about her, but she’s certainly making her case in the court of public opinion before it drops.

A day after calling out the unnamed WaPo reporter over a piece they have reportedly been working on for two years and seem likely to drop during the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Mulkey doubled down on her attacks, referring to the reporter as “sleazy.”

On Sunday, during the post-game press conference following LSU’s 83-56 win over Middle Tennessee State to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, Mulkey was asked if the team’s slow start was due to feeling “distracted” by the impending report.

“We’re not going to let one sleazy reporter distract us from what we’re trying to do. Absolutely not,” said Mulkey. “My kids didn’t even know I said that yesterday. That team’s not involved in this. They were in shock when they saw all that on the internet. Don’t take that stuff to my team.”

On Saturday, Mulkey referred to the incoming report as a “hit piece” and said she had already hired a legal firm to sue the Washington Post for defamation if they publish “a false story on me.” She also claimed that she wasn’t given enough time to respond to the reporting, though she did admit she’s been aware of it for two years.

“The lengths he has gone to try and put a hit piece together. This reporter has been working on a story about me for two years,” Mulkey said on Saturday. “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 were scheduled to tip-off. Are you kidding me?

“This was a ridiculous deadline that LSU and I could not possibly meet, and the reporter knew it. It was just an attempt to prevent me from commenting and an attempt to distract us from this tournament. It ain’t gonna work, buddy.”

Many in the sports media were confused by Mulkey’s conflicting accounts of contact with the reporter while others think she’s only served to make it even more of a must-read than it would have been.

The reporter in question has not been named. On Saturday, Mulkey said that she refused to talk to the reporter because he had written a “hit job” on LSU football coach Brian Kelly two years prior. WaPo reporter Kent Babb wrote a story in January 2022 entitled, “In Baton Rouge, there’s a $100 million football coach and everyone else.” That article juxtaposed Kelly’s massive salary against the harsh financial conditions that Baton Rouge’s residents and LSU’s students face.

Babb appeared to ID himself as the reporter in question with a Saturday post on X in which he linked to his 2022 article while asking “Hit piece?” in the caption.

[AA on X, CBS]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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