"I trust her with my kid": $1.1M NIL-valued Flau'Jae Johnson's mother Kia Brooks speaks out in support of HC Kim Mulkey amid "hit piece" controversy

LSU coach Kim Mulkey was recently embroiled in a controversy after she revealed that she would sue the Washington Post. She alleged that the publication published a "hit piece," which involved interviews with players and coaches who formerly worked with Mulkey.

The article fell flat as many readers admitted that it did not reveal anything that the public didn't already know. But the hate for coach Mulkey continued online, and now $1.1M NIL-valued (per On3) Flau'Jae Johnson's mother Kia Brooks has come out in defense of the coach.

"Everything Coach Mulkey told me on everything I've asked her about my kid, she kept it real. ... I trust her with my kid. Honestly, I do, because she's not going to baby Flau'jae. She's going to make her a woman," Brooks said.

"When she leaves here, she's going to be a woman. And I respect that because I'm not easy on Flau. I was hard on her. Anything you want in life, you gotta go get it, you gotta go fight for it. There are a million kids out here trying to do what you're doing, so what's going to separate you?"

Coach Kim Mulkey admits that she has not read "that trash"

The Washington Post article's interviews revealed that Coach Mulkey was always hard on her players, was critical of their weight and employed coaching tactics that not everyone agreed with. This was something everyone already knew.

Many netizens argued this was a basic expectation that all coaches had for their players. Mulkey, from her end, said that the article was not her concern right now.

"I haven't read that trash," Mulkey said. "I'm not gonna read it. This is why I hired lawyers. The lawyers will review it, and when this season's over, they'll give me a call and say, 'This is our next step.' I'm not reading that stuff."

Meanwhile, sports commentator Dan Patrick also came to Kim Mulkey's defense as he compared her to Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight.

"Bob took matters into his own hands, literally, with one of his players, Neil Reed. But Kim Mulkey is tough," Patrick said. "You sign up to play for her. Players transferred in to play for her. She wants to win.

"You may not like it, but I don't look at her as a villain. She just wins. That's what she's told to do, paid to do, expected to do ... So if we want to trumpet Bob Knight and recognize his greatness, Kim Mulkey is cut from the same cloth."

For now, coach Kim Mulkey's focus is on successfully guiding LSU to defend its title. The Tigers take on the Iowa Hawkeyes on Monday. At the time of publishing, the game was in the second quarter, with LSU leading 38-37.