Flau’jae Johnson and Kim Mulkey (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Kim Mulkey has long been college basketball’s most colorful, controversial figure, and that controversy went to another level after The Washington Post on Saturday released an in-depth profile of the Louisiana State University women’s basketball head coach.

It painted Kim Mulkey as a woman who clashed with players who openly display their sexuality and targeted a former Baylor star after finding out she was gay. It also alleged that the 61-year-old treated homosexual members of her former team Baylor more harshly than others.

The hit piece did not hit in the way The Washington Post thought it would.

In the wake of that piece was some support in the form of star player Flau’jae Johnson’s mom.

Kia Brooks, who previously went viral after she took a massive shot at Angel Reese over her failing GPA and getting into a back and forth with Reese’s mother, Angel Reese Webb, sent a strongly worded support to Kim Mulkey over people bashing her without even knowing her.

Brooks said that she appreciates how Mulkey is not going to “baby” Johnson and will “make her a woman.”

“I trust her with my kid. Honestly, I do, because she’s not going to baby Flau’jae,” Brooks said in a conversation with the Baton Rouge-based WAFB Channel 9. “She’s going to make her a woman. When she leaves here she’s going to be a woman, you know what I’m saying? And I respect that because I’m not easy on Flau. I was hard on her.

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Brooks finds all of the “40 and 50-year-old people” who “throw daggers at a woman they’ve never even spoken to” to be very weird.

On Saturday, No. 3 seeded LSU won its Sweet 16 game against No. 2 UCLA. In that game, Reese had 16 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out late in the game for the Tigers.

Johnson contributed a game-high 24 points to go with 12 rebounds.

Kim Mulkey Is Trying To Further LSU Women’s Basketball In History

ALBANY, NEW YORK – MARCH 30: Head coach Kim Mulkey of the LSU Tigers reacts in a game against the UCLA Bruins during the second half in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at MVP Arena on March 30, 2024 in Albany, New York. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
LSU pulled away in the closing minutes to beat UCLA 78-69 to advance to back-to-back Elite 8s for the first time since 2008. The LSU women’s basketball team is one game away from back-to-back trips to the Final Four.

If LSU can win it all again, they will be repeat champions for the first time since UConn did it back in 2016.

Kim Mulkey signed a 10-year, $36 million extension with LSU after coaching the Tigers to their first national title in a 105-85 win over Iowa last year.

LSU and Iowa will face off in a championship rematch in the women’s Elite Eight on Monday night.