Louisiana governor Jeff Landry takes subtle shot at Kim Mulkey's LSU for absence during national anthem: "Should risk their athletic scholarship!"

The LSU Tigers and coach Kim Mulkey lost their national championship game rematch against the Iowa Hawkeyes 94-87 in their Elite Eight clash on Monday night. But controversy continues to follow the defending national champs.

A clip surfaced on social media of the Tigers leaving the Times Union Center in Albany, New York, before the national anthem was played before the game while the Iowa Hawkeyes stayed through the anthem.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry was incensed at LSU's move and called out the team, name-checking controversial coach Kim Mulkey on his X account and suggesting a steep punishment for student-athletes missing the national anthem.

"My mother coached women’s high school basketball during the height of desegregation, no one has a greater respect for the sport and for Coach Mulkey. However, above respect for that game is a deeper respect for those that serve to protect us and unite us under one flag!" Landry tweeted on Tuesday.

"It is time that all college boards, including Regent, put a policy in place that student athletes be present for the national anthem or risk their athletic scholarship! This is a matter of respect that all collegiate coaches should instill."

The eccentric LSU coach Kim Mulkey apologized for her team missing the national anthem during her postgame news conference and discussed the reason why.

"Honestly, I don't even know when the anthem was played," Mulkey said. "We kind of have a routine where we're on the floor and then they come off at the 12-minute mark. I don't know. We come in and we do our pregame stuff. I'm sorry. Listen, that's nothing intentionally done."

Many college teams, men and women's, follow a similar routine. That's why Landry's tweet was also directed at college boards across the nation.

Kim Mulkey has a rough week

LSU coach Kim Mulkey is no stranger to controversy, and over her Hall of Fame career, she has had to put out several fires. Most recently, she was embroiled in a war of words over an impending (and since-published) Washington Post article about her.

The NCAA Tournament has been spent with divided attention for Mulkey as she battled the claims made in the article by Washington Post reporter Kent Babb, a national award-winning features writer.

Mulkey said that Babb tried to get an interview with her for two years before finally deciding to write what she called a "hit piece" against her.

She said that she did not want to do the interview with him because of a story he had written about current LSU football coach Brian Kelly and that the reporter had attempted to contact former players to get negative stories about her.

She said she was prepared to take legal action against the Washington Post if there was any false information in the article.