While Brittney Griner found herself sitting in a Russian jail cell waiting to find out if she would spend the rest of her life in prison over a trumped-up drug charge, many of her friends and associates reached out or publically shared support for her situation and aired a desire to get her back to the United States.
Kim Mulkey, who coached Griner at Baylor, was not one of them.
During Griner’s incarceration, Mulkey, who is now the head coach at LSU, received harsh criticism when she refused to give any public support to Griner after she was arrested.
“And you won’t,” Mulkey said at the time when it was noted that she hadn’t said anything publically about Griner’s situation.
After Griner was finally released in December, Mulkey released a statement through ESPN.
“God is good. Prayers are powerful,” Mulkey told ESPN in December “Brittney is on her way home where she belongs. Our prayers remain with her and her family as they recover and heal together.”
As for whether or not she reached out to Griner personally to share the excitement and joy that her former player was back in the United States, Mulkey confirmed this week before the Final Four that she had not.
“No. But I’m glad she’s back,” Mulkey said during a press conference. “I’m glad she’s safe, she’s sound. I think everybody is. But no, I have not.”
That news bummed out a lot of people around the basketball world. One, because it seems strange that Mulkey wouldn’t want to be more supportive of a player so important to her success as a coach. Two, it just seems like a crummy way to live your life, especially when you claim to be a person of god.
It’s amazing to me that black girls still go and play for Kim Mulkey, seeing how she treated Brittney Griner and her lack of speaking up for her during that entire ordeal. Elevating her profile while she does not speak up on issues that affect black women at all.. wild.
— TJC (@SIPmyTHOUGHTS) March 26, 2023
Kim Mulkey let Griner sit in a Russian prison without so much as a word of support. Who cares about her outfit.
— Kane "The Conqueror" Webb (@FightOnTwist) April 1, 2023
What a gigantic [redacted] https://t.co/VnHuG9kTU1
— HurleyMania dot bsky dot social (@HurleyMania) March 31, 2023
yall want to praise kim mulkey for this LSU final four run but i ain't forgot her Baylor days and how she treated Brittney Griner. ol hateful sack of bones
— bury me in waffle house (@thatbaikid) March 30, 2023
Mulkey’s Tigers will take on Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes for the Women’s National Championship on Sunday.
