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Stephen A. Smith Goes Off on Kim Mulkey: 'We Just Need to Finally Say This'

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Paolo Mariano | Last updated Mar 31, 2025 10:40 PM ET

As if his seat isn't hot enough following his back-and-forth with Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, ESPN host Stephen A. Smith may have gained another enemy.

On "First Take," Smith discussed the attitude of LSU coach Kim Mulkey after they lost to UCLA in the Elite Eight of the women's NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

The 62-year-old Mulkey received backlash due to her condescending retorts to a reporter, including asking him, "How many Final Fours did you play in?"

Smith, who knows a thing or two about inflated egos, didn't hold back on his opinion of Mulkey, who got eliminated in the Elite Eight for the second straight year.

"I'm not gonna take away from the fact that Kim Mulkey is a great coach and an established coach," said Smith in the video shared by Awful Announcing on X. "We just need to finally say this about her: She's very rude.

"She's very, very rude. She's condescending and unnecessarily so to too many people."

The 57-year-old Smith wasn't done blasting the four-time national champion coach. Even before her incident with the reporter, Mulkey's mercurial demeanor had already turned heads for the wrong reasons.

"But it's always with the right ones," added Smith. "She doesn't go up to the wrong ones like that. You know what I'm saying?

"It's almost like she knows who to do that to and who not to do that to. Because certain people you do that to, they're going to clap back at you."

Smith's co-host Shannon Sharpe also slammed the Tigers tactician even before he went on "First Take."

"Kim Mulkey has been nasty for a very long time, and she has gotten away with this type of behavior because she is a national championship-winning coach," said Sharpe on his "Nightcap" podcast.

"She has a history of doing this."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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