LSU Women’s Basketball Coach Under Fire After Choosing To Not Comment On Brittney Griner’s Situation

LSU women’s head basketball coach, Kim Mulkey, has established herself as one of the premiere names in women’s basketball. She built a dominant program at Baylor where the bears would capture a championship and even turn in an undefeated regular season. In her first year as head coach of the Tigers, Mulkey brought the program to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Her success has made her used to being in the media, but she is currently facing some backlash after a press conference she had yesterday. Mulkey was asked to comment about her former player, Brittney Griner.

Griner was arrested by Russian police in February after getting caught with marijuana. The WNBA star has since been sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison for her crime. President Biden has come out several times to say that the U.S. is working on a way to get Griner back to the States.

Griner played for Mulkey at Baylor from 2009-2013 where she would help lead the bears to an undefeated season and even bring home a national title. Mulkey was publicly asked about the situation regarding her former player for the first time since it happened.

The refusal to comment immediately raised some questions on social media. Countless people would take to Twitter to express how they felt about the situation. It wasn’t just fans or followers of women’s hoops, two of Mulkey’s former players addressed the situation as well.

The backlash wouldn’t end there either. The present women’s head coach at Baylor, Nicki Collen, was asked the same question the very same day. This is what Collen had to say.

This sparked even more controversy being that Collen didn’t even coach or play with Griner, but still felt obligated to give her opinion on the matter. Many who are upset with Mulkey say that she could have at least expressed sympathy towards her former player, while others say she shouldn’t have to comment publicly if she doesn’t want to.

No further comments have been made by Mulkey or any of her current players. How do you think Mulkey handled this situation?