Kim Mulkey is at it again.
The outspoken LSU women’s basketball coach snapped at a student reporter on Sunday after the Tigers were eliminated in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA tournament. No. 1 UCLA held on to beat LSU 72-65 at Spokane Arena in Washington, which secured the Bruins' first ever trip to the Final Four.
LSU, on the other hand, has now been eliminated from the Elite Eight in back-to-back seasons. That’s what KLSU reporter Jayden Smith was trying to ask Mulkey about after the game Sunday when she cut him off.
“That’s terrible, isn’t it?” she said, interrupting Smith almost immediately after he started asking his question. “Is that terrible or is that good?”
“Terrible,” Smith replied.
“Is it?” Mulkey kept going. “How many Final Fours you play in?”
“Uh, none,” he replied.
“So it’s probably pretty good, huh?” Mulkey asked.
#LSU women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey to reporter after Elite Eight loss to #UCLA: “How many Final Fours did you play in?” 😳 pic.twitter.com/spR8bS3mBk
— Spencer Brown (@j_spencerbrown) March 30, 2025
That exchange drew plenty of criticism — including from ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who called her “very rude” on “First Take” on Monday morning.
Stephen A. Smith: "I'm not gonna take away from the fact that Kim Mulkey is a great coach and an established coach. We just need to finally say this about her: she's very rude. She's very very rude. She's rude, she's condescending and unnecessarily so to too many people." pic.twitter.com/Qr0ngIdcC4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 31, 2025
Smith, according to NOLA.com, is a junior at LSU and works at the student-run radio station. After Mulkey’s reaction, he finished his question and asked how this year’s Elite Eight trip differed from last season’s.
"Different team, different players," Mulkey said, via NOLA.com. "Our role players from last year played bigger ...
