Kim Mulkey racist rumors resurface after LSU HC takes bold stance against $1.7M NIL-valued Angel Reese

There's trouble in LSU paradise, with women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey being evasive about the notable absence of Tigers superstar forward Angel Reese. Mulkey benched Reese for an entire half against Kent State and omitted her from the team for the last two matchups.

After she missed a second consecutive game in LSU's win over Texas Southern, Mulkey gave an answer about the $1.7 million NIL-valued Angel Reese that suggested that she was under punishment.

"You always have to deal with locker room issues," Mulkey told the media. "That's just part of coaching. That's what coaches do. Sometimes, y'all know about them, and sometimes you don't, and sometimes you want to know more than you're entitled to know.

"I'm going to protect my players always, they are more important. It's like a family. If you do some discipline of your own children, do you think we're entitled to know that? That's a family in that locker room."

Her tough stance has led to college basketball fans recalling Angel Reese's interview on "I Am Athlete" a few months ago when the player defended Mulkey from accusations of racism.

“Everything LSU has done, they downplayed all year,” Reese said. “Our out-of-conference schedule was weak, the SEC was weak, mind you, four teams were still in the Sweet 16 going into the Elite Eight. So you’re saying all these things, coach Mulkey is a racist, all this stuff.”

Now, some fans on X are bringing up racism allegations against the LSU coach:

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Kim Mulkey and the Brittney Griner controversy revisited

Years ago, when Kim Mulkey coached the Baylor Bears, she also coached one of the best women's college basketball players of all time, Brittney Griner, between 2009 and 2013.

Griner led the Bears to the national championship in 2013 and was named the National Player of the Year before getting drafted No. 1 overall by the Phoenix Mercury.

Soon after, she released her book, "In My Skin," alleging that Mulkey was dismissive of her when she came out to the flamboyant coach.

"Big Girl, I don't care what you are," Mulkey allegedly told Griner. "You can be Black, White, blue, purple, whatever. As long as you come here and do what you need to do and hoop, I don't care."

Griner further explained why keeping her sexual orientation secret was allegedly stressed by Mulkey in an interview with ESPN.

“It was a recruiting thing,” Griner said. “The coaches thought that if it seemed like they condoned it, people wouldn’t let their kids come play for Baylor.”

Years later, in an interview with Outsports, Kim Mulkey was not apologetic about her stance, and her comments when asked whether she had any gay players on her team were considered homophobic.

"Don't ask me that," Mulkey said. "I don't ask that. I don't think it's anybody's business. Whoever you are. I don't care to know that."

Kim Mulkey has a checkered history of controversies, and the Brittney Griner parallel to Angel Reese will likely be interpreted as disturbing by college basketball fans familiar with it.