Louisiana State University’s bombastic women’s basketball coach, Kim Mulkey, went on the warpath against a writer for the Los Angeles Times for a “sexist” article that she says unfairly attacks young women.
Bolch’s March 29 commentary, entitled UCLA-LSU is America’s Sweethearts vs. its Basketball Villains, was filled to the brim with incendiary language, calling the game between LSU and UCLA a contest of “good versus evil. Right versus wrong. Inclusive versus divisive.”
One line in the screed even read, “Do you prefer America’s sweethearts or its dirty debutantes? Milk and cookies or Louisiana hot sauce?”
Mulkey thought that calling her college players so many names was over the top and “sexist,” the New York Post reported.
Head coach Kim Mulkey of the LSU Lady Tigers looks on in the first half of a game against the Colorado Buffaloes during the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena on November 06, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Buffaloes defeated the Lady Tigers 92-78. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
“The one thing I’m not going to let you do, I’m not going to let you attack young people, and there were some things in this commentary, guys, that you should be offended by as women. It was so sexist, and they don’t even know it,” Mulkey said, blasting Bolch.
“It was good versus evil in that game today. Evil? Called us dirty debutants? Take your phone out right now and, Google dirty debutantes, and tell me what it says. Dirty debutantes? Are you kidding me? I’m not going to let you talk about 18-to-21-year-old kids in that tone,” the coach continued.
“It was even sexist for this reporter to say UCLA was milk and cookies,” she said.
In retrospect, it appears that the publishers of L.A. Times agreed with Mulkey that the attack on the girls was over the top.
The article now sports a disclaimer: “Update: 10:10 p.m. March 30, 2024: A previous version of this commentary did not meet Times editorial standards. It has been updated.”
Gone is the “milk and cookies” line. Also gone is the “dirty debutantes” attack.
Mulkey was not done, though.
Head coach Kim Mulkey of the LSU Lady Tigers talks to a referee against the Vanderbilt Commodores in the second half at Vanderbilt University Memorial Gymnasium on February 8, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Carly Mackler/Getty Images)
“How dare people attack kids like that? You don’t have to like the way we play. You don’t have to like the way we trash talk. You don’t have to like any of that. We’re good with that. But I can’t sit up here as a mother and a grandmother and a leader of young people and allow somebody to say that,” she said of the media’s vicious slams on her girls.
Mulkey also plastered the media in the post-game interview.
“Guys, that’s wrong,” she said. “I don’t even know what dirty debutantes are, but I know when I Googled it, I [gasped].”
She added, “Growing the game was a part of [the story]. How many of you have been to Baton Rouge, La. — raise your hand — and see our games. How many of you have been to an SEC game when you played on the road? You want to talk about growing the game? Go see our crowds, people. I don’t get that. I’m sorry. I come from a different generation. I get it. But I know sexism when I see it and I read it. That was awful.”
LSU is set to face Iowa on Monday in the Elite Eight.
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