Mulkey debunks posts on her retirement

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — No, Kim Mulkey is not yet ready to call it quits on her Hall-of-Fame coaching career.

Mulkey said in a news conference Friday that she is, in fact, returning to the sidelines for a sixth season with the LSU women’s basketball team. The viral rumors that floated around the internet before the No. 2-seeded Tigers lost to Duke in the Sweet 16 on a buzzer beater, she said, are not true.

“I don't know where that came from. I'm only 63. And I'm healthy, with a few stints in my heart. Doctor says I'm good to go. I have no clue where that stuff comes from, guys. I've never ever told anybody that.”

The rumor appears to have originated from a pair of X accounts that claim to be “LSU insiders.” Their posts that said Mulkey was retiring at the end of the 2025-26 season looked like social-media news reports, and as of early Saturday morning, they had accumulated more than 200,000 impressions.

There are moments where you feel like, ‘Why am I doing this?’” Mulkey said. “But I don't get how people can just write crap on social media. That has to make you all feel really bad as journalists.”

Mulkey, who’s under contract through the 2032-33 season, also said that sometimes opposing coaches try to use her age and experience against her in recruiting.

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