Stephen A. Smith Calls LSU Coach Kim Mulkey 'Very Rude' After Spat With Reporter

Karl Rasmussen | Mar 31, 2025

Stephen A. Smith talks about LSU coach Kim Mulkey on ESPN's First Take / Screenshot via Awful Announcing on X

After the LSU Tigers were eliminated from the 2025 NCAA tournament following an Elite Eight loss to the Texas Longhorns on Sunday, Kim Mulkey got a bit testy with a reporter during her postgame media address.

A reporter asked Mulkey how she felt about bowing out in the Elite Eight for the second year in a row, to which Mulkey clapped back by asking how many Final Four games that reporter had played in during their career.

The exchange prompted ESPN's First Take crew to discuss the situation, during which Stephen A. Smith declared that he thinks Mulkey is a rude person.

"I'm not gonna take away from the fact that Kim Mulkey is a great coach and an established coach. We just need to finally say this about her: she's very rude. She's very very rude. She's rude, she's condescending and unnecessarily so to too many people," Smith said, while Shannon Sharpe voiced his agreement.

"But it's always with the right one. See, she don't go up to the wrong ones like that. It's almost like she knows, Shannon, who do to that to, and who not to do that to. Because certain people you do that to, they're going to clap back at you. She's a phenomenal coach, one of the best ever, but she's just a very very rude person," he added.

Stephen A. Smith: "I'm not gonna take away from the fact that Kim Mulkey is a great coach and an established coach. We just need to finally say this about her: she's very rude. She's very very rude. She's rude, she's condescending and unnecessarily so to too many people." pic.twitter.com/Qr0ngIdcC4

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 31, 2025

Clearly, Mulkey's postgame exchange with the reporter did not sit well with Smith, who briefly paused his feud with LeBron James in order to offer his opinion on the LSU women's basketball coach.

---

More College Basketball on Sports Illustrated

feed