An article from The Washington Post is expected to drop soon about Kim Mulkey. How do we know that? Because Kim Mulkey herself talked about it — and pre-emptively threatened to sue the Post — during a press conference this weekend.
LSU coach Kim Mulkey began her press conference with an opening statement about an upcoming Washington Post article about her.
“This is exactly why people don’t trust journalists and the media anymore. … I will sue the Washington Post if they publish a false story about me.” pic.twitter.com/k13R21yoLk— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) March 23, 2024
Mike Golic Jr. and Mike Golic Sr. shared their thoughts on Mulkey on Monday’s edition of GoJo and Golic.
Mulkey is a figure that is not unaccustomed to controversy, be it her call to end COVID-19 testing during the 2021 NCAA Final Four while still at Baylor, her less than full-throated support for former player Brittney Griner during her detainment in Russia, or her comments following an in-game fight between LSU and South Carolina a few weeks ago in the SEC Tournament. Now Mulkey derided a yet-to-be published story she says a Washington Post reporter has been working on for two years and the fact he sent her a list of questions seeking response by Thursday of last week, which she said was not possible. Mulkey noted that she has retained what she calls the best defamation law firm and promised to sue if the Post published a false story about her.
Claudia points out that part of the reason this story is interesting is that after LSU’s most recent tournament game Mulkey claimed that she didn’t even tell her team about the situation … despite publicly talking about it with the media. GoJo notes that the lie detector test on that one found that statement was likely a lie. He does note that the players came out and said that Mulkey has had their backs and they’ll have hers, which is the right thing to say in the situation.
But GoJo also cites a tweet from Mike Sando of The Athletic which notes that often when a reporter is dealing with someone who doesn’t want to cooperate they’ll send a list of questions to help the subject understand the scope of the article.
Sometimes a reporter before publication presents a non-cooperative subject with question list, at which point subject gains understanding of scope.
— Mike Sando (@SandoNFL) March 23, 2024
Rather than answer, sometimes threats are made (usually privately) as last recourse. Powerful people = used to getting their way. https://t.co/ViIp8qwCHi
Either way, GoJo wants everyone to keep in mind the Streisand effect, noting that thanks to Mulkey coming out so strong in advance of the article people are REALLY going to be on the lookout for the final piece, perhaps giving it a larger audience than it otherwise would have had. Senior, meanwhile, notes that this was a case of Mulkey attempting a pre-emptive strike against the article instead of reacting after the article was released.
“Now everybody is going to be dialed in for this and people are going to be waiting for appointment reading in a way that I didn’t think was possible in 2024 because Kim wanted to draw this type of attention to it.” — @mikegolicjr on Kim Mulkey pic.twitter.com/RTV6CUvhwZ
— DraftKings Network (@DKNetwork) March 25, 2024
GoJo says he doesn’t know what could be written, short of MAJOR scandal or violations, that could change people’s opinions of Mulkey given that she’s always been a controversial figure, as noted above. Senior agrees, and imagines that this article is going to be about her as a coach behind the scenes or perhaps how she treats her players. Senior says she’s without a doubt successful, but at the same time she is a hard coach and maybe this will be what the article is about.
GoJo notes that this article may simply be a case of being about something Mulkey doesn’t like. He notes that most college coaches at Mulkey’s level are control freaks, and he points out that she never intimated that the questions she was provided said anything untrue. Rather she said she would sue if the article featured something untrue. GoJo says she didn’t really deny anything, but rather said the focus was off in her estimation and went on the usual offensive taken by people in power. He notes that she’s not doing anything new, but rather following the playbook of trying to discredit the media. We’ll have to see what comes of this already much-debated piece from The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, over on the men’s side, GoJo equates the tournament to shopping at Costco — you buy in bulk and sift through for the good stuff once you get home.
“Postseason sporting events in college athletics are like shopping at Costco — you buy in bulk and you end up finding the good stuff once you go home and sift through the bag.” — @mikegolicjr pic.twitter.com/T6msFgrN52
— DraftKings Network (@DKNetwork) March 25, 2024
Watch or listen to the full show below, and make sure to tune into GoJo and Golic weekday mornings from 8-10 a.m. ET on DraftKings Network! See more about how to watch DraftKings Network here.
SHOW BREAKDOWN
Hour 1: Recapping Men’s & Women’s March Madness, Latest on Shohei & All-Weekend Teams
Hour 2: NFL Owners Meetings, Deion’s Future Draft Plans & It’s Up in Houston
VIDEO
Watch GoJo and Golic every weekday on Samsung TV Plus, Roku, Xumo Play, Google TV and DraftKingsNetwork.com from 8 to 10 a.m. ET. The show is also available via audio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Mike Golic Sr. on X at @golic and Mike Golic Jr. on X at @mikegolicjr.
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