Kim Mulkey addresses leaving LSU for family death during SEC Tournament

LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey addressed her absence during the SEC Tournament due to a family death during the postgame press conference on Friday. The coach revealed it was quite the difficult week for her and her family.

Bob Starkey served as acting head coach during their tournament game against Florida. LSU got the win 101-87 to advance to the semifinals vs. Texas Saturday night. Mulkey was an open book about her absence. But she was glad to be back with her team.

“My week was awful. My mind still isn’t good. I don’t feel good, first of all. But we all deal with death,” Mulkey said. “I’ve dealt with a stillborn grandchild, but I was prepared for that. We’re prepared for our parents, for our grandparents. It’s the unexpected deaths that throw you for a loop.

“I was where I was supposed to be. I’m very, very proud. But as I told our team many times, I’ve told them many times, we could drop dead on that sideline and you should be able to coach yourselves. So I was very confident.”

Mulkey was also asked about the team getting ready to roll in her absence. It was practically something she didn’t even think about as LSU was roaring to go.

“I’m going to go back to your original question to Aneesah. This team didn’t lose confidence,” Mulkey said. “Flau’Jae is not even playing and she’s our leading scorer. I made a decision as a head coach to shut her down until the playoffs. We lose two back-to-back games. Whoop-de-doo. Whoop-de-doo. We play a very good Texas team, ranked No. 1 in the country, great defense. They responded the way they do every game. It’s just sometimes the other team makes a few more plays than we do.

“But we’re never going to be a team that doesn’t have confidence. It’s not in our DNA. I think Morrow broke Seimone Augustus’ record. How cool is that? She was sitting on the sideline watching that. I was wondering why she wanted us to take her out early. No, I’m teasing.”

Sometimes a return to work or your love and passion can help with grievance. Mulkey acknowledged her love of basketball but only time will help this time.

“No. No. I love this great game of basketball, but it’s not more important than the time it takes to heal from an unexpected death,” Mulkey said. “What I didn’t want is to be a distraction, and I don’t think I was. I think I was the biggest cheerleader. I was able to go back and sit on the middle of that bench and be able to communicate to players in a different capacity.

“I wasn’t coming in here and taking over. Are you kidding me? I told Bob before the game started, You are coaching tonight. You know what you’ve done all week to prepare our team. I’m going to be with a few suggestions. I would say a few things, send it down to him. But no, no, no. Only time heals your heart.”