Brittney Griner's Former College Coach Refuses To Comment On Her Russia Detention, Twitter Blows Up

Louisiana State University (LSU) women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey was asked to comment on Brittney Griner's detention in Russia, to which she abruptly declined.

Mulkey, Griner's coach at Baylor University from 2009-2013, apparently had a complicated history with her star player, which came to the fore when a reporter from the Daily Advertiser asked why he hadn't seen any comments from her about Griner’s situation.

“And you won’t,” Mulkey shot back, cutting off the reporter’s question.

Mulkey has been mum about Griner up to now though many in the know were not surprised by her sharp response. When Griner played for Mulkey at Baylor in Waco, Texas she was named AP Player of the Year and the 2012 Premier Player of Women's College Basketball. So, obviously it wasn’t Griner’s basketball skills that bothered Mulkey. 

Sexual Orientation A Problem?

After Griner finally left Baylor, she accused Mulkey of asking players to conceal their sexual orientation for recruiting purposes.

“The coaches thought that if it seemed like they condoned it, people wouldn’t let their kids come play for Baylor,” Griner said back in May 2013 per Sports Illustrated. Griner came out as gay to Sports Illustrated in February 2013. 

Former ESPN reporter Kate Fagan has since come forward and said Mulkey had attempted to get her fired for writing about Griner's claims, further exacerbating what was not a pleasant parting of the ways between Griner and Mulkey.

Twitter Explodes

Meanwhile, Twitter TWTR is blowing up with not-so-nice remarks about Mulkey who is in her second season as coach of the LSU Tigers women’s team who held their first preseason practice Monday, hence the media spotlight on her.

In view of the mounting support from the sports world, and not to mention that Griner helped Baylor win a national title with Mulkey, the coach’s response has elicited some harsh criticism from Griner’s long list of fans and supporters who have called Mulkey just about everything from a terrible person to repugnant, obnoxious, indefensible, absurd and other unprintable descriptors..