As the college sports world awaits a bombshell story in the Washington Post on LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey, former WaPo columnist Tony Kornheiser is coming powerfully to the outlet’s defense.
On Monday’s episode of Pardon the Interruption, Kornheiser explained his issues with Mulkey and his belief that the Post‘s story will hold water.
“Kim Mulkey is a great coach, a terrific coach,” Kornheiser said. “And she sees the press as an enemy, which happens a lot in America these days. She is publicly defiant, she is somewhat over-controlling, she does not want to be covered in the way that champions are covered, which is in-depth.”
Kornheiser went so far as to publicly stand behind the Post reporter behind the forthcoming story.
“Kent Babb has a story in the Washington Post, he’s a terrific writer and reporter. I know that you join me in thinking it will be 100 percent accurate and it will not be defamatory,” Kornheiser said, passing the baton to cohost Michael Wilbon.
Wilbon, however, was less forceful in defending the Post or attacking Mulkey.
“I’m so fortunate to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame, and Kim Mulkey and I are in the same class,” Wilbon said. “And I don’t know what to make of Kim Mulkey, and I just decided I’m not going to decide everything or speculate on everything … some things, I’m just going to let unfold.”
The hosts and fellow former WaPo columnists may have been split, but they agreed the situation is fishy.
While Kornheiser wanted to be certain that they stood behind their former paper, Wilbon has a personal relationship with Mulkey that he is drawing from. The LSU coach is among the more polarizing and hard to parse figures in sports. She is great at coaching, and her players seem to respect her. But Mulkey has also been the subject of controversy throughout her career and is not afraid to bite back.
At the same time, the quick pace of PTI did not do them any favors here. The hosts discussed top NCAA women’s tournament team South Carolina for a couple minutes before trying to tuck a quick Mulkey discussion into a few seconds. That forced Wilbon to circle back to Mulkey and try to tie it back to a separate scandal involving MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani and gambling payments.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.