UCLA head women’s basketball coach Cori Close has apologized, claiming she didn’t read the Los Angeles Times‘ controversial article on today’s LSU-UCLA game before sharing it on social media.
The column in question, written by Ben Bolch, has been widely criticized for referring to LSU’s women’s team as, among other things, “villains” and “dirty debutantes.”
“I reposted that article only after reading the headline, not the contents of the column,” Close admitted in a statement Saturday night, hours after her second-seeded Bruins lost to the third-seeded Tigers in the Sweet 16. “In an effort to increase coverage for our game, I shared it and went back to try to stay focused on my task at hand.”
Bolch was called out for his piece, which some accused of being “problematic” or racist and many, including LSU head coach Kim Mulkey, deemed sexist.
“You can criticize coaches all you want,” Mulkey said. “That’s our business. You can come at us and say you’re the worst coach in America. I hate you, I hate everything about you. We expect that. It comes with the territory.
“But the one thing I’m not going to let you do, I’m not going to let you attack young people, and there were some things in this commentary that you should be offended by as women. It was so sexist. It was good versus evil in that game today. Evil? Called us dirty debutantes? Are you kidding me?
“I’m not going to let you talk about 18- to 21-year-old kids in that tone.”
Close targeted a portion of her apology to Mulkey and her players directly.
“I would never want to promote anything that tears down a group of people in our great game,” Close said. “I apologize to Kim Mulkey and the entire LSU women’s basketball program.”
LSU’s 78-69 win over UCLA moved the Tigers into the Elite Eight, where they will face top-seeded Iowa in a rematch of last year’s national championship game.